from YAPRap July 2006
by Isabel Seidel, YAPRap Feature Writer
Shellharbour is just over an hour's drive from Sydney on the south coast of NSW. Shellharbour Youth Services Team is paving the way for change and making young people's access to youth workers even easier with its innovative Youth Workers in High Schools Project. This project is helping youth workers reach more young people and working in partnership with schools to deliver new and exciting alternative educational programs.
from left: Nick, Cassy, Karen, Megan, Louise, Pat
The Project was first piloted at Warilla High School in 2004 and now also operates in Albion Park, Oak Flats and Lake Illawarra high schools. A youth worker is available at each participating high school to meet with young people once a week. The project fits with the Shellharbour Youth Services' vision, to work with the community to promote all young people aged 12-25 years as valuable people, worthy of quality services, facilities and accurate information.
Evolution of the Project
The Shellharbour Youth Services Team had the great idea of putting a youth worker in a high school to promote their programs and activities to more young people. However, the project began to evolve when youth workers identified that they could help address some of the needs in the high schools by working in partnership with the teachers. From a little idea an amazing project developed.
Youth workers are available to meet with young people to discuss any issues which they may be experiencing and/or put them in touch with other local community services that can assist them. Also, the youth workers are open to ideas or suggestions for activities/programs from both young people and teachers.
So the Project has two main roles:
- to support high school Welfare Teams through the establishment of a referral service
- to create and provide high schools with alternative educational programs that address current needs of the young people.
Referral service
The referral service is all about building relationships with young people! I had the privilege of accompanying youth worker Pat Burke to Albion Park High to see the referral service in action. Pat arrives at the high school every Wednesday at 10am. He heads to the reception area to sign himself in and then goes directly to the office of the Head Teacher of Welfare, Robin Clarkson. I got the impression that Robin was pleased to see Pat as she happily gave him a referral list of young people wanting to see him.
Pat then set out to find the young people and book in appointment times. He is given a room in the school and the young people are allowed to see him during class time. The sessions are usually no longer than an hour and after each session young people are instructed to go back to class. A late note is given to each young person; this allows the young person to go back to class without any hassle from class teachers.
It became apparent after sitting in a few sessions with Pat and the young people, that this was not formal counselling, more a friendly chat. Pat was on a first name basis with each young person and they talked openly to him. As Pat said:
I don't set out to solve young people's problems but I refer them to people such as the school counsellor and/or community services that can assist them. I really just have an informal chat with the young people. It's an opportunity for them to debrief about what is happening in their life".
However he did make it clear to the young people that his role isn't to advocate for young people against teachers. The youth worker's role in the high schools is to support staff and work within the structure of the school. The Project brings new learnings to high schools, as it's not the typical welfare approach that schools have adopted in the past. The youth workers work under a different paradigm to teachers and school counsellors. They are therefore reaching the young people who have not been accessing the support systems already established in high schools. Despite the different approaches to working with young people, it's exciting that the project has brought different professionals together. Youth workers work in partnership with teachers as well as the Head Teacher of Welfare at each high school and often refer young people to the school counsellor. The school counsellor may suggest that the young person continues to keep seeing their youth worker. It really is a great cross-referral system.
The youth workers fill out a referral list noting what the young person has come to talk about. The list is given to the Head Teacher of Welfare and any serious matters such as those involving child protection issues are acted on. Beyond that, the referral service is confidential and youth workers are not required to take case notes.
Not taking case notes gives the youth workers greater flexibility in the way they hold each session with young people. For example, Pat has a mobile phone with him and the young person can ring their friends or family during the session, in front of Pat if they need to. The youth workers create a relaxing and open environment for the young people and this encourages young people to share their problems, as they don't feel like they are being examined by an authority figure.
Alternative educational programs
"Be creative, it's all about being creative" says youth worker Megan Lee. The Project evolved to offer schools alternative educational programs because an identified need was found in the high schools the youth workers were working in. There were limited creative programs in the high schools that addressed social issues affecting young people.
Social issues affecting young people change all the time and often teachers are bombarded with a lot of written material about current issues. But teachers realise young people won't engage in the material unless it's delivered in a fun and creative way. Also, local community issues affecting young people at school require local and often creative responses to tackle them. For example, there wouldn't be existing material for teachers to deliver a workshop for young people on practical strategies to avoid a particular local gang harassing them at their community skate park. Often local community problems are brought into high schools and teachers have to find ways to address these problems. Once youth workers build a strong relationship with the high schools and teachers, the teachers will come forward with current social and/or community issues affecting young people and often ask youth workers to assist in designing a creative program to tackle the issue. Youth workers are able to develop local responses to identified issues because they are out there in the community and are more aware of what is happening.
