Nicola, Rea and Rebecca talk about what they love about youth work

During Youth Work Week, we wanted to know what youth workers love about youth work and what they find challenging.

Nicola Holyoak is an IES Participation and Transition Worker. She says: “I support in two SEN Choices youth clubs and support young people with a wide variety of SEN needs access provision and just be themselves.

“I’ve worked with young people for over thirty years and I love youth work because you are making a difference to young people lives.”

Rea Barker-Maxwell works alongside Nicola. She has two roles: “In the daytime, I work as a prevention and diversion support worker with the Youth Justice Services where I work with those most at risk of being in trouble within their homes and community. In the evening, I work as a youth support worker at Oasis Youth Club in Ellesmere Port and at Choices SEND group in Ellesmere Port.

She says: “I enjoy working with the young people who attend the clubs, I enjoy seeing them every week, being a consistent person in their lives that can be there when they need that extra support. I also really like getting to know them, we all lead very different lives and it’s good to know what is going on in the community through their eyes.”

Rebecca is a Youth Worker and apprentice social worker. A typical day for her involves: “Arriving at the youth club and setting up for the evening. We discuss the evening session as a team and using the plan ensure we have relevant information is out for our issue-based topics.

“The young people arrive, and we welcome them in, we will position ourselves around the youth club and engage them in conversation and activities.

I enjoy chatting to young people, playing pool, table tennis and we will do some kind of baking or cooking.

“We discuss with the young people if there is anything they would like to do next week and get their ideas for future activities.

“At the end of the evening when all the young people have gone home, we tidy away and have a chat about how the session has gone and what the young people had to say, putting their ideas and plans in for the next session.”

Rebecca says that the most challenging thing about being a youth worker is that no night is the same, “You don’t know how many young people you are going to get in to the club or what they are going through. We have to be spontaneous and think on our feet.

“Sometimes you want to help a young person but they aren’t always ready to accept it.”

Rebecca used to be a primary school teacher but decided to have a change in career during covid. “I started working with young people that were not in education, employment or training, and it was through this that I was given the opportunity to work in a youth provision in my local area. I struggled to begin with as I felt like I reverted to teacher mode, this didn’t go down to well, but I soon learnt to adapt and change how I approached and connect with the young people and I love it. An opportunity came up for an apprentice social worker within our local authority and so I am now back at university at 47yrs old studying to be a social worker.”

Nicola, Rea and Rebecca make a difference to so many young people’s lives every week. If you are interested in finding out about the different youth groups we run, click here >