Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self-belief

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Being a child in poverty is the greatest indicator you will suffer from asthma, cancer, heart disease or mental illness, that you will go to prison, be addicted to drugs , get divorced, die young or commit suicide. Despite this understanding we allow children to go to school hungry and live in danger where drugs and alcohol are used. Despite what we know we still pretend that all it takes to succeed is hard work when the truth is only the privileged can. It also pinpoints the moments in childhood that mark a life, both the good (the teacher who taught her and facilitated her being able to manage her own cleanliness) and the bad (the man her parents left her with), being able to identify those moments that shifted her self-worth, while devastating to relive, enabled her to start the appropriate healing. But it also points at the many adults that let these children down.

One of the best books I have ever read about the complexities of poverty . . . one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet Guardian Katriona speaks about the people in education and social care setting who helped her, and those who failed her. I cried when reading about her early childhood and the abuse she suffered. I cried when I read about her older brother coming home from work to find her and her siblings, hungry, with not a parent to be seen. Some chapters are truly harrowing. I found myself with a pain in my chest and thinking of that little seven year old and her brothers and sister long after I'd finished reading.Coming from poverty dreams aren't sky high, most of the time they barely go past the ceiling of a council house. And being 'better' meant having a job or not selling drugs Now an award-winning lecturer whose work challenges barriers to education, Poor stands as a stirring argument for the importance of looking out for our kids' futures. Of giving them hope, practical support and meaningful opportunities. Without the opportunity to breathe in knowledge, to step slowly into this beautiful place, I would have never been able to succeed. It was the secure base from which I was able to navigate my educational path. Moving, funny, brave and original - just like the author . . . absolutely incredible Róisín Ingle, Irish Times Women's Podcast

O'Sullivan K;Reulbach U;Boland F;Motterlini N;Kelly D;Bennett K;Fahey T; (2015) 'Benzodiazepine prescribing in children under 15 years of age receiving free medical care on the General Medical Services scheme in Ireland'. . [DOI] Poor is this story, the story of how a once-bright student found herself on the wrong path and how, through sheer grit, determination and bravery, turned her life around thanks to an unexpected encounter with the Trinity Access Programme as an adult.I don’t know what to say about the social workers who dealt with us because even now, with many years of experience and my education in psychology, I don’t know what to make of them. It’s Not Where You Live; It’s How You Live: Class and Gender Struggles in a Dublin Estate by John Bissett. Bissett’s book is a mix of theory and storytelling, taking us deep into the lives within a public housing estate in Dublin. Dr Katriona O’Sullivan was born in Coventry to Irish parents. She now works as a senior lecturer in Digital Skills in Maynooth University’s Department of Psychology. In this extract from her biography, Poor, she describes a childhood of poverty dominated by the spectre of her parents’ addictions, which included time spent in a care home. Having somebody like me in there was just pivotal”, she explains. “If you don’t see people like you, you’re never going to aspire to it”. Later, I’d refuse to go on access visits; I remember crying and saying I didn’t want to. I just wanted peace, I wanted safety and the rights to my own body. My mum didn’t provide that. Our life with her was full of mayhem and pain.