Why do youth worker’s struggle to work together???

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Over the last few months we have been working with a number of organisations to help them develop in one way or another. For some it is providing supervision, for others it is developing policies and procedures and others it is a top down organisational overhaul. In almost all of these organisations we have noticed that youth workers are really good at throwing each other under the bus! We are even better than our clients!
The amount of cat fights and general mistrust that we have witnessed is truly astonishing. Colleagues who would turn against each other over trivial issues and games of oneupmanship that would put most two year olds to shame. I must say it made me sick to think that I belonged to such a profession. It has led me to ask the question “Why do youth worker’s struggle to work together???“
Here are my current thoughts:
  1. Youth work has become a competitive industry and this permeates through to staff. 
  2. Vicarious trauma which is not dealt with properly has to come out eventually, usually in burnout.
  3. When people work in close proximity in tough situations it can lead to some personality clashes.
  4. Managers provide minimal accountability and do not squash issues within the team quickly enough.
  5. Some people are just not cut out for youth work!!!

What do you think??? Leave us a comment below or post a comment on facebook and twitter.

What gets youth worker’s through stressful times???

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In our work the staff at Ultimate Youth Worker meet with a number of downtrodden, stressed out youth workers who are just trying to keep it together. Why these fine examples of the social services sector have begun to erode is anyone’s guess. Overworked, under payed, vicarious trauma, limiting government policies and organisations that don’t care are all excuses we hear for burnout and workplace stress. But you know what we all face that, so why do so many fade away???

Youth work isn’t always fun!

The one thing that we see over and again that separates those who can push through stress and those who get squashed under the pressure is purpose. When the youth worker’s who are close to the edge are asked why they got into youth work it invariably is for a nothing reason. “I wanted to become a teacher and I though this would help“. “I just felt like these kids need help“. “People just need to give something back“. The worst offenders are those with altruistic motives.

“A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose – a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve.”- John Maxwell

Unless you have the courage of your convictions youth work will chew you up and spit you out. Youth work is a purpose that you need conviction to follow. A reason to wake up in the morning. A cause to pursue. A goal to achieve. Youth work is more than a stepping stone to your next career. Youth work is not something you do to warm the cockles of your heart.  Youth work is a profession that needs professionals with the right reason for being there… A real purpose.
What gets you out of bed in the morning???? Is your purpose to support young people to become the best they can possibly be? Or perhaps you are in it for the inordinately large pay check! If your own values and purpose aren’t clear then you are on a fast track to burnout.

Mental state exam for youth workers: Perception

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Well there are only three more posts left in this series. We have been building an understanding of the core components of a mental state exam so that we can support our young people as best we can. This week I was speaking with a youth worker in one of Victoria’s largest Christian denominations about a mental health conference he was at. I was reminded about how important it is for all youth workers to have a strong understanding of mental health. So far we have discussed how a young persons appearance, behaviour, speech and language, mood and affect and their thought process and content can provide indicators as to their mental state. Today we discuss how a young persons thought content can provide insight into their current mental health status.
 
Today we look at perception. Perception in the broadest sense of the world is how we sense the world through our five major sense: sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing. The three categories of perceptual disturbance are hallucinations, pseudohallucinations and illusions.

A hallucination is defined as a sensory perception in the absence of any external stimulus, and is experienced objectively by the young person eg. they see it and you don’t. Hallucinations occur in any of the five senses, although auditory (hearing) and visual (sight) hallucinations are the most frequently observed. Auditory hallucinations are typical of psychosis and symptoms such as ‘voices talking about the young person’ and ‘hearing one’s thoughts spoken aloud’ are indicative of schizophrenia, whereas second-person hallucinations such as ‘voices talking to the young person threatening or insulting or telling them to commit suicide’, may be symptomatic of psychotic depression or schizophrenia. Visual hallucinations are more likely suggestive of organic conditions such as epilepsy, drug intoxication or drug withdrawal.

An illusion is defined as a false sensory perception in the presence of an external stimulus, in other words a distortion of a sensory experience, and may be recognized as such by the subject. The best example I can think of is mime artist or the visual illusions of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The old adage that your eyes play tricks on you is no more true than when we think of illusions. Illusions in themselves are not necessarily an indicator of mental illness but could mean a physical disorder or intoxication.

