Tag Archives: Youth Work

A new paradigm for world wide youth work

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For a long time now there has been a conversation going on in youth work. A professional/ para-professional dichotomy which many believe is subversive to the current push for professionalization. A conversation which preaches resistance to the neo-liberal free market push which seeks qualification over experience and cheap labour over appropriate supports.
 
The issue with requiring professionalism of a vocation is one which is being faced by social work in Australia and has been faced by psychologists. One of the issues which has and will continue to rear its head is if youth workers professionalise they will require higher pay. Higher pay in a free market means less workers. Less workers mean less appropriate service provision. Another issue is that of training and qualification. With over 75% of the current youth work employ holding a two year diploma or less where do we set the bar. The youth workers association in Victoria requires a bachelor degree for full membership. The Department of Human Services however only requires a Certificate IV for its youth work staff.
 
At Ultimate Youth Worker we believe that the professionalisation debate is currently doing more harm than good to youth work. In the storm and stress that is youth work we need all the boots on the ground that we can possibly muster. At Ultimate Youth Worker we see the current debate thinning out the herd. It makes qualifications the epitome of the profession and damns anyone else. Youth work throughout history has bucked the trends and required youth workers to think outside the square. The current push for professionalization places us firmly in the square.
 
Any dead fish can float with the current, It takes a live one to swim against it. We need a new paradigm to the idea of current professionalization ideology. We need well trained, well supported qualified youth workers! What we don’t need is a broad swathe approach to attaining this. We need a whole lot more practical wisdom in youth work. We need a whole lot more passion. We need a whole lot more accountability. What we do not need more of is control in the form of restricting sector size. We need to set ourselves apart from the pack.
 

What do you think? 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

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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First step of faith for Ultimate Youth Worker’s

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Welcome to another Monday Ultimate Youth Workers. I was recently read about the amazing work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the turbulent times of the 1960’s. There is something about a man who is thrown in to the deep end of such a massive issue that not only swims but tows a nation behind him. If that doesn’t motivate you nothing does.
 
One of Dr. King’s quotes that I read was, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”. Sometimes we don’t know what step two or three look like. We just have to take a leap. When Dr. King and the other brave residents who in 1955 Boycotted the Montgomery Bus for 385 days I am sure they didn’t think on day one that they would be there for over a year.
 
When Dr. King gave his “I have a dream” speech I don’t think that he saw the civil rights movement stalling after his death. I think he saw a moment in time where someone had to stand in the breach.
 
In his final days in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. spoke with an authority and wisdom that some people say could only have come from a prophetic knowing that the end was near. Most of the time we do not know how our journey will end we just need to take the first step in faith and hope all will work itself out in the wash.
 
 
What is your first step in faith going to look like?

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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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Mental state exam for youth workers: Mood and Affect.

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So far in this series we have been developing an understanding of the core components of a mental state exam. So far we have discussed how a young persons appearance, behaviour, speech and language can provide indicators as to their mental state. Today we discuss how a young persons mood and affect can provide insight into their current mental health status.
 

Mood

Mood is described using a young person’s own words. Happy, sad, angry, elated, anxious or apathetic. Many young people may be unable to describe their subjective mood state. Throughout my career I have seen a marked decrease in emotional intelligence in our society. It may take some work to flesh out how a young person feels. There are a number of resources to help young people to articulate their emotions, my personal favourites are mood dudes and the stones. In essence Mood is how young people see themselves in their own opinion.
Emotional intelligence in a squeeze ball
 
The key to remember about mood is that it is subjective. The young person is the master of their own emotional state. Only they truly know what is going on inside.
 

Affect

Affect is noted by us when we observe the apparent emotion conveyed by the person’s nonverbal behaviour. Affect may be described as appropriate or inappropriate behaviour to the current situation, and as congruent or incongruent with their thought content. For example, a young person who shows a neutral affect when describing a very distressing experience such as family violence would be described as showing incongruent affect, which might suggest PTSD. The intensity of the young persons affect may be conveyed as normal, blunted, exaggerated, flat, heightened or overly dramatic.
 
A flat or blunted affect can be associated with schizophrenia, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Heightened affect might suggest mania, excitement or anxiety and an overly dramatic or exaggerated affect might suggest certain personality disorders. A young person may show a full range of affect, or a wide range of emotional expression during your assessment. They may move from heightened to blunted or they may only show a single affect.
 
