Youth Work Blog

An Interview With Aaron Garth – A Local Government Youth Worker In Australia

February 20, 2013 By Stephen Pepper 2 Comments

Aaron Garth Ultimate Youth Worker As part of our series about different types of youth work, this week we have an interview with Aaron Garth – a local government youth worker in Australia.

1. What type of youth work do you do?

Currently I am the Coordinator of Youth Services for Mitchell Shire Council, a small semi-rural council on the interface of Melbourne, approximately 40 km north of Melbourne.

I am also Director of Operations for Ultimate Youth Worker, an Australian based company that provides training, supervision and support to youth workers and their organisations.

2. What do you do in an average week?

Is there such a thing? I coordinate a small team of youth workers so I provide supervision sessions to them. We have team meetings, community consultations and PAPERWORK. Most recently we have been building a number of skate parks in the area involving project meetings, dealing with construction crews, consulting with young people and council officers, and writing dreaded reports.

With UYW we blog, write and record podcasts, run webinars and supervision sessions for individuals and groups. I spend around 20-30 hours per week on top of my full-time position with the council.

3. How long have you been doing this type of youth work?

Council just on 6 months and UYW coming up on three years.

4. What other types of youth work have you done previously?

Drug and alcohol outreach
Dual diagnosis rehabilitation
Family services/Child protection
Volunteer management
Working with children of prisoners
Youth homelessness; and
Church based schools worker

5. What age range do you work with?

Young people – ages 10-25

Youth workers – my eldest client is about to turn 63

6. What’s unique about working for local government?

We are firmly based in the bureaucracy of local government. We are often stuck between council policy and community outcry. Many of our projects are community education in nature and provide an opportunity to inform young people on key issues. We also provide a large support role to other youth focused organisations.

7. What are some of the good things about your type of youth work?

Working in local council means most of my work is place based. This gives me the opportunity to develop strong links to the community, which I can then leverage to help my young people. I know all the schools, the community groups and the young people who frequent the services and skate parks in the area. I have freedom to develop programs to fit the needs of young people in their specific context.

8. What are some of the challenges of local government youth work?

Being over 100 km from the city, we sit in a peri-urban corridor; not quite city but not quite country anymore either. There is a huge lack of transport options and services for young people. Because of this we are the first point of contact for many of the 7,000 young people and their families when it all goes pear shaped. It is also an area that is difficult to attract funding as it is neither country nor city.

9. Why are you passionate about this type of youth work?

It is a type of youth work which sits closest to what I learnt about at uni. Young people are my core client. It is generalist. It provides an opportunity and outlet to advocate for the betterment of young people. I also love the ability to develop a whole area of the community through the place-based focus.

10. What would you recommend for someone wanting to get into local government youth work?

Get a solid understanding of community development principles and of public participation. The IAP2 framework is known throughout local government in Australia and is held as best practice. Be keenly aware that your young people are your client and advocate at all levels for their interest first and foremost, even if that puts you in an awkward situation.

11. Is there any special training or qualifications required?

Tertiary qualifications of at least diploma level are highly sought after, but experience in a council environment is worth more than a qualification.

12. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Youth work in a local government context is complex in its components, yet simplistic in its form. You are there to provide the most opportunities for your young people that you possibly can. Be passionate… it will guide your work. Get training… it will frame your work. Get support… -you will need it.

Aaron Garth is the Director of Operations for Ultimate Youth Worker – an Australian company that provides high quality professional development for youth workers to build and maintain longevity in the field. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated volunteer with his local church youth ministry. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne, Vic with his wife of 5 years Jennifer & their daughters Hope and Zoe.

Aaron Garth – Cert IV AOD, B.Soc.Sci (Youth Work)

Director of Operations

Ultimate Youth Worker

‘Development for the future’

PH: +61. 430 064 165

M: P.O. Box 3114

Eltham, Vic, 3095

E: aaron@ultimateyouthworker.com.au

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ultimateyouthworker

Twitter: @Ultimate_YW

Blog: http://ultimateyouthworker.blogspot.com.au/

If you’re a youth worker and would like to take part in this series, please contact us.

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Should We Use The Same Youth Retreat Center Again?