It's important that youth workers don't recreate the wheel and therefore youth workers need to create alternative educational programs that are original. Bold Beautiful Babes is an excellent example of a totally original alternative educational program designed by CHAIN - Community Health for Adolescents In Need. The program aims to assist young women in attempting to address their body image, self-esteem and confidence issues. Shellharbour Youth Services worked in partnership with CHAIN to involve many young women from different backgrounds and different physical builds from Warilla High School. The young women had to apply learnt knowledge from the program to explore beauty techniques to complement their hair, skin-tone and life style. When the young women started the program, they were asked a series of questions including how they felt about their body and what they wanted to get out of the program.
By the end of Bold Beautiful Babes the positive outcomes included:
- knowledge of cutting, colouring and makeup application
- increased awareness of personal grooming
- increased awareness of how nutrition and lifestyle affects the body
- developments in self esteem and confidence
- knowledge of youth-based services.
Megan made some thoughtful observations from the perspective of a youth worker about alternative educational programs in her evaluation report. She stresses that the true value of alternative educational programs is in the process and not in the finished product. She sums it up:
"the value of alternative learning coupled with the creativity and flexibility of a youth worker exposes potentially more and more learning outcomes, as well as attempting to address young people's personal issues, in a way that is not intrusive nor invasive".
Clearly in this statement Megan highlights the benefits youth workers bring to a school environment because they are not restricted by the procedures and policies under which departmental school staff members must operate.
The teachers and principals I spoke to were very impressed with the alternative educational programs that the Shellharbour Youth Service Team has run. The principal of Albion Park High School, Mr Griffiths, said:
"the beauty of the program is that the youth workers come from an outside agency but also have an understanding of education."
It's true that the youth workers alternative educational programs are 'outside the square' when compared to traditional ways of teaching young people. However, because the youth workers work in partnership with the teachers, they are an integral part of the school team and they understand how the school system works. This enables the youth workers to create programs that have clear educational outcomes and yet still teach from a different perspective.
Building relationships with teachers
Building relationships with the teachers is integral to the success of the Project. Each high school operates differently and it's really important youth workers have a good understanding of the high schools in their area.
It's obvious that the Shellharbour Youth Services Team has worked hard to build strong relationships with the high schools and young people - it definitely has paid off! When talking to Pat and Megan I realised that it takes time for youth workers to get to know the teachers and young people. The youth workers have to be 'seen to be doing things' and joining in with school activities. Both Megan and Pat have attended other activities at the schools such as swimming carnivals, sporting days and have come to the schools at lunchtime to give an opportunity to the teachers and young people to get to know them.
During the four hours per week that the youth workers are at each high school to run the referral service, they also attend one important meeting during lunch time - the school welfare meeting. Welfare meetings are held once a week and are an opportunity for teachers to discuss general social problems affecting young people, and to notify the Head Teacher of Welfare about any young people who are at risk or experiencing personal problems. The youth worker's role at the meeting is to inform the teachers of young people they are seeing who are at risk. They also let the teachers know about community problems that may be impacting on young people at school. For example, a gang in the local community was stealing from local shops and encouraging some young people at the school to do likewise. Many teachers do not live in the community where they work and this gives teachers a realistic picture of young people's influences outside the school grounds. It's also an opportunity for youth workers to tell the teachers about youth events and activities put on by Shellharbour Youth Service.
The teachers at the welfare meeting at Albion Park High were all very enthusiastic about the project because it brings high schools and local communities closer together. Robin Clarkson, Head of Welfare, said:
"Having a youth worker work in the high school provides a safety net, particularly for at risk young people. These young people may not be seeing the school counsellor and/or accessing any help outside the school. If the youth worker can engage with them, then it can only be a good thing. It's an additional service that helps the young people most in need".
Clearly, being outside the school system gives youth workers an enormous advantage when working with young people in high schools. Youth workers can offer a more flexible service to young people because they are not bound by the range of policies and reporting requirements of teachers, and can offer ongoing services outside of school hours.
Management, funding...
Primarily, a youth worker's role is to work directly with young people. Increasingly, paperwork has crept into the profession. Any 'new ideas' require money and often a lot of arduous applications to write before youth workers can even begin to implement an idea. That said it's not all doom and gloom!
