Why are you a youth worker?

Posted on April 2, 2014May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

This week sees the launch of National Youth Week here in Australia. It is about this time every year that I spend some time reflecting on why I am a youth worker. Seeing young people reach their full potential, many against great odds always makes me excited to see youth work at its best.

When I was younger it was only the support and guidance of a couple of great youth workers that stopped my path towards Jail or death. I saw the worst and best of myself unfold due to their gentle ministering and was given a picture of what life could be like on the other side of my pain and strife. I saw that the life I was surrounded by was not necessarily the life that I had to live for the rest of my days.

It is this sense, that there is more to life than meets the eye, that I hope to impart upon the young people I work with. To help them see past the next five minutes of their existence to a future that glows and excites. This is why I am a youth worker. Why are you?

Leave us a comment below.

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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Ongoing professional development: Its all about your budget.

Posted on February 25, 2014May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

I have been in a number of agencies throughout my youth services career and only one of them had a written down budget for youth work professional development. In this organisation I had one of the largest budgets for professional development I had ever had… $1000. However in most organisations I worked in a professional development budget was at best ad hoc and at worse non-existent.

I have heard of a number of ways to divide up a professional development budget and to tell you the truth I have not put much credence in most of them. How long you have been in the organisation? Your role requirements? Your agencies needs? None of them make any sense when you are talking about longevity in the field. When you want to develop workers to sustain your organisation and the sector you have to think outside the box, and for most organisations that means spending money.

In the mining industry here in Australia some of the best mines realised that they were losing workers because they had no reason to stay. The money was good, The work wasn’t to hard but still they were losing staff… Until they started putting money in the right place. They set up great internet, provided training opportunities and expected staff to develop themselves through courses. Everything from first aid to business development. It was open to the newest of staff and the long tremors. From the lowest paid to the highest paid. The expectation was that you did something.

At Ultimate Youth Worker we would love to offer an unlimited budget for professional development but like every youth organisation we have to balance our budget too. In our case we devote 3% of our yearly budget for staffing to professional development. If you earn $50,000 you have a professional development budget of $1,500. We ask our staff to develop a professional development plan that has some things for us as an organisation and some areas that they want to work on. If they want to work on something that is outside the purview of the work we do we ask them to demonstrate how it would support the work we do in the future. If it would support us or the sectors development we are happy to provide the finances within the 3%. We also offer employees further development above the 3% as needed however as a minimum that 3% is always in our budget.

What does your organisation do? Perhaps you can start providing a guarantee for your employees!

Leave us a comment below!

Aaron Garth

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Guest post on drownthenoise.com

Posted on February 14, 2014August 4, 2014 by Aaron Garth

Our guest post is being published on drownthenoise.com today – it’s an open look at the idea of vocation in youth work. Feel free to post in the comments about how witty, insightful and amazing it is!!!

If you’ve come to Ultimate Youth Worker after already reading the post on drownthenoise.com – WELCOME!!! We hope you found it witty, insightful and amazing too!

We’re really glad you’ve come to check us out. Here’s a quick guide to us as a company:

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You should already be on our blog page, so you can scroll down and read some of our recent posts. To see older posts, there are a few ways of doing this:

Click on “older posts” at the bottom of this page
Click on one of the categories on the right hand side of the page to read specific types of posts (e.g. professional identity, youth work, self care etc)

Use the “blog archive” on the right

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We’d love to connect with you in the following ways:

Subscribe to receive our posts via email (you can do it on the right hand side of this post) – you’ll receive one email a week with that week’s post(s). Don’t worry, we’ll never spam you or sell your details.
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Once again, thanks for visiting Ultimate Youth Worker! We hope you find some useful stuff on our blog. If you know any youth workers or youth pastors, we’d love for you to tell them about us – each week we provide a new post so keep on coming for more thoughts on youth work.

Aaron Garth

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The stupidity of calling youth work science will limit our effectiveness!

Posted on February 12, 2014May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

If I hear another person talk about the science behind youth work or the best-practice “research” that has been done I will scream. This pervasive discourse of youth work through a scientific lens, to the detriment of practice wisdom and individuality, will lead to the destruction of our sectors most central ideologies.

Putting people in comfortable boxes has never been central to the work of a youth worker, until recently. To have clear diagnoses, a cookie cutter support plan and a “best-practice” set of interventions is the way of the medical, psychological and scientific sectors. There has been a lot written about the divide between the art and science of youth work with much more over the past decade focusing on the scientific. This does not take into account the the complexities that coalface youth workers deal with on a daily basis. “Becoming a professional when one’s discipline is people/young people requires more than technical knowledge; it requires a way of being that is relational, emergent, flexible, dialogic, participatory, and contextualised“ (Fusco 2013).

