Alternative Career Choices
Today marks seven years of Ultimate Youth Worker. Our birthday if you like. During this time I always like to gain some perspective on life, business and youth work in general. It is always an interesting time of introspection for an extrovert like me. I have to dig in to my heart and soul, carve away all the minutia and examine my life as fully as I can. My reflection has led me to think about my alternative career.
Last week I took to the bush. It is a place of peace for me and it helps me to get into a space of reflection. I only took the very basics with me. This isn’t a time of luxury but more of a monastic experience. Alone in the wilderness I thought of all that has been achieved by Ultimate Youth Worker over the past year. The training we have run, the people we have supervised and coached, the opportunities and the failures. In my reflection I wondered if the work we are doing had met needs of the sector. I wondered if the youth sector in Australia needs an organisation like ours.
I was also wondering if I am in the right place as the leader of this organisation. I asked myself a question that I am often asked, ‘if you weren’t a youth worker, what would you be?’. In my solitude I thought of the early days of my youth work career on camps and day trips. As a young man I thought my career was going to be in the military. I trained in land navigation, hiking and a bunch of other skills for that career. These skills all came in handy during those early years. Perhaps I could be a wilderness guide??? I love the outdoors and the solitude it provides. There is something primal about being alone in the bush that brings you to a place of reflection. I learnt many skills in those early days which I still use today. Leadership. Self-reliance. Team work.
Today, I find myself working on my car. I had to change my battery as it was dead. I looked at the engine bay and had a moment where I thought I should just call roadside assistance to have them do it. Then I reflected on my first career choice. You see, before I became a youth worker I was a mechanic apprentice. I loved cars, particularly Ford V8’s, and it seemed like I could bring my passion for cars together with a means of making money. I didn’t last very long. I loved working on cars, I hated working to such short timeframes as people wanting their cars back in an hour.
As a youth worker I have used my former career choices many times over. I have run more camps and day trips than I care to remember. I have hiked thousands of kilometres and used all my skills in bushcraft and survival. I have fixed cars on the side of the road between sessions. I have even helped people get their keys out of cars they had locked them in. I have used my knowledge to engage young people and build conversations.
I currently find myself out of direct practice and in the space of education. Spending my time between educating new student youth workers and training youth workers in the field. Being an educator is an alternative career than where I saw myself going. But, it is where I know I am meant to be. My other career options have all led me to where I am today. The skills and knowledge I have gained over the years have led to the way I educate newbie youth workers and support seasoned veterans.
Seven years ago I embarked on an alternative career by building Ultimate Youth Worker. Becoming a small business owner in the human service industry is not what I had been educated to do, but it was what I felt led to do. Over that time we have had ups and downs. We almost closed in 2014 as the sector was hit with massive budget cuts. Hired our first staff member in 2017. Overall, we have tried to do things differently. Much of this drive has come from learnings from alternative careers.
So on this our birthday I want to recommit to you all. While this project was an alternative career seven years ago, it is now my main focus. I want to see a sector that is well supported. I want youth workers who feel that they can get the support they need to be the best. I want to help you all to become Ultimate Youth Workers.
As we move in to our eighth year of serving youth workers we are going to be focusing on four areas. Mental health, Self Care, Training and Professional Youth Work. You will see our podcasts focus on these areas. We will begin to create more videos to help you in these four areas. Our products and services will fall into those four categories as well. These four areas have become our most read posts and our most listened to podcasts so it is our
Aaron Garth
Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.
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