Are you the type of person who wants to make a positive change to the lives of children and the youth in general? If you’re interested in this line of work, then we applaud you! Being interested in youth work means you have a long road ahead of you, and it won’t always be easy. For starters, you might want to get your hands on a certificate IV in youth work, but we’ll dive more into that later.
Read until the very end if you want to learn more about youth work, especially if you’re interested in becoming a youth worker. We’ve noted down and explained everything you need to know, from the basics to the specifics.
What Is Youth Work?
Before fully diving in, let’s first talk about what exactly youth work is. Youth work is a career where you work for and with kids and young people in general in various ways. So, what makes youth workers different from those who volunteer or work within community service? The answer is simple: youth workers, as the name implies, primarily focus on young people.
Youth work is all about making sure that the youth you work with feel supported and heard at all times, as they develop the skills and abilities they need to make a positive difference in their respective lives. Youth work is a holistic type of work, which means that as a youth worker, you need to consider the individual overall. This means taking into account their health and well-being, as well as their various experiences. Not only that, but you also have to think about their respective social and cultural backgrounds, along with the environments they grew up in.
It’s definitely a challenging line of work, but it’s also rewarding at the same time, as you’re working hard to provide a happier and more positive future for the youth in your community.
What Do Youth Workers Do?
Youth workers are sent off into different environments—you could be working in an office setting, at a school, health clinics, community centers, residential care facilities, and others. It really depends on different factors. Outreach work is also a fundamental part of youth work, which means that you’ll be engaging with the youth in different places where they enjoy staying. In some cases, you may even have to work outside of business hours, depending on the situation.
What Are the Qualifications to Become a Youth Worker?
As you may have inferred, being a youth worker means that you won’t be following predictable work hours like other careers. If that isn’t something that you can work with or it doesn’t fall in line with your schedule, then you have to consider that maybe this isn’t the career for you.
That said, here are some other qualifications you’ll need if you want to be a youth worker.
Personal Skills
As a youth worker, you’re expected to have nearly endless patience for the kids you’re working with, and you need to be able to listen without judging them for what they’ve done or said. You also need to be flexible enough with your time to be able to juggle both your personal life and being a youth worker, especially since this line of work typically has erratic non-traditional work hours.
Being a youth worker is a major responsibility, no doubt about it. After all, you need to find the right balance where you can still guide them successfully towards the right path without feeling and sounding like you’re just like another strict parent. You have to connect with them in a way where you can speak their language yet still earn their respect.
Child & Youth Worker Education
For the most part, social and community programs typically have a minimum requirement when it comes to their youth workers. Specifically, youth workers must at least have a high school diploma to be considered for employment. When it comes to churches, counseling-based programs, and schools, they require a bachelor’s degree at the very least for full-time careers.
Requirements Specific to the Job
There are also some job-specific requirements that you have to keep in mind, and this depends on where you want to practice this career. For instance, if you choose to become a youth worker within a religious or church setting, most require you to have the same faith as the organization. On the other hand, being hired in a social-type work where you interact with troubled youth means that you may have to undergo special training to effectively handle cases related to drug abuse, social work, counseling, and the like.
A Love for Children
Lastly, and most importantly, but you need to have a real love and understanding for kids and young people if you want to succeed as a youth worker. After all, you’ll be surrounding yourself with kids most of the time, and you can’t enjoy what you’re doing if you don’t even like the environment you’re in. Just because you used to babysit as a side hustle when you were younger also doesn’t mean you’re automatically suitable to be a youth worker full-time.
You’ll be faced with many challenges, and you need to have a real heart for the kids you’re helping to make this career work.
The Legal Obligations of a Youth Worker
Youth workers also have legal obligations to keep in mind, asides from properly and regularly maintaining ethical and professional boundaries. As a youth worker, it’s your duty to keep the children and young people you’re working with safe, and this includes ensuring that their private information is secure and report any news of neglect or abuse.
Do Youth Workers Get Paid?
The straight answer is yes, youth workers do get paid. However, since they’re employed across different and varying sectors and environments, this means that all of them aren’t paid the same. Salaries are also affected depending on the worker’s experience, skills, and level of responsibility.
Because of this, it can be difficult to accurately pinpoint how much a youth worker makes annually. But if we’re talking about the regular entry-level rates, you can probably expect around $25 per hour, which can potentially raise to $30 per hour depending on your overall experience and qualifications.
Education & Training
As mentioned previously, a certain educational level is required when entering this line of work. Aside from high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees, earning certifications can also be a huge help in boosting your resume. There’s a variety of youth work-related courses out there, both offline and online, so make sure you browse the options available to you.
Conclusion
Being a youth worker is no joke—it requires patience, hard work, and importantly, a big heart. If you find yourself being drawn to this career where you help kids and young people, we wish you the best of luck. But before anything else, you need to arm yourself with as much information as you can about being a youth worker, and we hope this article was able to help you with that.
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