BBC Children in Need Special: How to become a youth worker

Harvey

Hi, I’m Harvey. I’m an aviation activities officer. Aerobility is a charity, which endeavours to offer disabled people the opportunity to fly a light aircraft. Flying offers the ultimate sense of freedom and satisfaction. When a disabled person takes the controls, it encourages the question, if I can fly a plane, what else can I do? I was born with cerebral palsy, which was caused by an accident during birth and is a brain injury. After college, I decided not to go to university, I then went to retail and bounced into charity with Aerobility. I decided to face my biggest fear, which was my fear of flying and in the time it took us to take off from the runway, I became someone who had a fear of flying to someone who aspired to be a pilot. And I have now gained my private pilot license, meaning that I can fly an aeroplane solo. From one day to the next, I can be running flying days, teaching on our youth programmes, to looking after admin in the office or engaging with our charity partners and partner organisations. BBC Children in Need fund the junior aspiring pilots programme, which is a short course for 12 to 18 year-olds who have an interest and ambition to take to the skies. When I see young people coming back after their first flight, their mood is generally euphoric. And this has an ongoing effect. We genuinely see young people doing better at school, maybe better socially.

How was that?

Contributor 1

That was great yeah. It was a bit bumpy on the way back.

Contributor 2

It was amazing! Absolutely loved it! When you take off and you sink into your seat.

Harvey

Growing up, I had a lot of help from various people, and it feels very rewarding to give that back and share my passion with aviation. My advice to any young person who wants to do a job in charity, would be to start putting in the ground work now, make yourself more resilient and more confident. Get volunteering and turn your passion into a job.

Gifty

I’m Gifty and I’m a youth worker for Duffus Cancer Foundation. The charity supports the wellbeing of young people and as a youth worker, I help coordinate the sessions and workshops. Back in 2015, I lost my mum to breast cancer. That experience was very heartbreaking because I never lost anyone so very close to me before. So dealing with that, especially at a young age, it was hard to navigate that. So my dance teacher referred me to DCF. The sessions really helped with my confidence. Being surrounded with positive people and getting the advice and guidance that I needed. Just after I turned 18, the charity approached me with a job opportunity, the transition was quite a big jump but I’ve seen some of the young people who have been shy at first, but suddenly they were able to gain confidence in themselves, especially when they keep coming back to the sessions. There’s no better feeling, just to see I’m making a positive impact in their life, especially with their wellbeing. The kind of tasks that I do as a youth worker is planning the meetings, come up with ideas and activities and make sure the staff are doing the roles they’re assigned to, to make sure that the session is running smoothly and making sure the young people are also feeling comfortable.

Contributor 1

I get to meet new people from like different ages and like different backgrounds and I’d say, it’s boosted my confidence levels.

Contributor 2

We have something in common, so it’s something that we can all relate to. They really helped raise my self-esteem. I think Gifty can be quite an inspiration for younger people. She makes you feel really comfortable when you’re around her.

Gifty

Hi. Welcome back to better self podcast with DCF where we talk about topics on Mental Health, wellbeing and challenges that young people face.

Gifty

The core skills that are needed for being a youth worker is having good communication skills, being reliable as well, having good time management, having great social-interaction skills, being confident as well. This job is very interactive so you kind of really need that confidence.

Gifty

If anyone wants to do a job like mine, I would suggest doing volunteering work. It will just give you a glimpse to what a youth worker job is like. And, if you do become a youth worker, I hope you love it and enjoy it as much as I do. So, good luck!

Gergo

I didn’t even know what youth workers did or what a support worker was. I’ve always gravitated towards helping people. You know, I just found a passion for it and I guess that’s why I’ve been here for over seven years now. Hi, I’m Gergo and I’m a music project coordinator and youth support worker. I use anything to do with music as an engagement tool to support vulnerable children and young people. I’m originally from Hungary but I've been living in Swansea since I was 12 years old. I’ve always been into music. Even though I have a degree in Music Technology, it’s not essential for the role although because I’m a musician myself I think it’s a more natural way for young people to connect with me as well because they can see where they could be in a couple of years so it’s a really good way to engage with them and mentor them as well. Children in Need fund my full-time role here. It is a three-year project and I support 60 young people a year. We focus on supporting young people who don’t have much confidence or have the opportunity to try new things. Also supporting young people who may be suffering with their mental health and we hope to empower them through music.

Gergo

What I would like you to do Ben, is ignore the compressor for now.

