Thirdly, are you certain about your personal and professional boundaries when working with young people? For some youth workers this is a harder question than for others, especially if like me they live in the same area in which they work.
Having a young person knock on your door at 3 o’clock in the morning because they have had an argument with their parents really brings this question into sharp focus and if you haven’t thought about it or even discussed it with the people you work with before, then by the time the door bell rings it’s a little bit too late! Seriously, are you a friend to the young people with whom you work? Would you socialize with them? Maybe, maybe not, in England we are obsessed with child protection and safeguarding, so asking these questions is an absolute no go area from the beginning. The youth worker has to protect themselves and the agency they work with from any allegation of wrongdoing. So in order to navigate the professional expectations of society and employers, youth workers wouldn’t dream of socializing with young people. Are they missing out on something? Have they gone too far the other way to avoid any allegations?
These are fundamental questions that take time to answer and reflect upon and there is the magic… if you are asking yourself these questions, thinking about the potential scenarios and are still able to build honest, authentic relationships with young people guess what? Congratulations! You have managed to conduct yourself as a professional open worker.
