2026 Child and Youth Care World Conference EmpowerU Mentoring: Beyond a Strength-Based Approach June 26, 2026 Opening Activity: How many years do you have in the field? What has been the most meaningful part of this conference this far? The Sour Kangaroo and the Obsurtity of a speck... The Sour Kangaroo and the Absurdity of a Speck In Horton Hears a Who!, the Sour Kangaroo dismisses the speck because she cannot see what Horton sees. To her, the idea that an entire world exists on a tiny...

Rethinking Potential: What the Joshua Bell Experiment Teaches Us About Mentoring “Become who you are.” — Friedrich Nietzsche The story of Joshua Bell playing incognito in a Washington, D.C. subway station has become a modern parable. A world class musician, performing on a multimillion dollar violin, goes largely unnoticed during rush hour. The takeaway is often framed romantically, suggesting that genius surrounds us and we simply fail to notice it. In mentoring contexts, whether in...

Introductions If you do one meaningful thing this summer as a camp counsellor, let it be this: help one child build a friendship. Maybe it's helping a child meet someone new. Maybe it's helping a shy child join a group. Maybe it's helping a child develop the confidence, social skills, or habits that make friendship easier. We often think the biggest impact comes from the spectacular moments, but for many children, the thing they'll remember most is whether they felt like they belonged. A...