However, if you are interested in working with young people, then you will be wondering whether you have the right skills that are suited to this type of job.  Before embarking on a career move in this direction, you may want to consider whether this is the right decision for you and whether you possess the personality traits that are required to be successful in working with young people.

A good communicator.  This does not only mean that you need to be able to talk to young people well, it also means that you need to be a good listener.  Young people respond much better to adults if they are willing to listen to their concerns and opinions and not just to dismiss them.  It also requires you to talk to them at their level.  They are no longer children and should not be spoken to as though they are.  However, they are not yet adults either, so not getting too complicated is a good idea.  They also respond to respect and will give respect in return if this is what they get from you. 

You must be flexible and adaptable.  This does not only mean being adaptable and flexible in your role in terms of changing appointments or taking on additional duties.  This means being adaptable and flexible with your approach.  What works with one person doesn’t necessarily work with another.  What worked well yesterday with a young person may irritate them today.  The ability to change your approach to fit different circumstances is essential when working with young people, although to some extent, this is something that comes with experience rather than just a natural ability to achieve this straight away.  If you are finding this difficult at first, persevere until you find strategy that work for you and ask the advice of a respected and experienced colleague.

Being thick skinned is a necessity.  The teenage years are turbulent times.  Whilst the hormones play apart, a lot can be attributed to the emotional conflict of being a young person.  They are stuck somewhere between adulthood and childhood and are trying to develop their personalities and become more independent.  This is sometimes in conflict with their need for support and understanding.  During these times, it can be common for teenagers to lash out at people.  This is often the people that they are closest too- parents, a support worker, their favourite teacher- as they feel that with these people they can let their feelings out.  It can often feel like you have worked really hard with a young person and built a good relationship with them, only for them to turn around and shout abuse in your face and blame you for everything that is wrong in their lives.  It is vital that you do not retaliate or take this to heart.  It is unlikely that the young person means it and more likely that they just needed someone to vent their anger and frustration on.  If you are going to be severely, emotionally affected every time a young person calls you a derogatory name then you will struggle to work in this field.

To find out if you have the necessary skills and personality traits to work with young people, it can be a good idea to get some voluntary experience first.  Try signing up to volunteer at your local Youth Centre for one evening a week.  This will give you the opportunity to work with young people and get to know them a little.  It will also give you the opportunity to work with staff that have experience.  This will provide you with the ideal opportunity to ask them any questions that you have about what it is like working with young people.

You don’t need to know James’ background, he was a kid in a muddle with a few misdemeanour’s under his belt who had found himself in the care of Anderida Adolescent Care, a specialist care setting for young people with a history of failed placements. But while James’ upbringing had been difficult and while he suffered knock backs often through no fault of his own, he had passion and enthusiasm by the bucket load. I was one of his carers and youth workers for a couple of years and while I may be writing a piece in part from the perspective of someone marketing an organisation, most of me simply wants to pay tribute to a lad who worked hard whilst faced with some all too familiar hurdles along the way.

The social care industry has doubtless taken a battering over recent times through mistakes and negligence by just a tiny sample of individuals within the line of work and when sharks smell blood they move pretty quickly. Moral panic is high on a lot of media’s agenda and when it gets its teeth into something, the black and white press can turn any difficult to manage situation into a story of failure and thoughtlessness on the part of those responsible. James however may be one of those stories that stand up to the relentless storm as it rains down soaking the industry and those voiceless individuals as they work day and night to help those that need a support network in order to survive.

Throughout James Julian’s time in care he was hard on himself about what kind of a person he was – he was, in my opinion, his own biggest critic, but while this is often seen as a fault it may be the reason that he pushed himself harder and further in all that he did. He threw himself into basketball. He played it, loved it and it wasn’t long before he found himself playing for the local side and then the Brighton U18’s team. He went back to school and grafted for his GCSE’s and was offered a place at college despite coming out of school at an early age. He started expressing himself through rapping; and when I say “expressing himself,” we’re not talking the kind of rap that you might hear about nothing in particular from a wannabe one man crime spree, but what he found to be the root causes of his problems, reminding himself in his words of what he can achieve and what he could become. But, it was his cooking that James found the source of his biggest passion.

