We’re living in unprecedented times. The landscape of youth provision has changed beyond recognition since the financial crisis of 2008. I guess you don’t need me to tell you that, because up and down the country, youth specialists have felt the impact. Community buildings that had previously served as a hub for youth provision were literally closed overnight. Experienced youth specialists who worked with young people in their neighbourhoods suddenly found their positions under threat. Youth provision became viewed as an optional extra that local authorities could no longer afford to indulge. In Birmingham, where I live, I lament the impact this has had on professionals, community facilities and especially the young people who lost important points of reference as a result of the ‘fallout’. The local authority is no longer the major provider of youth provision. When the youth service is spoken about in an area, town and city, it no longer just refers to local authority provision, but has become a motif for youth provision run by the community and faithbased organisations. It has been left to the Church and other organisations to pick up the baton. Many are still lamenting this demise, but I think it’s time for us to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and dry our tears. Could this be a moment of opportunity? An opportunity that may not come again? Because the buildings that lie empty, which were previously hives of activity, can be viewed as an unprecedented opportunity. It’s what I would term a ‘just ask moment’.
THE ‘JUST ASK MOMENT’
TLG enables churches to provide alternative education for young people at risk of exclusion from school. About three years ago in the Kingstanding area of North Birmingham we saw an opportunity, with a reasonable rent, to make use of an under-utilised community space called the 610 Centre. We asked if we could use the facility and made the decision to move our education provision to the centre. Today, we not only provide alternative education during school time, but also youth activities beyond the school day. Along with the other community organisations that use the building, our enterprise has helped ensure that a vital local community facility has remained open. Our work has met the pressing needs of vulnerable young people in the area.
Over the last 20 years, we’ve got better at thinking beyond the four walls of the Church. It’s now time to think beyond the four walls of its youth ministry. The great revivalist John Wesley famously said, ‘The world is my parish!’
It’s time to recognise that we are plan A and that there is no plan B
Pole Position
There is an opportunity for the Church to take pole position when it comes to the delivery of youth work provision. Churchbased youth work needs to be ready step up and be ‘the’ youth work provision in an area. I think it’s time to challenge the dichotomy of church-based versus non-church-based youth work. Young people in church, accessing church-based youth work, are facing the same challenges as young people in the wider community outside the Church. In the absence of local authority-based youth provision, your church could become ‘the’ youth work provision in your area. It’s time for the Church to put its hand up and say: ‘We will be the youth provision in our area. We’re ready to step up to the plate and take on that responsibility.’
BLURRING THE LINES
I have always believed that youth specialists as professionals are best-equipped to confidently step into the public square. But the challenge is more than just reorienting church-based provision. As a profession, I believe youth specialists can no longer be wedded to a purist’s model of youth work. Your skills as youth specialists are also needed in many other areas.
We need youth work specialists in education. I lead a charity (TLG) that works with young people at risk of school exclusion and we’ve often employed youth work purists in alternative education settings who have transformed what has gone on. I can safely say that some of our best practitioners have been youth work specialists who are comfortable with applying their skills in the alternative education sector. The relational and informal educational approaches of a youth specialist are vital and need applying in an educational context. Youth specialists, it’s time to step into the breach!
A similar principle applies to children’s work. Youth specialists are well placed to engage with the challenges children’s workers are facing with primary-aged children who are transitioning into adolescence. The reality is that some of the issues our children are facing are the issues teenagers were facing 20 years ago. We’ve got to go ‘upstream’ and begin to work with children’s workers. We’ve got to remove the dualism between children’s work and youth work.
Youth specialists are well equipped to confidently step into the public square
As well as being an alternative education provider, TLG now provides coaching through church-based volunteers for primary and secondary school children. We call this TLG Early Intervention. This picks up the challenge of children becoming young people. A friend of mine who is a youth pastor at a large Pentecostal church just outside Birmingham city centre has recently worked in early years, alternative provision for young people and as a mainstream pastoral manager in a secondary school context. He is a fine example of the ‘flex’ required in today’s world.
And while we’re on the subject of flexibility, mental health provision desperately needs the services of youth specialists. I do some chaplaincy in a medium-secure mental health environment, working with young men. One of the guys I work with used to be in my youth group. That hits me every time. There are young people who need that help, and as youth specialists we’re in a great position to move into that area. Mental health provision for young people has become a priority area for local statutory agencies. We’re not lacking in opportunities.
TAKING OUR SEAT AT THE TABLE
Who are the key professionals influencing the life of a vulnerable or at-risk young person? Social workers are there, school teachers are there, key workers are there. But in reality it’s often the youth specialist who is the first to pick up the signs that all is not well. As youth specialists, be ready to confidently take your seat at the table when these cases are being discussed. Sometimes you have to be the catalyst, ready to take the initiative and lead in bringing other professionals round the table. It’s time to recognise that we are plan A and that there is no plan B!
CHANGE IS HERE TO STAY
Youth specialists need to see themselves as the youth provision for their geographical areas rather than looking over their shoulders. I want to see the profession ready to flex beyond a purist view of youth work. Where necessary, I want to see youth specialists step up and be the profession that brings other disciplines round the table when dealing with vulnerable young people. Youth work has undergone unprecedented change. It’s not just about reacting to change; it’s about being the change that makes the difference. As Stephen Hawking says, ‘Intelligence is a person’s ability to adapt to change.’ Our ability and willingness to adapt might be the defining factor for youth work in this generation.
