Developing a professional youth sector is harder than we first thought.
Today I was at the Annual General Meeting of the Youth Workers Association here in Victoria. It was a modest affair with about a dozen die hard youth workers attending of the over 400 members. The Association launched its objectives for the next three years and reading through it I pondered how the objectives would […]
What is the best way to start as a youth worker?
I have been asked this question about a dozen times over the last six months by eager young potential youth workers looking to get a foot in the door to their future career. I have to say it is a hard one to answer. For me, I fell into it after a mate asked me […]
Managers need support to do their job: youth work depends on it.
For youth workers to be the best they can be, they need well trained and supported management. We need to have managers who have skills in supervision, people management and an understanding of youth work. They need to have organisational support from CEO’s and Board members to develop their staff and themselves. At a recent […]
Self care is a workplace health and safety issue
Self care is an OHS issue Over the past few months I have been reading as many articles as I could get my hands on looking at self care in the human services. One thing that keeps coming up in the literature is the issue of work stress leading to staff leaving the sector. Staff […]
We need to develop the future potential of the youth work sector.
In a month I will be speaking at a conference in my nations capital city about the need for self care in our sector. This is the one thing I would do with the rest of my life if I was only able to do one thing. If I was able to do two things, […]
99% attitude and 1% skill: youth work students need to realise!
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 […]
The youth sector must promote self care
Promoting self care One of my best mates in youth work said to me today that he had been speaking to a bunch of people about the work of Ultimate Youth Worker recently. He stated that he was surprised when almost all of them stated that they didn’t think there was an issue with self […]
Ultimate Youth Worker on C2Y Podcast: Youth Work Online
A couple of weeks ago our Executive Director had the privilege of speaking with Wolfgang Vachon of C2Y Podcast. In this cast we spent much of our time talking about the need for youth work to enter the online realm as it is where many of our young people can be found. This truly international […]
Good self care in youth work
Self care is an ethical requirement I have heard, over the past year or so, more excuses as to why youth workers can’t commit to self care than I care to recall. These excuses ranged from a lack of time and money to not knowing where to start and lack of support from management. Many of […]
Developing leaders in youth work: Its crucial to mentor.
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 […]