The key to remember about affect is that it is objective. It is what you observe about a young person. The key here is to be clear about what you are observing and why you believe it means what you believe. For example, “Aaron appeared sad. He spoke slowly, kept eye contact on the ground and cried“.
 
Stay tuned next week as we discuss part five: Thought process and content.

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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Youth work in the education system

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In the early days of my career I had the privileged of being a youth worker that went into our local high school. I was employed by my local church as a schools worker and spent much of my time running lunchtime programs. I spent much of my time building relationships with teachers, support staff and principals. I was in a lucky position. Many of my friends across the world had many more restrictions placed on them when working with and in schools.

One of the subjects in my Bachelor Degree was youth work and the schooling system in the course I learnt a lot about the way education has been framed through history and how it is placed in the current context. I also learnt that to be effective in the system that sometimes you had to work around the system. Honestly, it was one of my least favoured subjects. It really did not teach me how to work in the schooling system.

As youth workers we are guests in the education system. We are seen as providers of non-formal education… life skills and the like. When young people come to us they are not getting a qualification or an understanding of the three R’s (does that mean teachers can’t spell???). Instead we look after the other stuff. We develop the personal.

It is a sacred spot to work in the education system and we must honour the opportunity. The only way it can work is if the relationships are solid.

What do you think? 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)

You can sign up to have our blog posts sent straight to your email by adding your email to the subscribe button on your right, or click here.

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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Why youth ministers need to embrace youth work practices: Youth ministry in the 21st century.

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A while back I was reading a blog post by Mark Oestreicher, A youth pastor from the USA. In it he states that youth pastors need a title change. They should be known as youth workers. This comment made me both uncomfortable and elated at the same time. Uncomfortable as it brings youth ministry into a realm that took me over a decade to learn and thousands of dollars in university subjects without the need for them to gain training or experience. Elated because the more complex society becomes the more the average youth pastor will experience issues which they traditionally have not been trained for… and youth worker brings with it a sense of training. It does make us ask questions about our identity.
 
I have recently had conversations with youth minister friends of mine who disagrees with Mark. They believed that the average church youth ministry did not regularly come across young people experiencing issues such as homelessness, substance misuse and family violence. They believed that the closest that a youth minister comes to doing youth work is program development and perhaps mentoring. My colleague and I had a long conversation and suffice it to say I disagree.

My first sermon December 2004
 
A number of years ago I had a similar conversation with the leading youth minister at one of the largest denominations in Victoria. In the conversation he said that the average church did not want their young people exposed to poor, homeless or prisoners. Guys I am sorry but the bible that I read said that was exactly who we were supposed to hang out with. This conversation is one of the reasons I moved from traditional youth ministry to youth work.
 
That being said, a number of my youth ministry colleagues would also gawk at this vision of youth ministry. They spend their time with young people in detention centres, running advocacy campaigns and feeding the hungry. Many of the youth ministers deal with family breakdown, issues of homelessness and provide outreach in their community. In Melbourne though it seems the average youth ministry course has not prepared them to do this. They have had to learn on the fly and live by faith.

Leading a camp for children of prisoners in 2007

 

The 21st century youth minister needs to embrace their call and learn some youth work. The average church youth worker could do with a good dose of youth work theory. Perhaps a bit on youth participation and engagement or a bit of outreach and relationship building. They could do with a good dose of practice wisdom in drug and alcohol, program development and mental health. If church based youth workers are serious about being a resource in their community, schools and churches then its time to come into the 21st century. Young people are not turning to their minister for support any more because the average youth minister is not there, willing to step into the breach or trained to do it.

Youth Ministry in the 21st century is now and will become more challenging into the future. It is the person who recognises now the need for ongoing professional development and further training that will become the ultimate youth worker. This means that  bible colleges have a responsibility to teach their students more than before about young people and youth ministry students have a responsibility to seek out more about young people and how to work with them. Youth ministers must become more… they must become youth workers.
 

What do you think? 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)

You can sign up to have our blog posts sent straight to your email by adding your email to the subscribe button on your right, or click here.