Gergo

Ben is a young person on our project who’s currently learning how to produce, mix and master his own songs. It really is amazing to see how far he’s come, his production skills have got so much better. I’ve seen a significant change in his confidence and self-esteem. One of the best things about my job is seeing how much young people actually get out of just learning a song and being so proud of what they’ve achieved.

Gergo

Once you’re happy with it, the final result is just amazing.

Ben

Yeah!

Gergo

The core skills for this role would be to want to help people, to want to make a difference in your community. My advice to someone who is interested in doing my job is to go and volunteer at youth centres or youth clubs or even YMCAs. Hopefully by doing that you will find something that’s perfect for you.

Egija

I never really thought that psychology was something that I would enjoy, but I realised practical psychology was something I enjoyed a lot more than the actual educational side of things. I think that’s what makes us good at this job. Hi, my name is Egija and I am a young carers project coordinator. A young carer is a young person, under the age of 18, who provides care for a family member who has a physical disability, a mental health issue, someone who misuses substances, or someone with a long-term illness. I wanted to become a teacher, so I applied to go to university and I did Educational Studies and Psychology. I soon realised that I really enjoyed the psychology side of things to learn more about child development and how our environment shapes us but it doesn’t define us. I had to do different placements in different primary schools and soon realised that maybe teaching wasn’t something that I really wanted to go into. But, I still knew I wanted to work with young people. On a yearly basis we support around around 100 young carers. One of the things that we were able to provide as part of Children in Need funding is providing young carers with a fitness tracker. So, that means young carers can engage in fitness activities, monitor their steps, monitor everyone else's engagement and actually have a healthy competition going. Yeah! From day to day I could be doing many different things as part of my role. I could be attending meetings for young carers to represent them and give them a voice. I could be running one-to-one sessions to make sure young carers have a chance to talk to a trusted adult. I could be organising and delivering different activities. I could be doing assessments to assess the needs of a young carer. Working with the families to put together an action plan to make sure that they get the right support and when they come to YMCA you can see them develop so much.

Contributor 1

I’ve been coming for about 7 or 8 years now. It’s really helped me with my weight loss so I signed up for Y-fit. They’ve supported me with school, trying to get my grades up and that’s helped me majorly.

Contributor 2

We all support each other and talk to each other about any struggles that we’re having at home and how we can all help each other.

Contributor 3

Egija is a really supportive friend. I feel like my life has changed coming to YMCA. I feel more comfortable and I’m more happy.

Contributor 1

Egija has helped me with so many things, I wouldn’t be have stood here right now without her.

Egija

I absolutely love my job. I think being a part of someone’s journey is an absolute privilege and an honour because I believe every interaction, no matter how big or small makes a big difference in their lives and it helps them develop and become better versions of themselves. How are you feeling now? For anyone interested to do the job like mine, get to know your local projects and see what they’re doing and how you can get involved. Try out everything to just find what your passion is.

Khalifa

There is so many times guys that I’m in a room and I’m often the youngest person there with a massive age gap and I’m like… oh this is a bit intimidating, but actually, I stop and say to myself, my age is the asset. My name is Khalifa and I’m the community coordinator and deputy safeguarding lead at a youth charity called Reaching Higher.

Khalifa

Good morning guys, this morning, I am feeling absolutely well rested. I am still planning our summer project and I’m also going to be on a training course. I will show you guys a little behind the scenes of how we make sure all of our staff are trained and well equipped to work with young people. I’m now dressed, going to make myself a nice smoothie and head to work. Got my laptop bag, my personal bag, my smoothie, my little breakfast and I'm good to go. So, guys I’m not going to blog whilst I'm driving. It’s not safe. Reaching higher is a youth charity which champions young people to become leaders of their own lives, and I play the role of being able to seek these opportunities, liaise with schools, produce projects and encourage young people. We are half-way through our first-aid training and right now we are about to do some CPR training. Another part of youth work is ensuring you are skilled to the best of your ability so… that may be identifying what training you need. So, if you had done first-aid training, say two years ago, it’s still good to do a refresher course. Guys, breathe, concentrate. We are so fortunate to receive funding from BBC Children in Need. Every single young person that comes into contact with us is able to access the mentoring, whether that be through group, peer or one to one and with that funding we have also been able to train all of our leaders, volunteers, professional workers, youth workers and our core team in how to effectively mentor a young person. I take great pride in being able to show a young person how much they possess within, some just want support with self-esteem, how to be more self-ware and self-confident because adolescence is a challenge. And I also work alongside young people who are at high risk of joining gangs or county lines and I just feel it’s my responsibility and my role to help support them to produce a different outcome for them. I am in a position where I’m able to contribute to empowering young people and to me there is nothing better than that.