OPINION: Howard Williamson - Critical people at critical moments

Committed youth work is one arena where there is some possibility of providing such a response. Let me give you one example, though no doubt I will return to it on other occasions. A 17-year-old young woman called me on my mobile phone at 4pm one day. She wanted to see me as soon as possible. I had known her since she was 12.

She trusted me and wanted to talk. Luckily I was around and within 10 minutes we were talking. I had not seen her for some six months and when she walked into my office, I thought she was looking good. She was, but for all the wrong reasons. I did not get to hear her story for another two hours, however. The conversation remained largely focused on what I had been doing. She wanted to know and was biding her time to tell me her troubles. All she told me, for a while, was that she was reading Lord of the Rings. She said that she thought I was like Gandalf, with a viewpoint and sometimes an answer for everything.