There has been an enormous amount of interest in our STORIES project, but inevitably it’s been hard work encouraging people to put pen to paper. Thus we’re really pleased to publish this first offering from an anonymous worker and hope that it will inspire others to tell their tales about the significance of youth work in their lives. In saying this it is appropriate to remind everyone of next week’s event in the North-East.

WHY YOUTH WORK? A participatory workshop

with Bernard Davies

Tuesday 5^th October 2010, 10.00-13.00

Park Road Community Centre, Elswick, Newcastle NE4 7RW    – details posted on September 4.

My interest in this subject is a result of my personal experience of community and youth work

An Anonymous story

The majority of my adolescent life was spent living with a parent that was struggling to battle alcoholism. I was responsible for the running of the household, managing the household income, doing the shopping, as my parent’s addiction would often result in them being unable to complete these tasks. Throughout this period I came into contact with numerous agencies that will now come under the integrated youth support services (IYSS).

One of the agencies I came into contact with was the education welfare officer as my attendance at school was declining rapidly. The last thing on my mind was my education, whilst at the age of 14 I was responsible for the up keep of the family home and attempting to intervene with my parent’s addiction. Their addiction was not picked up by the education welfare officer due to the fact I didn’t tell them about it or anyone else. I also went to great lengths to hide their addiction even from the rest of my family.

The next agency I came into contact with was the police as I became involved in juvenile crime. The role of the appropriate adult was taken in the numerous police interviews by a duty social worker or another family member, and again I hid the reality of my circumstances. I often felt a sense of pressure from these adult authority figures – that they would try and get me do something I wasn’t ready for or do something I simply didn’t want to do. As I now know my truancy from school was a coping strategy for dealing with the bullying I was subject to at school. If you look at the content of my story it represents a prime candidate on paper for a young person that would likely be involved in the IYSS and the information sharing agenda. Yet the reality was I had chosen to live on the outside of this data recording and surveillance. The key point here therefore is that these integrated services will only be productive if young people feel they can contribute on their terms. Though I have since gone on to share the content of my story with youth workers that I know and trust, it was important that I only told my story when I was comfortable to do so.

It was around this period that I was invited to attend a local youth centre by some of their detached staff. I was reluctant but apprehensively agreed. In fact my first encounter with the detached team was when I was with a group of friends: we were setting some newspaper alight at the local football pitch. The detached team attempted to say hello and to tackle our fire. They started by showing their identification badges to which we all responded with laughter and amusement, asking if they were weirdoes wanting to talk to kids. We then all ran off in laughter. They kept trying and on one occasion I attended a health workshop at the youth centre sampling fruit cocktails and having a health check. Perhaps the only difference between the health workshop and the initial contact with the outreach team was that there was something to attract us – a fruit juice cocktail that we just fancied it this time. This is perhaps the magic of youth work – that my first engagement was one of humour, all the way on to my life story noted in this account and going on to become a youth worker myself.

The youth centre provided a calm and welcoming space, away from the negative distractions of my home life. Yet the ironic aspect of my engagement with the youth centre is that I never disclosed the reality of my home life until much later when I was willing to do so. The centre provided access to a range of positive adult role models in the shape of the staff team. I shared many happy occasions with my friends and the centres staff on the outings we attended to the beach, football tournaments, bike rides etc. These activities could be seen as simple and often taken for granted, but I always felt welcome and it was unlikely I would get the same opportunities at home. Youth work has an unwelcome reputation of just taking a bunch of naughty kids to the beach with a bag of chips. But it is precisely these types of trips that developed my relationship with the youth centre so that in critical moments in my life noted in this account I was confident enough to visit the youth centre and ask for assistance.

These critical moments were not always restricted to the youth centre as it was just as likely I would see the staff doing detached work or at the local shop. More likely than not, though, it would be the local café where the youth centre managers would often treat me to a bag of chips from their own pocket. There is a danger that this local sense of place will be lost with the introduction of the My Place programme and it’s important not to throw away youth work that is delivered within a defined territory. The youth centre I visited was just an office on the High Street that from the outside looked no different from the numerous takeaways and second hand shops it was alongside.

