Types Of Youth Work - Youth Workin' It

An Interview With Shae Pepper – Schools Project Coordinator In The UK

May 15, 2013 By Shae Pepper Leave a Comment

Shae Pepper Schools Work — Shae when she was working in a school in Thailand

As part of our series about different types of youth work, this week we have an interview with Shae Pepper who, in addition to being a Prevention Training Specialist and Girl Scout Troop Leader, used to do schools work in the UK.

1. What type of youth work did you do?

I was a Schools Project Coordinator in the UK. I also did schools work in Thailand and currently do prevention work in schools in the US.

2. What did you do in an average week?

I led small groups of students in year 9 and year 10. The program was based on sessions such as life skills, local volunteering, global charity fundraising, a media project and a one week residential (retreat). The youth worked towards a Youth Achievement Bronze Award throughout the program.

I worked with a different group each day for six hours; we picked them up from school, dropped them back off at the end of the day and served them lunch.

I also did one-to-one mentoring on Fridays and had an administrative day on Mondays.

3. How long were you a schools worker?

I did that specific role for 2 & 1/2 years in the UK. I also work in schools now as part of my role as a Prevention Specialist.

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

Youth participation programs, social-inclusion/social-enterprise programs, faith-based youth ministry, youth re-entry program design, Girl Scout troop leadership, prevention services and project-based education programs.

5. What age range did you work with?

I worked with youth who were between the ages of 11-14, my preferred age group.

6. What was unique about being a Schools Project Coordinator?

We were able to work with the youth about school issues and social skills in partnership with the school, and yet the youth were released from school into our care one full day a week for the entire school year.

7. What were some of the good things about schools work?

I’m passionate about youth finishing school – I myself LOVE school and learning – so it’s great to work in an environment that fosters (or should) a love of learning. One of the reasons I’m not a teacher though is that I love informal education rather than formal teaching methodology. Therefore, youth work in a school fits nicely into both parts of me that want to teach and educate while still maintaining a less formal relationship with youth.

As a morning person, I also loved the 6am – 3pm schedule.

8. What were some of the challenges of it?

The main challenge was proving its worth so that youth could continue to be released for groups. Over the years, it got harder and harder to get youth released for a full school day into our care, especially when there was such a focus on academics. The program really had to show high retention and achievement rates.

9. Why were you passionate about schools work?

I love schools work – even now. As I said before, it works well with the type of youth worker that I am. I love to teach and I love to be informal in my relationships with young people. Being flexible on my own curriculum also has the advantage of being able to stop and work through issues with youth that might otherwise have to be dealt with punitively in a classroom setting.

Even though all youth aren’t college-bound, a love of learning is important to instill, even if it’s not in academic pursuits. It will create innovative and motivated youth and I love that schools work has the potential to bring a joy of learning new things to the school environment.

10. What would you recommend for someone wanting to get into schools work?

Remember that there are all different kinds of schools work out there – do your research and volunteer first. Then you can know if teaching, careers guidance, youth work, prevention services, graduation coaching, classroom assistant, etc. is right for you.

11. Is there any special training or qualifications required?

There wasn’t in the role I had, but you should check with the organizations and agencies in your area doing schools work to find out more.

About Shae:

Shae Pepper has been a Professional Youth Worker for eight years and a Volunteer Youth Worker for nine years. She has a Master’s in Youth Work and Community Development from DeMontfort University in Leicester, England. Shae has provided training for youth workers in England, the USA and Rwanda and has worked with young people aged 8-21 in England, Rwanda, the USA and Thailand.

Please feel free to use the comments below if you have any questions about Schools Work. If you also do Schools Work, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments too.

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An Interview With Neels Redelinghuys – Youth Pastor In South Africa

May 8, 2013 By Stephen Pepper 2 Comments

As part of our series about different types of youth work, this week we have an interview with Neels Redelinghuys, a youth pastor in South Africa.

1. What type of youth work do you do?

At the Klipkerk Congregation (“Klipkerk” is “Stone Church” in English), we work with youth from age 4 all the way up to the mid-twenties. We have a “relational approach” to youth ministry where we focus on ‘four types’ of relationship:

The relationship between God and the youth, where the focus is on teaching and learning about God (sermons and teachings);
The relationship between the youth and God, where the focus is placed on worship and sharing our hearts with God (prayer and praise & worship services);
The relationship between the youth and the church, where the focus is on fellowship (small groups and social events);
The relationship between the youth and the world, where the focus is on mission and trying to make a difference in the world (outreach programs).