“By the time i’m 30 i’ll have my own restaurant,” says James Julian

It seems a long time ago now when James would insist on his carers ingesting his unresearched concoctions of wild flavours, and if I’m honest, some of them were actually quite nice, but James thoroughly enjoyed being in the kitchen and rustling something up and once that blue touch paper had been lit, there wasn’t much that could stop him.

As James approached the end of his time at Anderida he enrolled on a catering course and would bring his work and ideas home and his culinary expertise started to evolve and his food became progressively more delicious as he immersed himself and quickly picked up key skills and developed a good palate.

James went on to live in his own place, carried on at college whilst working and picking up experience in various kitchens. Effectively James “held it down,” he stayed focussed and kept his passions alive whilst life continued to throw it’s ups and downs “It can be tough living on you own,” says James “Getting up, motivating yourself and remaining focussed is the toughest hurdle to overcome.” Anderida continued to see James on a regular basis through an outreach programme to help James in any way that they could; more often than not it would be to take him to the supermarket to stock up on fresh supplies and as is the norm the outreach became less frequent until James was happy to go it alone.

A little while ago, I received a call whilst in the office from a man asking for the unit manager, she was unavailable at the time so I asked if I could help and I was delighted to hear that it was James with a “bit of good news.” James had been finishing at college and had been named The Colleges Most Promising Chef of the Year. “It was announced on the last day of college so it was all a bit emotional, but once it had sunk in I realised just what an honour it was. College was a great experience,” he said.  His catering talent was also deemed as being of a such a high standard that he and some of his college team were entered into The Nestlé Toque D’Or, a contest for catering teams from colleges to create a fictional restaurant, brand it, run it and create dishes for it. The contest rewards the next generation of industry talent and is recognised as one of the most challenging competitions in the industry. Previous celebrity chef participants include Anton Mosimann, James Martin and Jamie Oliver – all representing some of the finest talent in the profession and James and his team got through to the Grand Finals in Birmingham. The project culminated in a presentation and in true gregarious fashion, James stepped up to the plate and did a rap about his food that impressed the judges and caught the eye of one judge in particular; amongst the well respected and Michelin Star decorated panel was TV Chef , James Tanner whom, after the competition was over, James took it upon himself to approach. James Tanner was so impressed with James that he offered him a trial at his restaurant in Plymouth, The Barbican Kitchen. James went to stay down there for a few days and has been offered a full time job and understandably, he is over the moon and already planning for the future. “I’m 19 now but by the time i’m 30 I should have my own place (restaurant). Mentors at college have instilled in me the necessity for planning in this industry and I owe that to Val Rodriguez and Ron Lee of Sussex Downs College. My Mum and Dad have always been there for me everyday and for that i’m thankful and my Sister has been an inspiration: she’s articulate, she works hard and she has seen out her education, but now she’s starting to say that about me!“

Perhaps the cherry on top of all of this, a local radio station, Sovereign Radio organised a local hero awards where James was awarded “Young Achiever of the Year” for all of the above. He was unable to attend due to work commitments but his two very proud parents collected the award on his behalf.

Mr and Mrs Julian Collecting Award on James’ Behalf

I’m not writing a piece on a famed Gordon Ramsey type here. James isn’t quite hosting his own show and cruising in a Benz just yet but we have here a small scale success story that who knows, could develop – I always thought that he had the charisma and enthusiasm to become a TV chef, but James would probably have me for saying that! I do know that, thanks to James’ desire, ambition and flair and a well grounded support network of committed individuals he will be alright though, “Anderida helped me find out who I was by giving me the freedom and avenues to discover what I’m all about. They gave me great encouragement and helped to motivate me whilst always offering me support. I wouldn’t be where I am today without that support.” But you won’t find this on the front page of your tabloid tomorrow morning, will you?

Ross Lewis, Anderida Adolescent Care