Youth work is a flexible, fluid profession. We have historically steered clear of generalising how we work with individuals as it limits our fluidity. We seek to support young people in their context with their individual needs. When we begin to use the frameworks of economic rationalism and the sciences to frame our practice we begin to see people view our practice wisdom and philosophy as weak hokum. Where science seeks fact and answers to problems, we seek to delve into the human condition through questions and journeying with our young people.

There is no doubt that the scientific has bolstered youth work. What we know of brain and psychosocial development has become integrated into our practice kitbag. But, there is a big difference between using the knowledge of a profession and subscribing to its framework and philosophy. If we allow governmental managerialism and our own inadequacies to force us to give up what makes us unique we will regret it.

Let us know your thoughts. Leave us a comment.

Aaron Garth

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99% attitude and 1% skill: youth work students need to realise!

Posted on October 15, 2013May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

I have recently been reviewing the student placements of a number of youth work students. I have been speaking with their supervisors and have come to the conclusion that there is one thing that all youth work students need to know before they go on placement… it doesn’t matter how much you know or don’t know it is almost all about your attitude.

Many of the supervisors stated that they did not care how much the students knew they just wanted willingness to learn and a positive attitude. The students who showed these qualities were given great marks and amazing opportunities. For those that didn’t have the right attitude they were shunned and treated with reservation.

When you have students come into your organisation for placement gently remind them that their attitude is important to their overall success in their placement and in the sector. Skills are the 1%ers which can be taught. Attitude is the thing that will get them through every time.

Aaron Garth

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Developing leaders in youth work: Its crucial to mentor.

Posted on September 18, 2013May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

Many years ago after finishing my degree I asked one of my professors for some guidence with an piece of work I was doing. Without hesitation she said that she would be delighted as we need to develop more leaders in the youth sector. This short statement has meant a lot to me over the years but I never fully understood its importance until this year.

As a teacher of youth work students I can see the passion and future potential colliding every day I teach. The students of today will be the managers in a decade. The work we do now will pay dividends in a generation. Sadly though, it seems that there is little happening post the education of youth workers.

We who have been in the sector for a while need to mentor those coming through. Whether you are a coalface worker, a Manager or a CEO you need to support the next generation coming through. If we truly want to see audacious youth workers in an excellent sector then we need to impart our practice wisdom to those who are going to be the leaders of the future. Every organisation which employs youth workers should mentor them. Every professional association should develop a register of potential mentors. Most of all it should become part of our core responsibilities to the sector.

If one youth worker supports one other youth worker per year through their career then we will see a revolution. Imagine mentoring 30-50 other youth workers who in turn support another 30-50. We would have a highly supported and trained workforce for generations.

Our challenge to you:

If you have five years or more in the sector, find one person you could potentially mentor for the next 12 months.

Let us know how you go! Leave us a comment below or post a comment on facebook and twitter.

If you haven’t yet, sign up for our newsletter to find out all the goings on at Ultimate Youth Worker. (Sign up here)

Aaron Garth

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Is youth work suffering the death of a thousand cuts?

Posted on August 26, 2013May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

Over the past weekend I spent some time reading about the professionalisation debate which has swept the global youth work fraternity. I read that as an industry it is required of us to become more professionalised in order to cement our place in the human services sector. I read that we must become more stringent on who we let in and what we do to those who do not conform to the new ways. I read that we need associations to manage our professionalism in the same vain as nurses, psychologists and lawyers. I read and I wept.

There are few in the youth services industry which would not argue that we need to become more professional. There are even fewer who would argue that we don’t need more stringent requirements on those we allow into the sector. The issue that we see in the current professionalization argument is that we are forsaking youth work to be seen as equal to every other generic profession.

Youth work needs to stand up and be counted. There is little good in us becoming like every other cookie cutter profession. In doing so we will suffer the death of a thousand cuts. Every time we give up a little of our innovation or uniqueness to become more like other professions we die a little. When we become more like everyone else we lose something of ourselves.

Recently I was speaking with a youth work student who believed whole heartedly that the only way to do youth work was case management. She believed that the way she had been taught to do youth work over her studies was leading her into a case management role. This limited view came to bear as her lecturers sought to instil that case management was the highest form of professional youth work.

We are at the crossroads, and as I was told as a child we need to look both ways before moving forward. So far, most of the literature has not asked what the down side of professionalism might be… and this is the question that we most need to discuss. Because after all the fate of our sector rests on the decisions we make today.

You can also leave us a comment below or post a comment on facebook and twitter.

If you haven’t yet, sign up for our newsletter to find out all the goings on at Ultimate Youth Worker. (Sign up here)

Aaron Garth

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Local government youth work: Placation or proliferation?

Posted on July 17, 2013May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

In my illustrious career I had the privilege of being a coordinator of a small local government youth service for the lengthy duration of seven months. As I was transitioning to this role I was warned by a number of colleagues that this would be a difficult role for me to hold due to my own philosophical and professional beliefs in youth work. I wish I had have listened to my advisers then. Whilst I made some amazing friends and worked wit some extremely dedicated staff the constriction on youth service provision made the role untenable.