2. What do you do in an average week?

An average week for me consists of making sure my admin is up to date; organizing and presenting the mid-week Grade 11 teachings; counselling teenagers and handling the grievances of parents; running and organizing the Sunday school; managing volunteers; making sure our social networks are functioning well; attending church leadership meetings and every now and then doing a sermon or two.

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

I’ve been doing this type of youth work since I joined the team at the Klipkerk Congregation in 2011; two, going on three, years then.

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

All in all I’ve been involved in some form of ministry, on a regular basis, since the year 2008. My contributions to youth work have ranged from being a Sunday school volunteer, worship leader and bass guitarist, to providing counselling and leading a small-group.

5. What age range do you work with?

My job entails looking after the youth from age 7 to age 18, although my own personal preference is working with the church’s teenagers.

6. What’s unique about your particular type of youth work?

In a society where things have to be spectacular, happen very quickly and are focused on the individual, we try to keep things basic. Our philosophy is modeled after Jesus’ take on the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36-40 – love God and love your neighbour. On these two principles we base our programs and subsequently they form the foundation for our ‘relational approach’.

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

For me, the best thing is being able to teach kids about Jesus Christ and guiding them in their faith; providing them with necessary principles so that they can go out and really make a difference for the Kingdom.

8. What are some of the challenges of it?

The biggest challenge I currently have is helping the youth to understand that they have to take ownership and responsibility for the programs that we run. In the end, all that we do isn’t about me, so things should be able to function effectively when I’m not there.

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

I get to work with a range of kids who really love God and are committed to get to know Him more and more. When any one of these kids then decides to commit their lives to spreading the Gospel and being disciples of Christ, I am filled with a joy and gratitude towards God that I can’t describe to anyone.

10. What would you recommend for someone wanting to get into this type of youth work?

What I recommend is teamwork. The success of the ‘relational approach’ hinges on all members of the volunteer team working together for the greater good. If you take on this approach, you have to simultaneously be a manager and a leader and there’s definitely no room for doing everything on your own.

11. Is there any special training or qualifications required?

You don’t need any special training or qualifications – just a lot of patience, humility, dependence on God, and a willingness to learn and grow.

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

The most important thing that I’ve learned can be summed up in one word: passion. A mentor of mine once said to me: “You have to be so sure of your passion that when the tough times come, your passion will be enough to pull you through.”

About Neels:

Hi there! I’m Neels, I’m 26 years old and I currently hold the position of youth worker at the Klipkerk Congregation in Bloemfontein, South Africa. My specialties include research and teaching. I’m doing a Master’s degree in Old Testament studies, I tweet a lot about rugby, and there’s nothing that gets me going like a good cup of coffee!

You can connect with me on any of the following platforms:

Twitter – NeelsRed
My blog – ~~Drown The Noise~~
Facebook – Drown The Noise
LinkedIn – Neels Redelinghuys

Please feel free to use the comments below if you have any questions about youth work in South Africa. If you’re also a youth worker or youth pastor in South Africa, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments too.

If you work in a different youth work field (or country), we’d love to interview you for this series, so please get in touch!

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An Interview With Mildred Talabi – Careers Advice Youth Worker

May 1, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

As part of our series about different types of youth work, this week we have an interview with Mildred Talabi, a careers advice youth worker in the UK.

1. What type of youth work do you do?

At Salmon we work with young people from six years old all the way to 26 (with learning disabilities). I work predominantly with the older young people (aged 16-24) who are not in education, employment or training, also known as “NEETs”.

I help them get jobs by assisting with their CVs, giving career advice, and generally exposing them to opportunities and environments that will stretch their imaginations, raise their aspirations and boost their skills levels along the way. I also help out with the 10-13 age group in the general open club sessions on Mondays.

2. What do you do in an average week?

My role consists of the NEET work I mentioned and also managing the communications at Salmon, so my activities is fairly varied. On an average week, I would work the 10-13s club on a Monday until late evening, meet with at least one young person about careers or their CV, update the Salmon Facebook and Twitter (this is a daily activity), reply to emails asking for tours of Salmon (we get a lot of these as our building and the work we do is considered “state of the art”), plan / write / edit news stories for the website……

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

I’ve been at Salmon for just over a year, but I’ve been working with NEET young people (on a less permanent role) much longer in my self-employed work as a careers speaker, writer and blogger.

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

My background is media and communications so I don’t consider myself a youth worker at all! Prior to Salmon, the access I had to young people was to go in and give talks at schools, colleges and universities and that was pretty much it. Now it’s full on day-to-day which is very different.

5. What age range do you work with?

Six to 26 at Salmon.