 

 

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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Motivation Monday: Ideas for the Ultimate Youth Worker

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American composer John Milton Cage is quoted as saying “I can’t understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I’m frightened by old ones”.

What old ideas about youth work or the youth sector frighten you? What holds us back? What would you change about our current situation?

What new ideas make you thrive? What ideas scare others?

How will your ideas change the world?

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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Mental State Exam for youth workers: Speech and language.

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Over the past few weeks we have been developing an understanding of the components of a mental state exam. So far we have discussed how a young persons appearance and behaviour can provide indicators as to their mental state. Today we look at how a young persons speech can provide insight into their current mental health.
 
A young persons speech is assessed by observing their spontaneous speech, and also by using structured tests of specific language functions. during this time we are focussed on the production of speech rather than the content of speech, which we will address under thought form and thought content in weeks to come. When observing the young persons spontaneous speech, a youth worker should note and comment on paralinguistic features such as the loudness, rhythm, prosody, intonation, pitch, phonation, articulation, quantity, rate, spontaneity and latency of speech.
 
A structured assessment by a qualified speech pathologist is a great tool for diagnosing serious difficulties in speech however a basic screening can be performed by an aware youth worker. An assessment of speech includes an assessment of expressive language by asking the young persons to name objects, repeat short sentences, or produce as many words as possible from a certain category in a set time. Simple language tests form part of the mini-mental state examination. In practice, the structured assessment of receptive and expressive language is often reported under cognition which we will discuss in a coming cast.
 
Language assessment will allow you to recognise young people presenting with aphonia or dysarthria, neurological conditions such as stroke or dementia presenting with aphasia, and specific language disorders such as stuttering, cluttering or mutism. People with autism or Asperger syndrome may have abnormalities in paralinguistic and pragmatic aspects of their speech. Echolalia (repetition of another person’s words) and palilalia (repetition of the subject’s own words) can be heard by young people with autism, schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease. A young person with schizophrenia might use neologisms, which are made-up words which have a specific meaning to the person using them.
 
Speech assessment also contributes to assessment of mood, for example people with mania or anxiety may have rapid, loud and pressured speech; on the other hand depressed patients will typically have a prolonged speech latency and speak in a slow, quiet and hesitant manner.
 
If you know a speech pathologist or have the opportunity to do some training with one, do it! Aside from appearance speech is one of the most observable ways to notice a persons mental state.
 
Stay tuned next week for part four: Mood and Affect.
 

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)

You can sign up to have our blog posts sent straight to your email by adding your email to the subscribe button on your right, or click here.

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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The need to network: Collaboration for effective youthwork.

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Its National Youth Week here in Australia and we are ramping things up at Ultimate Youth Worker. This week Our Director of Operations had the privilege of hosting a forum for The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria. The forum focused on how youth workers can best provide opportunities for engagement and participation for young people. During this session on of the gaps that was identified in the local area was the lack of communication and networking between service providers.
 
 
Youth participation and engagement is our core business as youth worker’s. However, to be most effective we need to know what is going on in our area and who is doing it! A dozen youth workers from eight youth service providers spoke about the need for there to be more opportunities for them to meet each other and speak about the things that are going on in their area. Many spoke of their networking with each other on an ad hoc basis. Most knew of each others organisation. No one knew everyone or the programs which they ran. The networks were pretty much in disarray.
 
As the session progressed the youth workers began to get to know each other. They worked out what each other did and what programs they ran. They began asking each other more pointed questions. In all they got to know each other better. As we were finishing up it was a great thing to see all the youth workers exchanging numbers and working out times to meet again. Networking is an extremely useful and enjoyable experience but one we as youth workers struggle to do.
 
 
Whatever situation you find yourself in currently, you can always build your network. It doesn’t take going to a seminar or a training session. All you need to do is stick out your hand and say hi to another person. In youth work we need to have great networks as it sets us up to collaborate with other organisations to provide the best service possible to our young people. In the current landscape of service cuts and funding constrictions it is the service providers with the best networks that are moving ahead in leaps and bounds where others are flailing.
 
The difference between a good youth worker and an Ultimate Youth Worker can often be their network and collaborations.
 

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)

You can sign up to have our blog posts sent straight to your email by adding your email to the subscribe button on your right, or click here.

