Tag Archives: reflective practice

Podcast 039 Why research must inform your practice

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In todays episode of the Ultimate Youth Worker Podcast “Why research must inform your practice” Aaron speaks to us about the need to use evidence based practice in our youth work. We look at the need for professionals to have a theory base in their industry which informs the way they practice.

Why research must inform your practice

All too often youth workers get tarnished with the reputation of the slackers in the wider human services sector. We just drink coffee and play pool with young people right? Well the sad fact is there are a lot of people who call themselves youth workers out there that this reputation is well deserved. They have no or very little qualification. They have the “experience of one”. If you ask them they are amazing youth workers with all the experience they ever need.

Unfortunately, the average youth worker struggles too. Many youth workers we speak to haven’t read a journal article since they did studies, rarely read a book on youth work and are not part of their professional association. Part of it is the way our profession has been framed, more as a vocational rather than an academic’ profession. We don’t have many University courses. Our professional associations are fledgling and state based with little national leadership in the sector. Our professionals focus on building professional skills in further education with it being rare to see a youth worker go on to a higher degree by research to build knowledge of the youth work profession.

In this context the youth work profession finds itself severely under the pump. Many of our programs are government funded and expected to use evidence based practice to ensure the quality of those programs. As a profession we borrow from many other professions knowledge base and co-opt it for our own purpose. We need to address these short comings if we are to strengthen our profession and the support we can bring to bear for our young people.

Today’s resources

Here are links to some articles and training that have bearing on todays podcast:

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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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Alternative career

Alternative career and Ultimate Youth Workers

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Alternative career

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.

Alternative careersI 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.

Alternative careerToday, 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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Reflecting

Podcast 018: Reflecting in the moment

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Reflecting
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In this episode of the Ultimate Youth Worker Podcast ‘Reflecting in the Moment’ Aaron speaks with Jessy about the importance of critical reflection in the moment. We hear about critical reflection all the time in our degree programs, we read about it in journal articles, yet we rarely find the time in practice. 

This episode explains how reflective practice is key to our work as youth workers and how reflecting in the moment is core to best practice.The best youth workers actively seek to identify opportunities to reflect on their own interactions and practices with young people. they then seek opportunities to address any concerns or areas for development.

Great youth workers look for models we can tailor to our work

Aaron Garth

The rate of youth workers who are leaving the sector is one of the highest in all professions. Vicarious trauma and burnout are listed as some of the highest causes of youth workers leaving. In fact this is part of what led to us starting Ultimate Youth Worker. We had seen many of our friends and colleagues leave the sector, when something as simple as a little critical reflection on a regular basis would have helped to keep most of them excited and empowered to do the job for longer.

Three levels of reflecting

In this podcast Aaron looks at the three levels of reflecting used by the Ultimate Youth Worker staff team:

  1. Reflection on the issues. Venting is the most common way we see this happen. It is bitching at its best. We release the pressure cooker and let loose on everyone around us. This is ok in small doses but when it is continuously happening it is quite damaging.
  2. Critical reflection. It brings a level of depth. Looking at our values, understanding of the world, our own history and how all of these things influence how we reacted in situations.
  3. Reflexivity. Taking our understanding of all the stuff we have been critically reflective about and then turning our new found knowledge into action.

 Today’s resources

Thanks for Listening!

     To support the podcast, donate here!

To share your thoughts:

To help out the show:

  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
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  • Buy a book

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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Podcast 017: Practising Critical Reflection

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Critical Reflection
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Critical ReflectionIn this episode of the Ultimate Youth Worker Podcast ‘Practising Critical Reflection’ Aaron speaks with us about the importance of critical reflection and the model put forward by Jan Fook and Fiona Gardner.

This episode explains the three part process for practising critical reflection. This multi-disciplinary model is used across the human services sector world wide and is one that youth workers should be familiar with.

We hear every day that youth workers are feeling a sense of powerlessness, that they fear risk and the consequences of risk, and that they are faced by increased complexity. We want to be the best, but we feel overwhelmed by the job.

