Day in the Life of our Youth Worker, Colin

28 June 2021

Have you ever wondered what our youth workers do on a typical day? Today, we speak to Colin to find out more about how he supports local young people through his work.

What’s a typical working day for you?
A typical working day for me includes attending secondary schools in either Reading, Theale, Thatcham or Newbury, to provide one-to-one support sessions for young students. Many of the young people I communicate with are going through social, emotional, behavioural or mental health issues, which has a huge impact on their life, in and out of school. The complexities of the individuals makes each day different from the next. Listening and understanding each case and then working out realistic goals and objectives which hopefully provides better outcomes to short term and long term issues.

Three evenings a week, I do detached outreach sessions in the Newbury area. This enables me to engage with young people in their specific areas and communities and to signpost them to services and other agencies conducive to their needs. This can also be seen as providing community cohesion between groups of young people, young people and the Police and young people and the general public, changing negative perceptions and stereotypes.

What do you find most challenging about being a youth worker?
I have this thing where I want to help everyone or at least get an individual to a place where they are able to flourish by themselves. Due to the challenging and deep complexities of the young people concerned, it is not always possible to provide successful and sustained support mechanisms for all.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy the positive interaction I have with young people and the ability to hopefully make a difference. Through this project the impact you can make on a young person’s life can be the difference between negative and successful outcomes.

What is your background?
Before becoming a youth worker, I had a career in I.T. and, after many years, I decided to have a change and took the opportunity of becoming a sports coach mentor at school for students with Special Educational Needs. After several years at the SEN school and successfully completing my Honours Degree, I advanced on my skills by working on the Intervention project at Berkshire Youth as a youth worker.