On the inside the walls were covered with sexual health and alcohol awareness posters and in the middle of the room there was round table that was often where I would find myself sitting. There is a case to be heard for the construction of youth centres that are fit for purpose but the relationship between young person and youth worker should not be taken for granted and we all must ensure youth workers themselves are equally fit for purpose. It is not my intention to be critical of agencies that were involved in my life – only to highlight how important it was for an organisation to show an interest in my life whilst I was participating in enjoyable recreational activities.

The date of my GCSEs was approaching and I was still finding it difficult at home, and was beginning to get anxious about my grade prospects. My home environment was not a suitable location for revision, so the local youth centre gave me access to one of their rooms and their friendly support. I then enrolled with a training provider where I achieved an apprenticeship and full time employment, which the senior worker of the youth club supplied a reference for. I continued to visit the staff at the youth centre regularly as I was finding the transition to full time employment difficult. This was mainly due to the peer pressure I was subject to as a lot of my friends were becoming more involved in criminal activity. I was finding it difficult not to become involved in this and disclosed this to the staff at the project, who advised me that I should maintain my focus, as I had come too far to return to my previous lifestyle. I know now the staff were raising my sense of achievement, but for me at the time it gave me renewed hope I was doing the right thing.

It was then I asked if the youth centre could organise a trip just like the ones we went on such as football tournaments and bike rides as some on my friends were beginning to experience the results of their law breaking such as attending meetings at the youth offending team, threat of court and prison. I wanted to return to the trips we previously enjoyed basically before they ended up in jail – on which unfortunately I was proved to be correct. It was then a youth worker with an insight into the process of youth work, telling me that if a trip was to be organised we would have to organise it ourselves and behave appropriately. The trip never happened but it did open up to me that the youth centre would give everyone a chance as long as they did their best, no matter how little. As one youth worker said there is seven days in a week but when everyone remembers is the one day of the week they are troublesome, forgetting the other six days they are doing good things.

Then aged 18 I experienced a family bereavement. This had an adverse effect on my life but the staff at the youth centre provided a sanctuary. Though they all expressed their condolences, the must influential memory I took from this encounter was of a youth worker who disclosed they had also lost a family member at a similar age to myself. The process of grieving is vast and complex, but that one worker’s intervention made the world a better place by my knowing someone had been in a similar situation. I was due to go on my first ever holiday that month but was struggling to get the spending money as I had paid for the funeral costs. The youth centres staff organised a collection and donated it to me which was a welcome and much appreciated surprise.

After returning from holiday after finishing work at a local factory I visited the youth centre just to pop in, as the detached team were preparing to go out. The detached team always sat down and gave me what ever time they could, asking how work was going and just showing a general interest. It was then I asked the question that has gone onto have a fundamental impact on the rest of my life.

“How do you do this? What you do?”

I was asking how to I become a youth worker. The staff then gave me their support to enrol onto a local entry level youth work course which I was successful on being granted a place. On the induction evening of the course I was incredibly nervous and quiet, just trying to find my feet as I was the youngest of the class. Then there was a knock at the door – the detached team of the youth centre had came to show their support though their attendance was not welcomed by the course tutors as it interrupted the induction. It is still a fond memory of my seeing the detached team squeeze their heads round the classroom door to give me a wave before being shuffled to the exit by the course tutors.

A conversation of note during my transition from young person to youth worker was two youth workers taking me for a cup of tea in cafe, advising me that I can observe other youth workers and take bits of their practice to inform my own practice. What they made absolutely sure was that I made sure I was ‘myself’ as I had the skills to be a youth worker. More than wanting to be a youth worker the most pleasing aspect was being told that I was good enough to do something as a person. After this entry level youth work course I went on to graduate from University with a youth work degree and have become a youth worker.

I would like to take this opportunity to emphasise this account is not intended to illuminate examples of bad practice in agencies I encountered during adolescence or to paint community and youth work as the saviour. The intention is only to display the positive influence of the local youth centre which I attended voluntarily during this period. In short I am stating that at no time did I disclose to any organisation the circumstances of my personal life until I felt comfortable, but took a great deal from my experience at the local youth centre.