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

It also suggests that neighbourhood is a localised problem in a particular physical space, rather than a wider social problem. Despite its negative outlook, the policy has highlighted the need to take into account young people’s experiences and participation. (Chapter 4, p.135). Young people’s experiences and perceptions of neighbourhood may differ from policy formulations, public agendas and the views of professionals and adults. Findings in a study entitled ‘Inventing Adulthoods’, showed that young people didn’t feel respected within their communities and felt resentful of the way they were perceived. These perceptions have shaped the agenda for neighbourhood practice. (Chapter 4, p.145). Neighbourhood practice can take many forms. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the term community became attached to various job titles. This sometimes meant that the person worked in a particular community or locality. Alternatively, it can be associated with working in a certain way. This implies a more collective, multi- agency way of working. A more collaborative, participatory practice. Sometimes, this entailed working to develop the community, enabling them to help themselves. (Chapter 4, p.136). This links with the initiatives of New Labour for communities to help themselves. Neighbourhood practise recognises the different ways in which young people may be disadvantaged and, as shown through collaborative work, involves many different occupational fields. (Chapter 4, p.150). Youth and Community Workers were encouraged to leave youth centres and engage with young people on their territory. This is referred to as detached or street work. (Chapter 4, p. 136). This is an area that I have experience, working for over five years as a Youth and Community Worker, for three years of which I led a team of detached workers. Detached work empowers young people and encourages participation. Detached work is often undertaken collaboratively with contributions made by other organisations, such as, local authorities, the police service and Connexions. It could be said that neighbourhood practice has emerged from Youth and Community work, as a way of working in a locality with young people. This type of neighbourhood practice may include a diverse range of work various cohorts of young people. (Chapter 4, p.144). An example from my own experiences of successful detached work was a project about two years ago to create an outdoor space for young people. The young people participated from conception, through to design and then implementation. We worked alongside young people, the police and local authorities to identify problems in the neighbourhood, these included drinking, lack of stimulus for young people and graffiti. The young people then planned various designs for the space including a skatepark, all-weather sports pitch, children’s play area, seating area and a graffiti wall. The idea behind the graffiti wall was that if young people had a space where they were allowed to create street art, then it would reduce incidences of graffiti elsewhere in the neighbourhood. The project proved a success and the area is well used. This is because the young people were empowered and encouraged to participate. The area is never damaged because the young people feel a sense of ownership over the area, it is something they worked for. It also gave young people who were at risk of becoming socially excluded the opportunity to be a valuable member of their community and to make a valuable contribution. The project was also beneficial in building mutual respect and trust between young people, Youth and Community Workers and other professionals. One of the negative aspects of youth work that I have experienced is the element of risk. You are working in the young people’s territory and have to be gradually accepted by them. When you make initial contact with a group, you do not know if they are under the influence of alcohol and drugs, if they are carrying a weapon or whether they will react in a hostile manner towards you. An example from the course material of collaborative neighbourhood practice is shown on DVD 3. This outline work undertaken by the police, Youth and Community Workers and other professionals. This involved young people from the London area, of mixed gender, the majority of wom were black and half were young offenders. Some were referred to the project and others were recruited from local youth clubs.

The intention was for the young people to manage and stage a music event at a university. (Chapter 4, p.141). The aims of the project were tto facilitate mediation between young people and adults, offer career guidance and access to personal development and to address issues around anti-social behaviour and youth crime. (Chapter 4, p.143). They discuss the problems of finding out what young people want and the reasons for the problems that they are experiencing, such as, lack of recreational space, lack of places in youth clubs and nowhere else to go. They then go on to discuss how they involve young people in projects and build up both tolerance and mutual respect. One project undertaken was the ‘Urban Streetz Smart’ project. Young people were taught to sing, dance, DJ and manage their own event. Although they experienced some problems, they were discussed between various professionals and the young people and solutions were reached. The project was deemed a success by the young people, the professionals and the local community. Aidan MaCDonald, who talks on the DVD, says that he believes that the project was successful because the perspectives of both the young people and the professionals was taken into account and that they worked collaboratively. Also, they built up trust and respect within the community. (DVD 3). In conclusion, neighbourhood can refer to your locality or relate to popular culture. Commuity is related to neighbourhood and may refer to the people you live near or have similar interests to. However, community can have negative connotations for some groups of people. Social exclusion refers to people being at risk of disadvantage within their community or neighbourhood and this can be due to a number of factors. The Social Exclusion attempted to identify problems in society that led to social exclusion and highlighted that the perspectives of young people were important in developing policies. These perspectives were the basis for the development of neighbourhood practice. This can take many forms. However, detached Youth and Community Work in collaboration with other agencies and professionals has proved a successful form of neighbourhood practice, as is evident from the examples given. It has benefited many young people, regardless of class and background. There are disadvantages of this type of work, however, such as, lack of continuity and risks from unknown young people on initial contact.

References

KE308, DVD3, Professional Lives: Institutions,The Open University, London Kehily, M.J, (ed) (2007), Understanding Youth: perspectives, identities and practices, London, Sage, The Open University London South Bank University (2006) Inventin Adulthoods, www.lsbu.ac.uk/inventingadulthoods/index.shtml[accessed 20/02/06] Mayo, M. (1998) ‘The shifting concept of community’ in Allott, M. and Robb, M. (eds) Understanding Health and Social Care: An Introductory Reader, London, Sage/ The Open University Social Exclusion Unit (2001a) A New Commitment to Neighbourhood Renewal, National Policy Action Team Audit, London, Social Exclusion Unit Robb, M. (ed.) (2007) Youth in context: frameworks, settings and encounters, Chapters 4&7, London, Sage, The Open University.