One of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s illusions
 

A pseudohallucination is experienced in an internal or subjective space such as ‘voices in my head’ and is regarded as akin to fantasy. Other sensory abnormalities include a distortion of the young persons sense of time, for example déjà vu, or a distortion of the sense of self (depersonalization) or sense of reality (derealization). These symptoms could be suggestive of dissociative disorders, epilepsy or brain damage.

I %^&*ing HATE school: I’m going to be a drug dealer!

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Not long after starting my youth work career I went back home to spend a weekend at my mums house. my youngest brother was having a party and after chatting with a few of his mates a pattern started to emerge…they all hated school. The stories all seemed the same, struggling at home, lost in classes and teachers who just seemed to get on their case. Most of these kids were lucky if the bottom rung of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was met in their lives and many of the teachers were asking them to work in the self-actualisation region.
 
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
The more I listened to my brothers mates, the more I was appalled at the education system and the teachers lack of empathy. Conversely, at the time I had a number of friends who were studying education so I began a witch hunt. Teachers were evil I just needed the proof. My own dislike of school and my own run ins with teachers who knew about as much about adolescent welfare as I know about thermodynamics (which to be sure is only how to spell it) may have been clouding my judgement. As my investigation progressed however I began to realise that it is not teachers fault that they seem empathetically impotent, their course structures do not really teach them anything about the welfare of their students.
 
My friends who completed their secondary teaching degrees had one subject on student wellbeing. Most of them either slept, drank or played snooker through the classes and those that did attend found that the content was unhelpful when it came to actually helping their students. As people who are spending 30+ hours a week with young people it blew my mind to realise how little they are taught about young people in their courses. Realistically if you don’t do electives about young people you would only have two subjects which relate to youth development and wellbeing.
 
 
A couple of years later I got to go to the school my brother and his mates attended to do a guest talk. As a former student there who had finally gotten life in order I was asked to inspire young minds to greatness. All I could think was it would have been great if any of my teachers could have inspired me to greatness…instead they inspired me to drop out of secondary school. I did my best and spoke like a true salesman for half an hour and at the end the students had a chance to chat with me. Many of the students were in similar situations to my brothers mates and all of the ones I spoke with told me that their teachers had no clue about their circumstances outside of school.
 
When I got home I reflected on that night years ago and something one of my brothers mates said after I tore him a new one for thinking of dropping out of school. He said “I %^&*ing HATE school: I’m going to be a drug dealer!” You know what…that’s exactly what he did. More and more these days schools have become the central welfare point for young people and their families, however the people they are turning to have minimal training and resources at best. This does pose more difficult issues for youth workers in schools.
 
As the most trained and equipped people to deal with the issues young people are facing, school based youth workers have a huge role to fill. We need to be supports and referral points for young people, supports and trainers for teachers and most of all advocates for the young people while they are going through their storm and stress. We need to give teachers their dues, they are great educators, and we need to help them gain a better understanding of adolescents and how to improve their welfare.

Youth work organisations shirk their responsibility

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Organisations must care for their staff

This morning I got to have breakfast with one of my amazing mates. Over the healthiest option I could care to find (a double shot latte and a three stack of pancakes and maple syrup) we discussed the ins and outs of the youth sector. Particularly we spoke about the stress that comes with the job. We also spoke of the ability that some roles have to help youth workers burnout. anecdotally we believed that the average youth worker lasts two years and if you are in a role like resi-care you are lucky to last six months.
 
After we had chewed the fat for a while mainly bitching about how hardly done by we are as youth workers our attention turned to the organisations who employ us. There is a duty of care that organisations owe to their staff which we at Ultimate Youth Worker believe is being allowed to lapse. Many years ago unions fought for the eight hour work day. In my career I have never worked an eight hour day. Sleepover shifts circumvent OH&S legislation. Staff are exposed to vicarious trauma and poorly debriefed. Youth workers are forced to work within bureaucratic frameworks that require more work and less reflection. 
Self care is an organisational responsibility
The average youth worker drowns in bureaucracy and its worse if they don’t look after their self care

Many of the staff that we come across at Ultimate Youth Worker want to do their job to the best of their ability and they all say that they could use more support from their managers. Most managers we meet would love to support their staff but are drowning in paperwork and their own lack of support to be able to help anyone. Then when all hell breaks loose we crucify the staff and managers for not doing their job right. If there is not time to reflect and maintain self care what do we expect!!!

