Doing youth work without being a youth worker

 A recent article written for The Salvation Army by Jon Riki, Youth Worker

For the past three years I have been working with the Roskill South Rec youth team. I was born and have been raised in the community I now serve.

I have seen many youth workers and youth clubs/events come and go in that time with one thing staying the same. Young people are continually growing up with more and more challenges.

What does youth work look like for those that aren’t youth workers? Everybody has some body that looks up to them in some way shape or form; in our roskill south leadership program its focus about leadership development to better our neighborhood contributing back through projects. So what happens when the participants are nearing the end of their time at school or course and they are looking at their possible career options for the future? This youth work thing that they have been apart of is looking appealing? As sad as it sounds not all of us can become youth workers.

The truth is we need everyone to have a youth worker approach to young people in our community but maybe not full time or paid ones. It takes a whole village to raise a young person and in this sense we need every adult in a community to have an active interest in the young people around them. What could it look like for those that still have a interest in the well being of young people in the community whilst still moving on their own journeys. A style off informal youth work without the title is easier then it sounds, it’s a shame that a lot of the positive role models have to be paid as a form of work like youth work to be apart of a young persons journey.

I have been thinking about what it could like; role modeling, mentoring, programs, projects, sports, faith groups and school, all of these things are easy enough to be a part of while still balancing other commitments such as work, why is there a feeling for wanting to do this full time? It is a privilege to have young people stand up and show concern for others and want more for their community but what are we missing when we build them to maybe not become a youth workers but be a leader in their own right in a community that desperately needs them.