6. What’s unique about your particular type of youth work?

We provide good old-fashioned generic youth work but we also provide specialist opportunities for young people to develop in their areas of choice – whether that’s dance, art, table-tennis, football etc – under the tutelage of our experienced staff, hand-picked for their expertise in each area. We are also a faith-driven youth centre and we seek to communicate the love of Jesus Christ to the young people through our work.

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

We have a diverse programme of activities, a purpose-built state of the art centre, and most of all, young people say they feel safe here.

8. What are some of the challenges of it?

We don’t always have the financial resources to do all that we would like to in helping to make a difference in the young people’s lives, but we do our best with what we have.

9. Why are you passionate about careers advice?

My personal passion is in helping young people in the area of careers as what you do in your work life is such an important part of your life in general. I get great fulfilment seeing the joy and sense of achievement in a young person’s face when they go through that process of writing out their CV, getting called for an interview, and then landing a job – maybe for the first time ever. That makes my job all the more worthwhile!

10. What would you recommend for someone wanting to get into this type of youth work?

I’m not in a typical youth work role and I didn’t get into it the typical way so in terms of recommendations, I’m going to keep it more general – get some experience under your belt in whatever area you want to get into in your work life.

Youth work is one of those areas, fortunately, where there’s more than enough opportunity to volunteer and build up work experience (at least in our organisation anyway!); take advantage of this and do as much volunteering as you can to boost your CV and make it easier for you to get a paid job in this area down the line.

11. Is there any special training or qualifications required?

In my line of work there are qualifications you can do (like an NVQ in Information, Advice and Guidance) and in youth work there are also qualifications that give you the basic knowledge and training in working with young people. I didn’t go down either of these routes, as I never intended to get into youth work in the first place, but it still worked out just fine.

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

Please like Salmon on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with our activities.

About Salmon Youth Centre:

The Salmon Youth Centre in Bermondsey has been reaching out to young people in inner city London for over a hundred years. We are one of the largest youth centres in the UK with unique purpose-built facilities catering for sports, music, art, performing arts, dance, drama, outdoor climbing, adventure and fitness activities.

At Salmon we provide personal, social, educational and employment development opportunities for young people, and a place where young people can have fun, feel safe and valued, and discover meaning and direction for their lives. Salmon is open five days a week, all year round, and we welcome all young people between the ages of six and 26 from all backgrounds.

For more information, please visit our website. You can find us on Twitter and on Facebook.

Please feel free to use the comments below if you have any questions about careers advice youth work in the UK. If you also do careers advice, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments too.

If you work in a different youth work field (or country), we’d love to interview you for this series, so please get in touch!

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
Liking us on Facebook
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An Interview With Laura Statesir – LGBT Youth Worker

April 24, 2013 By Stephen Pepper 5 Comments

As part of our series about different types of youth work, this week we have an interview with Laura Statesir who works primarily with parents of LGBT youth at The Marin Foundation.

1. What type of youth work do you do?

I am the Director of Family and Youth for The Marin Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to build bridges between the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the Church community.

We are based out of Chicago, Illinois but we engage with religious entities, LGBT groups, churches, NGO’s, higher educational institutions and government agencies throughout the United States, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

2. What do you do in an average week?

My time is split between conducting research, advising parents and youth, and attending/hosting events.

I am the Primary Investigator for a research study called the Parent Resource Initiative. The goal of the study is to examine Christian parents’ reactions to their child’s coming out and develop new resources to help them through that process. We are still in the research phase, so I am interviewing Christian parents and LGBT individuals and transcribing interviews.

I also speak with and give advice to Christian parents and LGBT youth. I help them navigate their questions about faith and sexuality and walk alongside them in their journey.

Finally, I participate in and help host some of The Marin Foundation events such as Living in the Tension Gatherings, the I’m Sorry Campaign, speaking engagements, and consulting with groups. For example, last week we met with a group of LGBT students from a conservative Christian college and offered guidance in negotiating the politics of their school with their desire to help educate students on their campus.

I also volunteer at an overnight homeless shelter for LGBT youth called the CRIB, through The Night Ministry.

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

I started in this particular role about a year ago, but I have been working with youth since I was a teenager.

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

My background is in wilderness therapy and youth ministry. Prior to my current job I spent three and a half years in wilderness therapy and adventure education and five years in international youth ministry.

5. How old are the youth of the parents you work with?

The youth are anywhere from 11 years old to 25 years old (or whatever you decide is the cutoff age for “youth”).

6. What’s unique about your particular type of youth work?

There are few organizations that stand in the middle of the culture war between the LGBT community and Christians. Instead of trying to convince people to change their minds or win a “convert for our side”, we focus on reconciliation between these two opposed communities.