The Manager of the Shellharbour Youth Services Team, Nick Higgins, has wonderful enthusiasm and so does his youth team! He said:
"I've got a strong team of youth workers, we all support each other and meet regularly to discuss ideas and prioritise what's important. Ideas have to be thought through pragmatically, you can't go and chase every idea"
"Chasing every idea" would also mean chasing money and the Shellharbour Youth Services Team fortunately received funding for the Project from the Shellharbour City Council. Often local councils are at the leading edge of innovative youth projects because they see the need in their local community. Many local councils have a Social Plan that identifies youth as a focus area. They may then develop a Youth Strategy to highlight youth priority areas and encourage other youth organisations in the community to work in partnership to address the priority areas. Often local councils don't have a lot of money to directly give youth projects but by working in partnership with them and other community service organisations projects can be achieved. Also, some local councils have a crime prevention plan that has a youth focus. This enables councils to apply for funding from the NSW Attorney General's Crime Prevention Division.
To further develop the program Shellharbour Youth Services Team is developing a policy and procedures manual and ultimately would like to develop a package in partnership with the NSW Department of Education. The package would contain information for youth agencies wanting to set up a similar project.
When I visited the Shellharbour Youth Services Team at Blackbutt Youth Centre in Shellharbour city centre, it was buzzing with activity. Nick had just finished directing a play performed by an energetic group of young people and there were a lot of young people hanging out in the youth centre. There were loads of activities happening. I could not help but wonder how do the youth workers fit everything in and how is such a vibrant team managed? Nick said: "to keep good youth workers you have to find out what they like doing best and let them focus on this".
Nick's words ring true. Research has shown that there is a high turnover of youth workers in a lot of youth services and management becomes a really crucial issue. It appears that youth workers often bite off more than they can chew. When starting a new youth project it's vital that youth workers focus on the core aims and don't get carried away with ideas that are too difficult to implement. Managers must work to ensure that regular supervision is given to youth workers beginning new projects such as this one in order to reduce the chance of burn out.
Where to start, to set up a similar project
Setting up a 'youth work in schools' project takes time. Youth workers need to get to know their local school community and begin building relationships with teachers. It's important to listen to the teachers' views, get a feel for the issues they are facing and youth workers should definitely not appear to have all the answers! Many high schools would welcome a project with open arms.
As Bob Pastor, Head Teacher Student Services, at Warilla High said:
"traditional ways of running welfare services in schools aren't coping. There is a great need to try new and different things and the Project does just that".
If there is such a high need for this sort of project in high schools, then why aren't these projects being rolled out in more high schools? For the Shellharbour Youth Services Team, it's difficult to keep up with the demand. The project started in one high school and now operates in four and the demand is growing.
If a youth agency wants to set up a similar project they really must begin in one high school, this would then become the pilot project. If the pilot project is successful and other high schools would like to work in partnership to implement the project then youth workers can then slowly begin to roll it out into other high schools in the area. However, agency managers must also remember resources come before growth. You can't keep developing a project if there is no funding to help make it grow. Managers must work closely with their youth workers to ensure that they are growing the program in a sustainable way and not 'promising the world' to high schools when they don't have the resources to deliver it.
One of the most important lessons learnt from the Shellharbour Youth Services Team is the importance of sustainability. The Project has been running for one and a half years in Shellharbour and it's still going strong. If a youth agency wants to set up a similar project they must have a long-term commitment to the project, ensuring it isn't a one-off but is sustainable and will continue to evolve, grow and develop.
Why is the Project important?
Youth workers need to 'go where the young people are'. Seems obvious but how many youth workers are creating programs from the ground up? Youth work isn't about sitting in an office and designing programs. It's about getting out there, getting your hands dirty and going to where young people are. The Project is an excellent example of a youth agency taking the initiative to reach more young people. The Project is important because it brings social services to a captive audience - the young people.
The Project enables young people to find out about community services that exist in their local community as well as activities and programs run by Shellharbour Youth Services Team. It's an inspiring project that is breaking new ground and bringing schools and communities closer together. Getting the project off the ground is a lot of hard work, but there sure seems like there is a lot of fun to be had along the way. It is all about being creative. Don't they always say 'from little things, big things grow' so I reckon the Shellharbour Youth Services Team has done a great thing - they've created an amazing project but also demonstrated the value of youth workers' ability to think up great ideas of how to work creatively with young people because they really get out in their local communities and go to where the young people are!
More information
Nick Higgins
Youth Services Manager
Blackbutt Youth Centre
Shellharbour Council
02 4295 3820
nick.higgins@shellharbour.nsw.gov.au
