Dealing with the down time: Youth worker patience.
If you are in anyway like me you spend most of your working days going flat out. You run from meeting to meeting, to counselling session, to games, to report writing and at the end of the day you crash only to wake up again and do it over. But when those elusive moments of […]
Hot potatoes for youth worker’s: I was sexually abused.
There have been many times in my career that I have been stopped in my tracks by something that has been said to me by a young person. None of them have had the effect on me that dealing with an allegation of sexual abuse has. Whether you are a youth minister, a chaplain, a street […]
When your policy says nothing: Youth work practice wisdom
I have read more policy documents in the last month than I have read in the last two years. It has really hurt my head! Not because of the ammount of reading, but because of the lack of genuine content in the pages. A lot of the policy documents were very circular and led the […]
Using writing as a tool for critical reflection: Youth worker skill building
I always hated journaling. When I was a young intern in my 20’s I absolutely hated Tuesday morning as it was journaling time. My other intern colleagues would open their books and just write. I would stare at the blank page and start to sweat. I am sure my supervisors thought I was wasting time…They told me as much… […]
Mental health should be a major part of a youth workers training.
I am currently developing curriculum for the diploma of youth work here in Australia. This curriculum is focused on youth mental health. There are many of my colleagues who believe that any form of specialist training of youth workers is degrading our profession. That to develop a new focus in our training is to minimise […]
Be kind to youth work students: they are the future of the profession.
As a youth worker with over a decade in practice a number of qualifications and a private practice I have supported many youth workers on placement. In these situations I have tried to provide the best learning environment for each individual student. However many youth workers report that they are little more than gofers. Go […]
Youth worker self care over Christmas.
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the youth service agency there were youth workers running around like headless chickens because they had young people who needed support. It is a story I hear every year. youth workers who are missing out on holidays and family time because they are working to support young people […]
We need to measure everything: youth work is changing and so must we.
Over the past year we have attended a number of conferences and seminars throughout Australia on the awesome practice that is youth work. We have also had the privelege of speaking with a number of our international counterparts about where international practice is at. As we have reflected about these instances as a team we […]
Implimenting self care in your youth work organisation.
Self care in your organisation At a number of conference we have presented at this year we have been asked by managers about how to implement our self care strategy with their staff and more widely in their organisation. As we have spoken with these managers we have come away with more of an understanding […]
Are we to soft on young people exhibiting sexualised behaviours: Youth work dilemma.
Today I was speaking with a group of people from within the education and human services sector about working with young people who exhibit sexually abusive behaviours. What we mean here is young people aged over 10 and under 16 who sexually abuse others. When having this discussion it became apparent that there were two […]