Ever wondered what youth work is all about or what the thinking is behind our activities? In our newsletter, we’ve started a series to explore this more and why we believe and know youth work makes a difference.

So, let’s start at the beginning…

Youth work is nothing without young people! Obviously!

Youth work starts with a young person making a choice to attend and engage on a voluntary basis. Youth work is not school and is not based on compulsory attendance, even when young people are ‘sent our way’ or referred to us by another organisation – it is still the choice of the young person to engage and involve themselves.

We believe there are two things we do as youth workers to enable young people to make that choice – offer high quality activities in safe spaces, and enable the growth of positive relationships with a trusted adult youth worker, and with peers.

In our week by week practice, that translates into the following:

• Street based/detached work – being out and about on the streets chatting with young people who are already there, getting to know them and signposting our wider work.
• Outdoor sessions on sports courts and in local parks – sport is popular with many young people and the games areas in many of our communities offer a simple place to informally gather young people together, play sport and build positive relationships.
• Open or Drop-In Sessions – often in a community centre, church hall or other accessible space, we create a safe and warm space for young people to be. These sessions offer good opportunities for conversations and starting to understand the challenges which many young people we connect with face.

Across Holme Wood, East Bowling, Bierley and Sutton we lead 15 sessions in this style, connecting with over 200 young people per week. This foundation is where the majority of positive relationships with young people start. It is also where we hear from young people about what they would like to do, what the joys and sorrows are in their lives and how we might support them further. Together we set the agenda for ongoing, more focused work with young people, but you’ll have to wait for the next newsletter to find out more about that!