Critical reflection is spoken about extensively in youth work education courses however when youth workers enter the workforce we hear that there is no time for it, there are no structures in place to do it and there is minimal if any support from management to start running it. For a profession that quite literally deals with life and death critical reflection is a must for all youth workers.

You want to provide the best service to your young people, you want to have a long and successful career in youth work, you do not want to be burnt out by the job, then begin to implement this model into your practice. If you do, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the average youth worker.

 Today’s resources

Thanks for Listening!

     To support the podcast, donate here!

To share your thoughts:

To help out the show:

  • Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
  • Subscribe on iTunes.
  • Buy a book

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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Let’s talk about reflective practice.

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Reflective Practice

I was in a youth advisory committee meeting for a local council last week and we asked each young person what issues they are passionate about. One of the answers really stood out to me, a young person said “I am passionate about recognising and understanding my privilege and using it to give a voice to those less fortunate than me”. How many 14 year olds do you know that can reflect so deeply on a topic such as privilege? I was astounded and inspired.

This got me thinking.. when have I been required to be critically reflective about myself and my work? Whilst there is some reflective practice involved in team meetings, supervision (that’s a whole other story in itself) and trainings, I don’t recall a time where the main focus was on critical reflective practice. With this in mind I decided to get in touch with you, our Ultimate Youth Worker community, and find out what your thoughts are on reflective practice.

Here are some of the responses:

“Youth Workers should use this process to talk about the things that are affecting you personally. What has been a situation with a client that are made you uneasy, or made you frustrated or angry, or made you nervous, or that you have ‘hit the wall’ with a client. You should unpack that and get in touch with what is going on, it will help you.”

– Paul McDonald, Anglicare Victoria.

“Reflective practice is extremely important in youth and social work to avoid experiencing vicarious trauma. A few years into my career, I worked with a particular family that caused me to suffer vicarious trauma. I was young myself and their story was particularly harrowing and frustrating. I wasn’t in the headspace, both professionally and personally, to truly acknowledge how this situation was affecting me. I had one-on-one supervision but at that time it wasn’t adequate, and I would stay late every day, long after everyone else had gone home. After many months of this, the trauma seeped into my personal life and eventually I realised what was happening. As my career has progressed and I have now managed a team, I see the vast importance of reflective practice, both individually and as a group/team.

Within our team and site, we have one-on-one supervision, group supervision with a child psychiatrist, group supervision with an occupational therapist who is a child trauma specialist, as well as practice reflection as a site. These are absolute non-negotiables now and are compulsory for all required staff to attend. The work we do is tough, and without these safe spaces to be able to reflect on what we do and how we do it, as well realise how our work affects us, we cannot do the best work for the people we support.”

– Sammy Hoppe, Launch Housing.

It’s great to see positive comments on reflective practice, it goes to show that there are some structures and processes out there that work really well to support staff in their personal and professional development. However I have come across a large number of youth workers who express the opposite concerns about the support they are getting with regards to reflective practice. In our experience at Ultimate Youth Worker, we find that this is partly due to a lack of a clear model for critical reflective practice for youth workers. One particular model that we find effective in our practice is Jan Fook and Fiona Gardiners framework for critically reflective practice, outlined in their book ‘Practicing Critical Reflection’.

In short, the framework is broken down into three phases and is usually facilitated in small groups, but it can also be used in a one-on-one setting. Firstly, the participants are asked to go through the process of ‘unsettling assumptions’. In this stage, the participant is asked to reflect on their practice and how it is affecting them, but they are also asked to unpack their assumptions based on their social and cultural context. The reason the term ‘unsettling assumptions’ is used is to ‘shake up’ the thinking of the participant in a way that they start to experience a degree of discomfort and explore hidden assumptions that they normally wouldn’t. Which in a supportive and clinical environment can foster greater and deeper learning. The second phase focuses on linking the learnings from the previous stage with theory and practice relevant to the individual and their work. In the third phase, which we argue is potentially the most neglected part of reflective practice, the participant goes through the process of linking their changed awareness with changed actions. This third phase is the most important part of reflective practice.

