Before I became a senior youth worker, I sold software packages. Hardly my dream job but it paid the bills. Of all the packages that I enjoyed selling, the complete recruitment software package was top of the pile. You really know you NEED to change your job when you are actually looking forward to selling a piece of software…

Like many youth workers, I started at the grass-roots level: following someone around who already knew what they were doing. And let me tell you it was a hard few days right at the beginning. In the space of a week I had to break up two serious fights, one dispute which looked like it would escalate into a fight, and talk to one poor young girl who had become pregnant at the age of 15. It was a tough wake-up call, make no mistaking. But I stayed with it, hoping that things would get easier.

Things did get easier. Though that’s not to say that the actual job became any less difficult, if that makes sense. What happened was I became more at ease with doing my job and how to talk to young people. It happened slowly, but now I can safely say that I am in the right job. In fact, there are plenty of days when I love the job I’m in.

listening is the most important. If you can’t listen, you can’t truly know what someone’s problems and issues are

Of course, one of the big things I need to do in my job is mentor new support workers; people just like who I used to be when I first came into the profession. My role, really, is to help them settle and make sure they are at ease with doing what they have to do. Some of the time it’s very difficult, and I spend a lot of time calming people down, but very often the new lot take it in their stride. Especially if they have come from a similar background as the youth they are talking to.

Of all the things that I need to do on a day to day basis, listening is the most important. If you can’t listen, you can’t truly know what someone’s problems and issues are; listening properly is the only way to really understand what someone is going through and, in turn, help them with their particular issues.

Every so often, of course, and as is expected, there is an event which is more troubling. I hear of someone getting beaten up badly and have to go and see them to find out what started all this. Fortunately, though, these times are few and far between. Personally, I like to think that my words might stop it happening again, or at least make a young person think twice about what they are doing and how they live their life.

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