February 19, 2013 By Shae Pepper Leave a Comment

Q: I was unhappy about something the last time we used a youth retreat center. I’m not sure if we should go back to the same place or find somewhere new – what do you suggest?

A: Depending on the situation, I certainly can’t suggest you return to a retreat center you felt uncomfortable with, but with good communication you may not need to end the professional relationship with that center – it may have been a one off.

If you do decide to use a new youth retreat center though, try these three things when choosing one so you can be proactive in avoiding possible issues during your stay:

1. Do your research

The internet is full of information and reviews about centers all around the world. Take the time to compare and contrast the companies, find reviews and call or email the center for more information. You’ll be able to get some ideas about how they do business and what a retreat might look like with them.

2. Go somewhere you know or where someone you trust has been

There’s a reason word of mouth is so powerful to businesses. Often people trust people, that people they trust, trust.

3. Visit the center yourself while activities are going on

Even though someone you trust has used a center, you’re ultimately responsible for the safety and enjoyment of your youth on the trip. Take the time to watch staff lead activities, interact with one another and youth and get a feel for the retreat center culture (is everyone happy, grumbling, bored, etc?)

Once you’re on a retreat it’s really important to remember that this a service you’re paying for, so you deserve to have things done right, in a way that you prefer and which takes the safety and enjoyment of your youth into account.

The Importance Of Communication

The key is all about communication. If you have an issue with staff at the center, make sure you take your issues immediately to the center management, especially if it’s a safety concern.

I was on a retreat once and was participating in a trust game with my young people. The center staff were observing the activity as they were running it and one of our youth didn’t have a partner. I was blindfolded for the trust activity. The entire group spread out over a large field during the activity. Two youth got into a disagreement and one walked off into the woods. It wasn’t until 5 minutes later when the game ended and I removed my blindfold that I was aware a youth had left the grounds. When I asked the staff where the youth went, they just shrugged. We searched for our youth for over 45 minutes – he was found safely hiding in the toilets.

The young person did get a talking to about walking off without notifying our staff (me or my colleague) about the issue. Time and space is certainly acceptable, but I’m responsible for the youth’s safety and I’d appreciate a heads up about their whereabouts.

The larger issue here was the attitude of the staff. They saw the entire situation happening and were trained retreat center staff – not just some volunteers who had no idea about how to run a group or keep youth safe, particularly in the woods. I immediately documented the incident and went to the management of the retreat center. They were apologetic but didn’t offer any real solutions to the problem other than to ‘look into it.’

Sometimes, even with preparation and planning, things can go wrong and accidents can happen. But, if you just don’t feel good about returning to a center, then don’t. However, if you feel like the retreat center did everything possible and you’re willing to give them another try then do it.

In my situation, even though our organization had used that center before, I decided to find other youth retreat centers for future trips based on my personal experiences. I was able to find a center that placed youth safety first and worked with me to ensure that youth had a safe and enjoyable time. They listened and acted on any concerns or questions I had about activities and group dynamics and worked hard to make sure that everyone in our group – myself included – felt great about our retreat experiences at their center.

Question: Have you ever had problems with a retreat center? How did you deal with the situation? Let us know in the comments below.

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5 Great St Patrick’s Day Activities

February 18, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

St Patrick's Day activities If you’re looking for some St Patrick’s Day activities, check out these 5 ideas that are great for doing with kids and teenagers:

Activity 1 – Green Things

This youth group game can be done by splitting the group into smaller teams. Give each team a pen and paper and have them list as many different green items that they can think of.

This could include obvious things (like frogs, bottles, etc) to more vague things (bags, paper, etc). You might want to have some catch-all categories for things like vegetables and fruit, rather than them listing 50 different fruits and vegetables – that doesn’t have to be the case though.

Before the game, make a separate list of 10 green items of your own. Award one point for every green item that each team has listed, with them earning 3 bonus points for each item that is the same as one on your own list.

To save you time, here are suggestions for what items you could use for your own list:

Boogers
Bottles
Dishwashing Liquid
Eyes
Frog
Guacamole
Incredible Hulk
Nail Polish
Paint
Statue Of Liberty

Activity 2 – Green Food

The second of our St Patrick’s Day activities is to have the youth make all kinds of different green food. This could include ingredients that are naturally green like fruit, vegetables, pistachio nuts, Jell-o, etc, but you can easily jazz up other ingredients for St Patrick’s Day.

