Get more sleep!!!
Over the past month my sleeping patterns have gone completely out the window. Sleep is one of the most important things for our health and mine has suffered for it. Here is a little reminder of how important sleep is: Aaron GarthAaron Garth is a Melbourne-based youth worker, social worker, and mental […]
Local government youth work: Placation or proliferation?
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 […]
A sense of entitlement: youth work education in the 21st century.
Over the past few months I have spoken with over a dozen youth work educators from throughout the world about the calibre of youth work students coming through there courses. These course range from one year to three years and have people from all walks of life coming in droves to study. But one thing seems to […]
Firm, Fair, Friendly but never Familiar: Boundaries in youth work.
Over the years I have been asked hundreds of times about how to set boundaries in youth work. I have spoken to this issue in youth work classes from certificate to degree level. I have spoken on this in supervision session and in seminars. I have also written about it in this blog. Recently I […]
A small group of thoughtful, concerned youth workers changing the world.
A little over twelve months ago I was part of a small group of youth workers at their wits end with how the youth sector was progressing. We were concerned about the current curriculum for youth workers. We were concerned about the lack of good ongoing professional development for the sector. We were really concerned that […]
Guest post on youthsectorblog.
Our guest post is being published on the collaborative blog youthsectorblog.wordpress.com today – it’s a frank discussion on the lack of mental health training given to youth workers in the current youth work curriculum. Feel free to post in the comments about how witty, insightful and amazing it is!!! If you’ve come to Ultimate Youth […]
Calendar management for the youth work professional.
Here is a little something that doesn’t get taught in school but will change your way of working forever. I was listening to a podcast a while ago and this changed my life. There were a number of casts which speak about calendar management which we will summarise here. Family first The most important […]
Top 5 blog posts of the first twelve months of Ultimate Youth Worker.
Well its almost been twelve months! On the 26 June 2012 we started out on a journey to support youth workers and the organisations they work for and never looked back. It has been an interesting time. We have made many friends and a few enemies. We have asked you all to imagine a new youth […]
What is youth work without innovation and risk?
As a youth worker in the current neo-liberal regime we are told to play it safe, cover your arse and don’t do anything that could get you in trouble. We are living in a world of risk aversion! We see our young people as always at risk. We are at risk of losing our job. […]
Bring a pen and paper!!!
A short one today! Over the last couple of weeks I have been working with a number of student youth workers helping them with their field placements. One of the most frustrating things tat I have seen in these new recruits to the sector is something which has become more prevalent over the last decade. They […]