Almost a year since my last post- i'm not very good at this blogging thing! Anyway; as part of my prep for uni i have been reading the book
'Working with young people' as yet its been quite interesting and has made me think about my values and the reason i do the things i do. Tonight i have been reading about time restraints in youth work and how often due to funding young people dont actually get the guidence they came for in the first place. It made me think, if you are running a 12 week program in an area, you end up only just skimming the surface of the problems in the area. This target driven work seems to me to be a short term fix almost like putting a plaster over the problem, if we are going to work in a certain area we need to have time to get to know the young people, allow time for trust and relationships to develop before we can start to work through some of the things that needed to be addressed. Personally i think that youth work shouldnt be about quick fixes but rather the long term effects that the work will have on the surrounding community as well as the young people.
Short rant over and im sure that i will end up developing this into an assignment at some point but i will leave you with a a quote that sums up for me:
Im about the process of getting this young person from here to somewhere and if that takes more than 12 weeks so be it... every young person i work with is more than worth my time and effort.