Just get some green food coloring and add it to milk, rice, mashed potatoes, eggs (for green eggs and ham!) and more.

Activity 3 – Pot Of Gold

For this youth group game, you’ll need some pots (or buckets), masking tape and gold coins or chocolate coins.

Put a line of masking tape on the ground. Split the youth group into teams and have them stand in lines behind the tape. About 10-15 feet away, put a pot in front of each team and then give each team the same number of coins.

Team members should take it in turns to try and throw the coins into the pot/bucket. The team that manages to land the most of their coins in their pot wins. If using chocolate coins for the game, you could give those as a prize.

Activity 4 – Scavenger Hunt

Organize a St Patrick’s Day scavenger hunt for your group where they have a list of items that they have to collect – what gives it a St Patrick’s Day theme is that all the items they find have to be green.

You can find a more detailed explanation of how to organize this scavenger hunt here, where you can also download a free printable list.

Activity 5 – Go Green

Our final suggestion is to get your young people to go green by doing some kind of environmentally friendly activities. Plant some trees, do a litter-picking fundraiser, have a recycling drive, etc.

Question: What kind of St Patrick’s Day activities are you doing with your youth group? Let us know in the comments below.

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A Parent’s Guide To Understanding Social Media – Book Review

February 15, 2013 By Stephen Pepper 2 Comments

Mark Oestreicher & Adam McLane – A Parent’s Guide To Understanding Social Media

4.5 / 5

This book is part of a series of ‘Parent’s Guide’ books published by Simply Youth Ministry (see our review of A Parent’s Guide To Understanding Teenage Guys). It’s written by Marko and Adam who are the founders of The Youth Cartel and have been involved in youth ministry for decades.

Initial Reaction

Before reading it, I’d questioned the wisdom of this book being published in the first place. The social media scene is changing all the time, so I figured any book published on the subject now could easily be irrelevant within a year or two.

The good thing is, Adam and Marko were clearly aware of this – they even make reference to this very problem in the book. This book therefore isn’t a guide to specific types of social media like Facebook and Twitter, although they do cover these two sites more than others, giving various stats about them and how young people are currently using them.

How To Parent

Instead, this book gives overarching ideas and principles for parents to guide them in how they can approach the subject of their child’s social media usage. There’s no scaremongering involved – the authors don’t sensationalize anything or make it seem like every teenager is posting naked pictures of themselves online.

They’re also very realistic about the fact that even if parents ban social media accounts, young people can easily find a way around them. It’s therefore much better for parents to help guide their children in how they should conduct themselves online (and off), particularly due to consequences that they may not have considered.

In fact, they even suggest that it can be counter-productive to install things like internet blocking software, going so far as to describe it as lazy parenting! Instead, parents should be proactively involved in how their children are using the internet.

Even though it offers suggestions for people on how they should parent, it’s not done at all condescendingly. Besides, if a parent’s reading this guide, there’s a good chance that they’re wanting guidance on how to parent when it comes to social media.

Practical Tips

Despite being a fairly short book (all the books in this ‘Parent’s Guide’ series are of a similar length), it has numerous useful tips that parents can put in place in their household.

This includes suggestions like:

Having computers in public areas in the house
Having access to your child’s accounts
Having all family members (i.e. parents too!) keep mobile devices in one central location overnight to charge

In my opinion, these are the types of extremely useful ideas that parents may not have thought of, so make the book worth getting for that reason alone.

Privacy

This guide also covers the all-important topic of online privacy and how young people’s actions now could come back to haunt them again in the future.

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t done in a scaremongering way, but is an important issue to address with youth as once something’s online, deleting it doesn’t mean that it’s gone.

Good For Both Christians & Non-Christians

Marko and Adam are both involved with youth ministry, so some small sections look at social media from a Christian perspective. However, it’s not at all preachy so I’d feel comfortable giving this book to parents who aren’t Christians.

All the underlying principles and ideas are valid whether or not you’re coming from a Christian perspective – we’ve therefore bought a copy for some friends of ours who have a teenage daughter.

