Take a step on a new journey toward 2020
Journey towards 2020 “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” -Lao Tzu As we journey toward 2020 there has been a lot of discussion about youth work as a dying vocation. Our numbers are dropping, we have less graduates and government funding is being slashed like never before. Lets be honest. […]
Become more educated: Youth work longevity requires it!
Do a short course. Get a lateral qualification. Educate yourself more! Read a youth work journal. Attend a conference or a webinar. Listen to a podcast. Educate yourself.
It costs money but ignorance will cost you more.
Just try… your doomed if you don’t!
Many of my clients over the years have been doomed by inaction. In many cases it has not been that they lack ability to continue education, stay out of jail, develop social relationships etc. It is that they lacked the self esteem to even try. They had heard for so long how useless they are […]
Youth work needs to rid itself of its inferiority complex.
Over the years no other issue in youth work has bugged me more than the discussions about how we need to become more like other professions. For the most part it is a discussion about what we are not as youth workers. It says what we do not do. It says we are inferior to […]
Youth workers: write, do or do both.
The most well known youth workers world wide are often one of two types of people. They are either the academics who write something worth reading or they are the youth worker who does something spectacular that others write about. The academics are trying to write something that the youth worker on the ground can […]
We need older youth workers!
Youth work is an interesting profession. The vast majority of staff are under the age of 35. The average youth worker has worked in the sector for five years or less and it is as rare as hens teeth to find youth workers into their 50’s. Many years ago I heard a long term youth […]
We must change our thoughts in youth work.
Perception. It is what causes many of the issues I see every day. It is also something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Whether it is our perception of our clients, others perceptions of us or our perception of ourselves; how we think about the world informs our actions within it. In […]
Love what you do!
In our work we come across some of the most awesome youth workers in the service. They absolutely love their work. They get out of bed in the morning and they can’t wait to get to work. They have the greatest job on the face of the earth. The work they do is of the highest […]