In their book, Fook and Gardiner state that “The climate and culture of the critical reflection process are probably as important as the tools and techniques used.” They continue by describing how important it is for the facilitator to create an environment where participants acknowledge the potential pain, risk and vulnerability involved with reflecting. I would love to say that I’ve had such a detailed and structured reflective practice session in my years as a youth worker, but unfortunately this is not the case. A story that I’m sure is all too familiar. What are your thoughts on this model? Would you want it to be implemented in your workplace? Share your comments in the section below.

If you would like to read more about the model, we suggest reading “Practicing Critical Reflection” and “Being Critically Reflective: Engaging in Holistic Practice”. If you feel you need more support in this area, contact our Director, Aaron Garth at [email protected] to have a short discussion about how we can support you.

Thank you to all of our amazing community members who have sent through their thoughts and ideas on reflective practice, we really appreciate your input.

Until next time, watch out for the crocs!

Jessy Hall

Jessy is the Community Engagement Coordinator at Ultimate Youth Worker. Jessy has been working as a youth worker since 2014 in a variety of different roles. His passion for youth work began whilst volunteering on a YMCA program for young indigenous leaders, after being inspired by the strength and passion of the young people on this program he immediately began his studies at Chisholm Institute of TAFE where he completed a Diploma of Youth Work. Since then, Jessy has expanded his knowledge and skills in the field by working in residential care facilities, being part of an Australian first evidence based foster care program (TFCO) and partaking in various trainings in youth mental health and other relevant areas to his work.

Jessy currently lives in Melbourne but is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime and drive around Australia in a four wheel drive with his partner. He plans to work along the way and explore the different opportunities available for youth workers in Australia. Jessy has dreams to one day start his own organisation dedicated to developing the next generation of socially engaged and passionate young people.

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Youth work in the silly season

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Surviving is key to the silly season.

December One. The beginning of the silly season. The first day of the run to the end of the year. ‘Every year I dread this time. Yeah there is the awesome Christmas parties and friends and the end of the year. The flip side however is that it is also really busy. It is also the time of year that really hits home for a lot of our clientele just how much their lives are not the same as others. Their short on cash, their family doesn’t look like someone else’s, their future doesn’t look like they thought it would and everything looks bleak. During this time of year many of the young people I had worked with came to crisis.

silly seasonThe dichotomy between the joyous and the pain of the silly season which we as youth workers are stuck between is mind-blowing. It is often this time of year that we see a rise in family violence, crime and suicide. It is all of this and more which makes our days busy. We find that from clock on to clock off we are aware of the suffering of our young people. It is also this time of year that many youth workers are also struggling. As our young people suffer so do we. It is vicarious trauma.

[Tweet “The dichotomy between the joyous and the pain of the season which we as youth workers are stuck between is mind-blowing”]

So in the beginning of this silly season I ask you to consider two things. First, remember that this time for your clients may be one of the hardest. They may need extra support from you during this time just to deal with the fact that the silly season brings forward a lot of raw emotions. Second, I ask you to think about how you and your colleagues are coping. What are you doing to look after your self care? How are you looking out for each other? Perhaps only a couple of drinks at the Christmas party this year!

If we can look out for ourselves and look out for our young people just a little more emphatically over the coming month then perhaps we can limit the effects of trauma and vicarious trauma which comes during the festive season.

Lets look out for each other!

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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‘I was told I wouldn’t have time for reflective practice when I qualified as a social worker’

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I recently came across this great article from Community Care in the UK through a post by the amazing Teenage Whisperer, Sam Ross. Sam reminds us that good supervision and support to reflect on the work is of extreme importance… something that as a social work student and youth worker in Australia we seem to lack as well.

Check out the post from Community Care here:  ‘I was told I wouldn’t have time for reflective practice when I qualified as a social worker’

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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Using writing as a tool for critical reflection: Youth worker skill building

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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… but I just couldn’t put pen to paper and make sense of my world.