Downsides?

Similar to the Teenage Guys book, the flow of the book isn’t always completely smooth due to the need of advising which of the authors is writing at a given point in time.

For example, you have sentences that read:

When I (Adam) fell…
When I (Marko) post…
Over the years I (Adam) have…

Like I mentioned in the other review, I’d personally have preferred it to be laid out slightly differently:

AM: When I fell…
MO: When I post…
AM: Over the years I have…

Again, this is my personal preference and doesn’t negate the great ideas and information that’s throughout the book.

I can therefore highly recommend this book for all parents of young people who are old enough to be using social media.

It’s also an excellent resource for youth workers. Even if you’re well versed in social media, the book will give you many ideas that you can pass on to parents. Better yet, get them a copy of this too!

Buy A Parent’s Guide To Understanding Social Media

Amazon – Paperback

Amazon – Kindle

Youth Cartel – Paperback

How To Use Vine For Youth Group Activities

February 14, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

For this week’s session idea, we’ll be looking at how you can incorporate Vine in to some of your youth group activities.

What is Vine?

Vine is an app owned by Twitter that enables you to shoot short videos and upload them easily.

The distinctive thing about Vine is that your videos are restricted to 6 seconds in length and they loop over and over GIF-like.

The videos can either be 6 straight seconds of footage, or you can record several short clips (e.g. 6 x 1 second) that are automatically spliced together.

How Can I Get Vine?

At the time of writing, it’s only available on the Apple App Store, although it’ll no doubt come to Android soon enough.

How Can Vine Be Used In Youth Work?

There are a number of different ways you can incorporate Vine in to your youth group activities. Here are three suggestions:

1. Drama

Drama can be an excellent way to get young people exploring issues. Split your young people into smaller groups and give each of them a scenario – this could be relating to drugs, their faith, peer pressure, parents, school, etc.

Have them put together a 6 second skit that relates to the topic. Some ideas include:

Exploring the consequences of an action, particularly if it relates to an issue that youth deal with
If you’re a Christian youth group, have them act out a scene or concept from the Bible. Pick one that requires them to condense the story or theme (e.g. Fruits of the Spirit, one of Jesus’ miracles, etc)
How they feel about something – this could give them an opportunity to explore their emotions in a way they may not feel comfortable talking about normally

The good thing about restricting the filming to 6 seconds is that it gets the youth to work on the skill of being concise (similar to the Retweetable Interview resource).

This in turn causes them to think more deeply about whatever topic you’ve chosen, as they have to convey a story in its most basic form and get to the root of an issue or action. This is particularly beneficial if you’re getting them to consider consequences of their actions.

2. Film Festival

Put together a youth group Vine Film Festival based on either the activities suggested above or one of your own ideas. Once all the videos have been recorded, play them to the whole group who can then decide which one of the videos was the best.

You could also get this pack of 12 award trophies as prizes for the winning team.

3. Promotion

Record short clips of your youth group activities that can be used to promote your youth group. You could video:

The culmination of a messy game that just loops over and over
The young people worshiping
6 x 1 second clips of various different activities to give an idea of all the different fun stuff you do

Privacy

Be aware that videos recorded using Vine are public. Therefore, if your young people appear in them and you’re going to be using the footage on things like Facebook, your youth group’s website, etc, have their parents sign a form agreeing to this. See our post about photo release forms to give you an idea of what to include.

You can adjust the settings so that the video is private, but this means videos can only be viewed using the Camera Roll on your phone.

Anything Else I Should Know?

Due to the proliferation of a certain type of questionable video content when the app was first launched, they changed the rules so that you have to be 17 to download the app.

If you’re trying to use the app for filming youth group activities and you’re working with under 17s, you have a couple of options:

1. Only use your phone / the phone(s) of your volunteers – If you have young people use your phone to do the filming, make sure they’ve supervised so that they don’t access any of the aforementioned questionable material.

2. Use the regular video recording function on your phone – You can still restrict the recording to 6 seconds if the aim is for the youth to be concise. It does mean though that the video won’t loop unless someone does some editing after the recording.

Question: How would you use Vine for youth group activities? Let us know in the comments below.

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