Organisations that value their staff develop them as much as they develop their young people. Managers carve out time for professional development, supervision and the overall welfare of their staff. Organisations actively develop policy and procedures to support their staff to do their job effectively and without to much vicarious trauma. Organisations REQUIRE professional development of their staff and demand that their managers support their staff as whole people not just staff.   
 
We don’t get paid enough to do the job and get treated like crap. Organisations need to take responsibility for their staff wellbeing, for sustainability of the sector and for their own reputation. Funding bodies are not immune from their responsibility either!

Sucess for the Ultimate Youth Worker

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Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. – Sir Winston Churchill

Starting a new business comes with many risks and hopefully a number of rewards. Over the past twelve months we have definitely felt this at Ultimate Youth Worker. All of our staff got on board because we saw the need for more support in the youth sector. We have helped dozens of youth workers and their organisations to develop a more supportive environment in this time. But it was not all success!
 
We failed more times than we care to admit. We lost clients because of a lack of frameworks. We spent more time learning about business management than doing our business. We left, lost or were encouraged to leave well paying jobs to get Ultimate Youth Worker off the ground. Our first six months we made a total profit of $80. But we were always enthusiastic.
 
So often we work with young people who have failed more times than they can even remember. They are downtrodden and feel about two feet tall and one more failure might just tip them over the edge. Our job as youth workers is keep them enthused. In their enthusiasm their wildest success will finally come.
 

Mental state exam for youth workers: Thought process and content

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So we are a little over half way in this series. We have been developing an understanding of the core components of a mental state exam so that we can support our young people as best we can. This week I was speaking with a youth worker in one of Victoria’s largest Christian denominations about a mental health conference he was at. I was reminded about how important it is for all youth workers to have a strong understanding of mental health. So far we have discussed how a young persons appearance, behaviour, speech and language, and their mood and affect can provide indicators as to their mental state. Today we discuss how a young persons thought content can provide insight into their current mental health status.
 
A prime example of maladaptive thought content and process
 

Thought process

A young person’s thought process can tell you a lot about them. The quantity, tempo and form of thought are keys to understanding the process. A persons thought process can’t be directly observed. It can only be described by or inferred from a young persons speech. Some people may experience their thoughts coming so rapid that their speech seems incoherent. Alternatively an individual may have inhibited thinking, in which thoughts seem to progress slowly with few associations. Are they all over the place or are they clear and consistent. do they have few thoughts or do they keep returning to the same thoughts.
 
Does the young person include a great deal of irrelevant detail or make frequent diversions, but remains focused on the broad topic. Flight of ideas is typical of mania. On the other hand, young people with depression may have slow or inhibited thinking. Poverty of thought is one of the symptoms of schizophrenia, and may also be a feature of severe depression.

Thought content

When we think of thought content we would describe a young persons delusions, overvalued ideas, obsessions, phobias or preoccupations. To draw out any abnormalities of thought content we need to explore a young persons thoughts in an open-ended conversational manner with regard to their intensity, salience, the emotions associated with the thoughts, the extent to which the thoughts are experienced as one’s own and under one’s control, and the degree of belief or conviction associated with the thoughts.

A delusion is a core feature of psychotic disorders. A young persons delusions may be described as persecutory or paranoid, delusions of reference, grandiose, erotomanic, delusional jealousy or delusional misidentification. Delusions may be mood-congruent (the delusional content is in keeping with the mood), or mood-incongruent (delusional content not in keeping with the mood).  An overvalued idea is a false belief that is held with conviction but not with delusional intensity. Hypochondriasis is an overvalued idea that one is suffering from an illness and people with anorexia nervosa may have an overvalued idea of being overweight.

Preoccupations are thoughts which are not fixed, false or intrusive, but have an undue prominence in the person’s mind. Clinically significant preoccupations would include thoughts of suicide, homicidal thoughts, suspicious or fearful beliefs associated with certain personality disorders, depressive beliefs (for example that one is unloved or a failure), or some types of anxiety and depression. A Mental State Exam contributes to risk assessments of young people by including a thorough exploration of any suicidal or hostile thought content. Assessment of suicide risk includes detailed questioning about the nature of the person’s suicidal thoughts, belief about death, reasons for living, and whether the person has made any specific plans to end his or her life.
 
Stay tuned next week for part six: Perception

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Youth work in the education system: where theory and practice collide.