When we work with youth, we do not try to fix them and we do not tell them to forget about their faith. We walk alongside of them in solidarity and help them discover a path that fits their relationship with God.

7. What are some of the good things about working with parents of LGBT youth?

Watching reconciliation in action. Seeing hearts changed and relationships restored. Walking alongside parents as they learn to love and support their children even if they don’t understand or agree with their sexuality/gender identity. Being a light in a dark place for parents who are confused, lost, angry and hurting.

8. What are some of the challenges of it?

Whenever you seek true reconciliation and inclusion, you are always going to ruffle some feathers. Because we work with both LGBT groups and Christian groups, we receive a lot of criticism.

It breaks my heart to listen to the stories of parents and/or youth who are in pain. Sometimes I feel helpless and inept. I empathize with the people I talk to and it is difficult to not carry those emotions home with me at the end of the day.

It can also be difficult to explain what I do for a living and to find enough funding for our work.

9. Why are you passionate about working with parents of LGBT youth?

I am gay and very blessed to have wonderful loving parents, but this is not the experience of all LGBT youth. Many LGBT youth, especially those with Christian parents, are not accepted by their families. They may be rejected, kicked out of their house, and/or financially cut off. The number of homeless LGBT youth and suicides of LGBT youth in the United States is disturbing. This needs to change and one of the best ways to do so is to work directly with parents.

Also, my heart aches for Christian parents who are trying to reconcile their faith and their child’s sexuality/gender identity. These parents often face shame, stigma, and judgment from their faith communities. They feel very alone and have few resources. They often feel like they will be forced to choose between their kids and their faith. This is wrong and needs to change as well.

10. What would you recommend for someone wanting to get into this type of work?

I would recommend immersing yourself in both communities: the LGBT community, specifically with LGBT youth and gay Christians as well as the conservative Christian community, specifically with parents. Volunteer at a homeless shelter for LGBT youth. Attend existing support groups (GSA, PFLAG, support groups for Christian parents, etc.).

Read about and get to know other support groups and their philosophies. Read as many resources as you can about the intersection of faith and sexuality, youth ministry, and counseling parents. Meet with professionals who are already engaged in this work.

11. Is there any special training or qualifications required?

No specific training or qualifications are required. However, I would recommend interning or training with an organization that is currently doing this type of work.

I would also recommend attending a higher educational institution or seminary with a focus in counseling, psychology, and/or youth ministry.

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

The polarized culture war between the LGBT community and conservatives is not going away anytime soon. Understanding how to build bridges between these two groups is the key to peaceful reconciliation and understanding in the future.

About Laura:

Laura Statesir is the Director of Family and Youth at The Marin Foundation. She graduated from Texas A&M University in 2002. Prior to joining The Marin Foundation, Laura has worked in various types of youth organizations including Diakon Youth Services, Young Life, and Costa Rica Outward Bound. She lived in Latin America for over seven years. You can connect with her via email: Laura@themarinfoundation.org

Please feel free to use the comments below if you have any questions about working with LGBT youth or their parents. If you also work with LGBT youth or their parents, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments too.

If you work in a different youth work field (or country), we’d love to interview you for this series, so please get in touch!

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
Following us on Twitter
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An Interview With Rachel Blom – A Youth Worker In Germany

April 17, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

As part of our series about different types of youth work, this week we have an interview with Rachel Blom, a youth worker in Germany.

1. What type of youth work do you do?

That’s an easy question with kind of a complicated answer for me. I’m Dutch and I used to be a youth pastor in The Netherlands. But in the summer of 2010 we moved to the south of Germany because my husband got a job there and so I had to quit my position.

It was hard for me to adjust at first; I missed my students terribly even though I still went back regularly to speak at events or even join them on retreats. I was also frustrated because I missed being in youth ministry in general. That’s why I started my blog Youth Leaders Academy, to use my knowledge and experience to serve other leaders. It’s been a blessing for me and I’ve met many great youth workers from around the world that way.

Since last summer I’m also back in youth ministry, albeit as a volunteer. We found a church here and now I’m a volunteer in the teen ministry here. We have biweekly teen nights and we organize a summer camp that draws a lot of unchurched teens. I also preach in our church here in Germany, in my former church in The Netherlands and where ever else I’m invited, for instance in youth services or retreats.

2. What do you do in an average week?

My son is in Kindergarten, so my primary task is to take care of him when he’s home. I love that I’m able to be there for him in this stage of his life, I truly feel blessed that I get to watch him grow up.

