Youth Work – failing our young people

I am not a youth worker, never have been and never will be. But I have employed and worked alongside hundreds of them over decades. It is a difficult job that is underrated and misunderstood. My experience spans over two decades working for a local council and then founding a youth charity.

I have a different way of helping our young people to be all they can be. I am not a pink & fluffy type of person – you may already know that to be true! I am a realist who understands what it takes to be successful in the modern world and will not accept excuses for a lack of trying or giving up. I call my approach tough love. Not because I am tough, but because I love every kid I work with and want the very best for them now and into the future.

The government’s definition of youth work is supporting young people aged 11 to 25 to help them with their personal, social and educational development. This sounds very much like the replacement of parents with state-funded do-gooders.

It is a wishy-washy definition designed to ensure you have no idea what youth workers are really doing to your kids. Modern youth workers are woke semi-communists who are indoctrinating young people into a new way of thinking and how to perceive the world.

A council youth worker told me that a kid had told her who mugged an old lady on a specific estate. She said she could not tell me because her boss had said that they never break confidentiality. I did not want the name of the kid, only the name of the person they said it was. She went back to her boss - the answer came back the same. I reported it to my boss because council staff have a legal duty to prevent and detect crime. He spent weeks raising it with senior managers – we never got the name.

According to the National Youth Agency, youth work offers young people safe spaces to explore their identity, experience decision-making, increase their confidence & develop interpersonal skills. They are the professional, statutory and regulatory body for youth work in England.