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Last week we spoke about the need for youth workers in the education system to have good relationships. This week we look at the need for a good understanding of theory…youth work and educational.

In youth work we study youth development, theories of participation and many others that help us to work with young people in every situation we find ourselves in. Our theories often focus on the strengths of our young people to overcome the adversities they face. We develop our working styles around the strengths of our young people to provide a solid foundation to build relationship and work towards the future. Teachers also use their theory base to work on developing young people.

Youth work in the schooling system
 
One of the most common theories that teachers use is called scaffolding. Scaffolding was developed by Russian Psychologist Lev Vygotsky in the early years of last century. Vygotsky believed that all understanding is built on the previous learnings of a person. That a process must be undertaken to build new knowledge on top of old knowledge in the same way we build a scaffold. Vygotsky also believed in the Zone of Proximal Development. A space between what a young person can do by themselves and what they could do with the help of an adult. These two theories have permeated educational systems throughout the world for over forty years.
 
Another theorist who has permeated the education system is Ivan Ilich, an Austrian philosopher, Roman Catholic priest, and social commentator on areas such as medicine and education. In 1971 his book “Deschooling Society” gave a radical slap in the face to institutional education and how it has has limited the learnings of young people in society. Instead he posits self-directed learning as a better option.
 
A number of other theories permeate the education system and depending on where in the world you are will depend on the theory that is at the forefront of educational practice. Using the relationships you have made ask a teacher or principal to give you an overview of the theoretical approaches that they use. If you have an understanding of the theories which underpin their work then you can work with them to develop a model of practice in their school which works for both parties.
 
What theories do your schools use?
 

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A new paradigm for world wide youth work

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For a long time now there has been a conversation going on in youth work. A professional/ para-professional dichotomy which many believe is subversive to the current push for professionalization. A conversation which preaches resistance to the neo-liberal free market push which seeks qualification over experience and cheap labour over appropriate supports.
 
The issue with requiring professionalism of a vocation is one which is being faced by social work in Australia and has been faced by psychologists. One of the issues which has and will continue to rear its head is if youth workers professionalise they will require higher pay. Higher pay in a free market means less workers. Less workers mean less appropriate service provision. Another issue is that of training and qualification. With over 75% of the current youth work employ holding a two year diploma or less where do we set the bar. The youth workers association in Victoria requires a bachelor degree for full membership. The Department of Human Services however only requires a Certificate IV for its youth work staff.
 
At Ultimate Youth Worker we believe that the professionalisation debate is currently doing more harm than good to youth work. In the storm and stress that is youth work we need all the boots on the ground that we can possibly muster. At Ultimate Youth Worker we see the current debate thinning out the herd. It makes qualifications the epitome of the profession and damns anyone else. Youth work throughout history has bucked the trends and required youth workers to think outside the square. The current push for professionalization places us firmly in the square.
 
Any dead fish can float with the current, It takes a live one to swim against it. We need a new paradigm to the idea of current professionalization ideology. We need well trained, well supported qualified youth workers! What we don’t need is a broad swathe approach to attaining this. We need a whole lot more practical wisdom in youth work. We need a whole lot more passion. We need a whole lot more accountability. What we do not need more of is control in the form of restricting sector size. We need to set ourselves apart from the pack.
 

What do you think? Leave us a comment below or post a comment on facebook and twitter.

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First step of faith for Ultimate Youth Worker’s

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Welcome to another Monday Ultimate Youth Workers. I was recently read about the amazing work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the turbulent times of the 1960’s. There is something about a man who is thrown in to the deep end of such a massive issue that not only swims but tows a nation behind him. If that doesn’t motivate you nothing does.
 
One of Dr. King’s quotes that I read was, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”. Sometimes we don’t know what step two or three look like. We just have to take a leap. When Dr. King and the other brave residents who in 1955 Boycotted the Montgomery Bus for 385 days I am sure they didn’t think on day one that they would be there for over a year.
 
When Dr. King gave his “I have a dream” speech I don’t think that he saw the civil rights movement stalling after his death. I think he saw a moment in time where someone had to stand in the breach.
 
In his final days in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. spoke with an authority and wisdom that some people say could only have come from a prophetic knowing that the end was near. Most of the time we do not know how our journey will end we just need to take the first step in faith and hope all will work itself out in the wash.
 
 
What is your first step in faith going to look like?

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