Youth workers help facilitate personal, social and educational growth in young people to help them reach their full potential in society.

At its core, Youth Work is about the relationship and conversations built up between a youth worker and a young person.

Youth Workers work with young people in a variety of settings such as:

youth centres;

schools;

colleges;

faith-based groups.

Youth Work could also be street based due to its outreach nature. Youth workers’ roles vary greatly, but in addition to working with young people face-to-face, typical activities involve:

managing and delivering youth and community projects and resources;

assessing the needs of young people, and planning and delivering programmes related to areas such as health, fitness, smoking, drugs, gangs, violence, relationships and bullying;

befriending and supporting individuals in various settings, including outreach work;

mentoring, coaching and supporting individuals to facilitate personal, social and educational growth in young people as well as encouraging greater social inclusion;

working in partnership with professionals from other organisations that support young people such as social care, health, police, education, youth offending teams and local authorities;

attending and contributing to multi-agency meetings that bring together practitioners from different sectors as part of a team around the family (TAF) approach;

working with parents and community groups to win support for improved provision and acting as an advocate for young people’s interests.