 

 

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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Mental State Exam for youth workers: Behaviour.

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“Oh Behave!” Austin Powers knew all to well that we toe a fine line as humans when it comes to ‘normal’ human behaviour. When we are doing a mental state exam we are observing the fine line between what our clinical brothers and sisters would call ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. Behaviour is an interesting phenomenon for youth workers to observe. It requires us to use our powers of observation and our own self reflection (apparently youth workers can be a little abnormal!) to determine whether a person is doing alright. We need to observe whether the young person is acting in a similar way to how they act most of the time or differently. Whether they are acting similar to their peers or completely different. Behaviour requires us to have an understanding of normal behaviour and abnormal behaviour.
 
Normal day or abnormal behaviour?
 

Movements

Tremors, shakes, tics, involuntary movements may indicate a neurological disorder, or they could be the side effects of antipsychotic medication, schizophrenia or drug abuse. If your young person is showing these types of movements it may be normal for them or it might be abnormal. It may be something serious like a neurological disorder or it may just be the effects of the drugs they have used. Your ability to observe this behaviour and refer them out to more specialised support will be key.
 
This also goes if they are hyperactive, rocking, gesturing wildly, fidgeting or unable to sit still. This may mean they are delirious or manic, or it might just mean they are excited or full of beans. Only your keen observation of their movements and your deep relationship will tell you if something is out of the ordinary or ‘abnormal’.

Level of activity and arousal

A persons level of activity and arousal may also provide insight into their mental state. Are they hyperactive (high action) or lethargic (low action)? An increase in arousal and movement (hyperactivity) which might reflect mania or delirium. An inability to sit still might represent akathisia, a side effect of antipsychotic medication. Similarly a decrease in arousal and movement (akinesia or stupor) might indicate depression or a medical condition such as dementia or delirium.
 
Of course if you are over aroused and hyperactive you may just be having a birthday, bar mitzvah or a wedding. You may be on a camp and really excited. If your young people are lethargic it may just be the last day of camp, the end of a boring group session or a distressing break-up with a cherished boyfriend. Your keen understanding of your young people will help you to know whether or not it was the red cordial or sad movie that is making your young person behave differently or whether it is something else more insidious.

Eye contact

The eyes are the window to the soul they say, and never more so was this true than whilst doing a mental state exam. Does your young person make good eye contact with the floor? Can they look you in the eye? What happens when they are telling you porky pies??? A persons eye contact can say a lot about their mental state. It can tell you if they are lying. It can tell you if they are psychopathic. It can tell you if they are nervous, sad or depressed. Eye contact is one of the most important behavioural signposts for us as youth workers.
 
There are of course some caveats  to this. If your young persons culture frowns on eye contact for example the aboriginal population in Australia. A young person will not make too much eye contact with an adult out of respect. A young person with eye issues such as having a lazy eye may not seem to be making good eye contact, but it may just be your view.
 

There is a danger

Behaviour is difficult to observe objectively. Not Impossible, but difficult. Most of us observe others behaviour subjectively. We watch through the lens of what we find appropriate. In some cases this is not an issue. We see someone hit their child with a lump of wood, or a person overdosing or a young person in a relationship with a 40 year old and our observation is that this is abnormal. For the most part this is right. When we start to look at others behaviour we must think about what they are thinking when they do this. Most of us do not behave inappropriately on purpose… too often anyway. There is also a number of theories from a number of very noted behavioural theorists that can help us determine whether a person is normal or abnormal.
 
Aside from the clear observable issues like shakes, poor eye contact or hyperactivity some peoples behaviour can just be different to us. One of the best way we know of to observe and relate to a person on a behavioural level is DISC. Disc is a quadrant based behavioural analysis tool which can help you to determine if another person is nuts or just in a different quadrant than you. Since doing some training in DISC and using this to view peoples behaviour I have found that my mental state exams (as well as my general observations) have become more clear.
 
PS. If you observe something that seems out of the ordinary, try to explain what it is. For example, ‘John seemed depressed’, will not get you much help from a clinician. However, if you say, ‘John seemed depressed as he was making poor eye contact, was mumbling and wouldn’t finish sentences’, then you are more likely to elicit a response from clinicians.
 
We hope this helps. See you next week for part three, Speech.

 

 

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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