When he’s in Kindergarten, I write a lot. I published a book last year on starting conversations with young people, it’s called Beyond Small Talk. I’m working on a second book now, I blog a lot for my own blog and various other blogs and I preach regularly so sermon prep is a recurring thing.

I also spend a lot of time connecting with other youth workers, both to learn from them and to serve them. That is something I’m very grateful for, I’ve had a lot of time to invest in myself the last two years and I’ve grown as a person and as a youth pastor.

Other than that I’ve been working on a fiction novel, I’d love to publish that some day. Then there’s learning German and trying to integrate in the culture here, which isn’t that easy because it’s a fairly closed culture where we live. And I have a house, a huge garden and a vegetable garden to maintain, so there’s enough to do!

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

In The Netherlands I was a youth pastor in a large evangelical church, well large for Dutch standards anyway. I worked 32 hours a week and I was responsible for ages 12-30 with a primary focus on 18-23 year olds. I loved doing that and I still connect with a lot of former students regularly. Because Holland and Germany are so close, we get a lot of them over for a weekend and in the summer we have a few coming to stay with us for a week, so I’m really looking forward to that.

4. What age range do you work with?

The teen ministry in our church is for 13-17 year olds, though the upper age level isn’t very strict. It’s just the age where most German students get their diploma and will move on to college or university, so it’s a natural ‘end’.

5. What’s unique about your particular type of youth work?

That’s kind of hard to answer because I really have two types of youth work: my volunteer position in our church and my activities for Youth Leaders Academy.

What’s special about our church is that we manage to reach teens who aren’t church goers. We live in a very Catholic area, but most people are Catholic in name only and don’t do much with it. We get a lot of teens in our ministry who have a Catholic background, but come to us to learn more about faith and God and I think that’s awesome. Last year we did an Alpha Course and we had great discussions about many things, I loved that. Our summer camp also gets many unchurched or churched-in-name-only teens.

As for my blog activities and everything around it, I love doing that, I love helping and serving other youth workers. I’ve been giving some training on preaching to youth and to see people really use your advice, improve their sermons, that’s a great feeling. I also get grateful feedback on my blog, so I’m very happy to be doing that. And it so happens I love writing! I think what’s unique is that I’m in the position where I can’t get a position as a youth pastor right now, but still feel part of youth ministry. I love that.

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

Meeting so many people worldwide, many online and some in real life. I’ve been to some youth conferences in England and last March I went to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference and it was great to meet so many people I only knew online. I’m also involved in organizing Open Paris for the Youth Cartel in October in Paris, France this year and I’m really looking forward to that as well.

7. What are some of the challenges of it?

The challenge of doing youth ministry in our church is definitely the language and the culture. We live in a part of Germany called Bavaria and they don’t just have an accent here, they speak a very string dialect that vaguely resembles ‘official German’. So we basically had to learn two languages when we moved here.

I spoke some German, but not enough for deep conversations and the fact that many people here only speak Bavarian makes it hard to learn both well. I can now preach in German, even though I still have a horrible Dutch accent. And I understand enough Bavarian to get by, but it’s frustrating sometimes when you want to say something but can’t find the exact right words.

Spiritually it has also been a challenge, because I’ve been quite frustrated with God for making me let go of my job and my former ministry. It took me a while to see the good aspects of it, to enjoy the period of learning and growth I have right now.

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

I’d say there are three things I am passionate about: youth ministry, preaching and writing. I get to combine all three now, something which would have never been possible had I stayed in my old job. It took me a while to see that God had something else planned for me, but now I’m very passionate about what I do. The combination of being a volunteer and equipping others is perfect for me.

9. What would you recommend for someone wanting to get into this type of youth work?

For a youth ministry volunteer I think there are only two requirements: you have to love Jesus and you have to love teens. Then you just look at your gifts and passions to see where you can best serve in youth ministry.

As for the whole blogging and writing thing: there are many youth pastors who run a blog and I have tremendous respect for them. To do this as a calling, to really be serious about your blog, you have to love writing. Blogging is a lot of work and if you don’t like writing and everything that comes with it, then don’t bother. Just guest blog for others when you feel like it and focus on what you’re really passionate about.

About Rachel:

Rachel Blom is Dutch of origin, American at heart, but currently residing in the south of Germany with her husband and five year old son. She’s a former youth pastor, now a volunteer in youth ministry, a writer and an avid blogger. Follow her blog on Youth Leaders Academy.

Please feel free to use the comments below if you have any questions about youth work in Germany. If you’re also a youth worker in Germany, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments too.

If you work in a different youth work field (or country), we’d love to interview you for this series, so please get in touch!

You can also connect with us by:

Signing up to receive our posts via email
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