I have spoken to a number of my youth work colleagues who have worked for councils and have had a mixed response to my feelings. Many of my colleagues stated that council youth work provided them with the best possible framework for strengthening young people and providing opportunities for growth and development. That advocacy and participation are held as core duties and that programs work fills a gap in service provision.

I have also spoken to a number of youth workers who see council youth work as no more than placating residents and disenfranchised young people. They see the idea of program work and generalist work as proliferating disenfranchisement in young people. That at best council youth services provide a way of keeping young people off the streets and at worst provide an oppressive program keeping young people out of public life.

From my own experience I would say that the later is probably a bit far fetched, however many councillors and senior managers in local government have little understanding of the importance of young people in their municipalities. Local government youth workers need to be less constrained than they are at the moment so that they can provide locally focused responses to local issues. Youth workers in local government are often reminded that their client isn’t their community it is their councillors. This does place a clear line in the sand that youth workers must grapple with… especially when our profession believes that young people are our primary client.

Aaron Garth

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Youth worker education: The time for change is nigh.

Posted on June 11, 2013May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

A while ago we wrote on what post-qualifying education might look like for the youth sector. We had a number of people agree and disagree with our thoughts but the one thing that we kept coming back to was the current state of youth worker education. Our sticking point in these discussions was the lack of practical placement in current education.

In a recent survey of its members the Youth Workers Association in Victoria came to the belief that no more than 30% of a youth work course should be undertaken “on the job”. The reality of the average youth work degree is that it is more like 15%. The issue that we see is that youth worker education is becoming an almost purely theoretical endeavour. When the core of our work is developing relationships can this truly be taught through theory alone???

Recently I was chatting with a friend who is completing a degree in tourism and marketing and he was surprised to hear that we did not need to complete an industry year. In his course they complete two years of study, then an industry year, and return to complete their final year. This not only leads students to gain a practical understanding of their field, but also provides links to employment.

As a teacher in the field education of youth workers and a former employer I have noticed a severe lack of industry knowledge and practical skills in students and graduates of youth work courses. In our attempt to make youth work a theoretically sound profession we are losing much of the practice skill development. We are turning out a great number of theoretical practitioners but rare is the great practitioner.

We don’t need less practical placement in youth work education, we need more! You can’t learn youth work from a book…it must be learnt through doing it. Sixty-five days of placement in a couple of youth services is not nearly enough for students to gain a depth of understanding in youth work practice. We believe that the model of an industry year is a good starting point however to make it a worthwhile learning experience there must be opportunities to critically reflect for both student and organisation. Mentoring of new students is a possible answer to this conundrum. Perhaps universities could provide regular seminars on new research as a link between industry and academia.

The point is students need to have a stronger link to industry before they graduate.

Aaron Garth

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Police records and public perception: Youth work with conviction

Posted on June 4, 2013May 26, 2020 by Aaron Garth

Over the years I have had the pleasure of working with a number of young people who have had run ins with the justice system. Many of these young people have had people look down on them because of their infringements. A number of them have since become youth workers.

Over the last couple of years we have had a number of inquires and inquests into the abuse of young people in care in Victoria. It never fails that there was a lapse in organisational protocols that let someone with a record into a place of trust who then abused their role. However, for every one person who causes trouble hundreds more go about their job with honour. The issue however is that the public view and society more broadly is that if you have a police record you are not worthy of being placed in a position of trust. We are a species which seeks retribution rather than restoration.

This of course leads to issues in youth services as we believe strongly in the restoration of people, the focus on strengths and the ability for people to choose their own destiny. It is also an issue as many youth workers come from having been troubled youth themselves! I think we would be surprised to see how many youth workers had some sort of record.

To attempt to negate the negative we have instituted a number of safeguards including a Working With Children Check and Police Check to screen potential youth workers for their appropriateness. However, if you went by the general recommendation a person with a record would still not be able to get a position, whether your offence was superficial or serious. As an employer I have employed youth workers with and without police records. The seriousness of their offence is always one of my first questions but if it is a minor offence I am know to have a discussion.

I remember sitting in a court room when a Judge told a young man who was about to start a youth work course that he was an idiot for his infringements. The Judge told the young man that with his background and his knowledge of the justice system he would make a great youth worker. That was over a decade ago and I have had to deal with the fallout of a stupid decision ever since. Many youth workers are in the game to help young people stay on the straight and narrow and hopefully not head down the path that they trod.

Youth workers need passion and conviction. A conviction against their name is not necessarily a reason to exclude someone from becoming a youth worker. As with most things that develop an Ultimate Youth Worker its all about character. Whether you have a record or not I will not employ a youth worker if they can’t show character. If you have a police record let people know, show them your character. If you are hiring and a person states that they have a record have a discussion, see if their character is a fit for your organisation. Above all be transparent.

Aaron Garth

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