CAYAG shared a story about their relationship with a family before and during the lockdown. With a view to protecting identities, it is paraphrased here, however it highlights the following:
1. The importance of relationship building in youth work.
2. Acknowledgement that the lockdowns have distrupted relationships with a mixture of positive and negative impacts.
3. That local youth work requires working with whole families in the context of their communities.
4. That where formal education can be a negative experience for some young people, youth work can mitigate some of the effects through helping young people recognise their strengths and capabilities.
5. That where behavioural issues arise, consistancy across the whole team is important.
Observation is an important part of the youth work tool kit, which can change dynamics in relationships with young people, as in this example:
"On our Christmas movie night a young boy arrived late, looking upset and had sat down quietly to his first movie night, SS threw sweets to him stating that they were for him as he had none - again this was without any adult prompt. To observe this empathy, was great and in the following months I was able to feed this back to her and I got my first genuine smile!"
On occasions, digital youth work extended connections into the wider family:
"Through wee things like technical difficulties, quizzes and showing their art work off we also got to know their mother, which is something that I wouldn’t have even considered as really important, but this relationship has proved invaluable, she passes on texts to other parents, now stops to talk and also greets us with a big smile."
Some young people took a lead and developed their skills trhough the digital youth work delivery, for example:
"One young person expressed an interest in running a session, so she taught a Tic Toc dance to the youth workers and the others attending the zoom session. She blossomed during lockdown. She started to open up and show her talent, not only for watching movies and writing a killer question, but also for observing and retaining that information, laughing, and smiling more."
Here is an example of how youth workers can be an antedote to negative school time:
"We learnt how one girl hated school. She was always getting shouted at ‘for no reason’, had made money selling chewing gum but wouldn’t own up to something getting broken. This young woman was bright but more often in trouble at school than not. We wanted to nurture her in a way that was not to the detriment of others. All the time we continued to make toast just the way she likes it."
Having a regular presence in the local area makes a difference, as this example shows:
"As lockdown eased we started walking around the town and during Easter we had our first sessions in the park. In recent weeks we have received a wave across the park from both of them, they will come over and sit and talk about their day (often rubbish) and requested if they can go for a walk with us and other activities. At one point it would have easier to have told these two to go home and not return, however as this case study tries to highlight our values, learning and that we invest time and energy into being inclusive and consistant. We are nurturing relationships to develop an understanding of where these young people are at and going forward together."
CAYAG's LESSONS FROM THE LOCKDOWN