Four years later as I was completing my final placement for my youth work degree I was again thrust into the world of journaling. I still hated it. This time my pen to pare looked more like case notes than critical reflections. This is what I did… This is what I saw… This is who I met with… and on I went. My supervisor rebuked my lack of insight into the work we were doing. I really hated reflective journaling. 
About four years ago now I was in a very sticky situation at work. Suffice it to say I was a mess. one of my mentors suggested that I journal my experience and the groan and roll of my eyes told him just how much I was looking forward to that idea. But the old Vietnam vet wouldn’t leave well enough alone. He dug in and asked me what I had done previously that made me hate the idea of reflective writing. I told him and this time he groaned and rolled his eyes. The next hour or so changed my mind on reflective writing and set me on a course to leading other there.
Reflective writing is not a chronicling of events, a case note or even a dear diary entry. It is the systematic untangling of the intangible and the obscure. It is making sense of the senseless. It is opportunity to grapple with feelings and values when we feel like we are drowning in emotion. Over the years I have read widely on reflective writing and here are a few of my favourite kick starters.
  1. Write about the situation that is causing you concern  from a different vantage point. The clients, a parents the fly on the wall.
  2. Spend five minutes free writing (what ever comes out of the end of the pen when you put it to paper) then pick one idea or word from that and write about it.
  3. List all your feelings about a situation and then write for five minutes about one of them.
  4. List all the people involved in a situation and then write a short bio as if they were actors and the situation is a play.
  5. Write a letter to yourself about the situation in the third person
  6. Write a letter to a child about why you love your job
These are just a few ideas that I have used to jump start my critical reflections over the years. They may not all work for you, the trick is to just do something.
P.S.  I still hate writing but the therapeutic and supervisory gold that comes from reflective writing cannot be underestimated.

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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We need to do better: Critically reflective practice and supervision in youth work

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This evening I sat in on a class preparing students for a masters degree placement in the human services. The topic for the class was supervision and particularly reflective supervision. As a company that believes we need a better class of reflective practice and supervision I was really keen to see what they would tell students. Sadly it was a waste of time.
 
The students were shown an article about a critical supervision model and were told to role play a scenario using the model. Then the class ended! This was the only class these students ever had about critically reflecting in supervision. I was shocked!!! The students had a model for critical reflective practice, however it was clear that very few of their placement supervisors really did critically reflective supervision.
 
We need to spend more time on the idea of critical reflection and supervision especially in higher education. What more can we expect when  our students have a two hour class on the subject. We believe that for our sector to really become critically reflective it needs to be taught from the first class in our qualifications. For supervisors to be able to supervise well they need better training than a two hour class.
 
If you are an educator, a supervisor or a coalface worker we need to do better at critically reflective practice and supervision. Join with us to make this a part of your practice.
 

Apply for supervision today

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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What can youth worker’s learn from ANZAC day?

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Today Australians throughout the world stop to pay tribute and remember those who lost their lives in World War One and subsequent conflicts. We remember that these young men and women fought for the cause of freedom and lost their lives to help us live the lives we live today. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. Lest we forget.

As a youth worker I was reflecting recently on the role of youth workers during both world wars. In many ways it was the height of youth clubs. Whether groups like Boy Scouts, the Hitler Youth or the Boys Brigade they all had a surge during those world conflicts. In most cases the youth workers who were involved sought to bring the best in their young people to the fore through skill building and service. However, they also became recruiters for military service.

Youth workers even today find themselves in this role. How many young people have joined military service instead of going to jail after a well meaning youth justice officer persuades a judge that this would be a good option? How many young people have met recruiters in their schools after the welfare team set up a careers day?

Military service is not a bad thing at all. In fact I know many young people who without the military would have ended up in really bad places. The question for youth worker’s is about transparency and role power. There were a number of youth workers on all sides of the wars who used their influence and role power to insight young people to join up and train with malice in their hearts. There were a majority Who supported young people to join up for the cause of freedom and peace. The difference was transparency and use of their role.

Today we are less likely to see a world war than in years gone by. However we are still recruiting young people to fight in conflicts throughout the world. As a youth worker we have a lot of power and influence over young people. We must make sure that our actions are clear and transparent and bring about good.

What do you think???

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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