New Beginnings It’s the night before the beginning of the new school year and I can’t sleep. September has always felt more like the beginning of a new year for me than January, I guess it has to do with working in and around education for most of my working life. But it’s also to …
Route Mapping for Youth Workers We stand in the edge of something new, not a temporary change, not a small tweak but the beginning of a new way of living. A whole new world, to borrow a line from Disney. What do we as youth workers need to know about the way ahead? Mourn We …
Sanctuary and Sabbath – youth work in 2020 It may feel like a cliché but it’s pretty clear that in the years to come historians will study this time we are living in now to see how different countries and communities responded to the various concerns that are currently making waves: Covid-19; the responses of …
Week 8 – the hardest one yet! Last week was so hard, there was so much emotion washing through my head and heart. From the joy of my youngest turning 11 and the remembrance of the start of his life to the sadness of losing a member of my wider family on the same day …
The Unwanted Helper There is an unwanted helper in my hallway. The kind that really wants to be of help and really will be of help if I can just get my head around needing it. I was talking to a lovely friend this week about the way our brain processes memory and events: I’ve …
Schools and The Great Return This week I have begun putting together a 2020 ‘time capsule’, which has mainly involved coaxing my 10 year old into giving me something to write down about how he is ‘feeling’ and what he is ‘thinking’ that’s beyond “I want to bury my head in a screen and never …
Mentoring in a Pandemic As I write this we are just a couple of weeks into these new ‘stay at home: save lives’ times: an effective lockdown situation in which we cannot meet with others face to face, except at a distance, not least because most places that would be meeting places are closed due …
Mentoring and Practice Supervision I am a long term youth worker and supporter of youth workers. I am passionate about the support that youth workers need, whether that’s at the beginning of their youth work journey or after many years of experience. There are few different ways of offering this support and this post will …
End of Week Two – Stay At Home Save Lives This week we have fared better, it has felt less emotionally stressful and more like this way of life is becoming ‘normal’, for better or worse! I’m really aware that there are many for whom it is an especially difficult and even unsafe position to …
End of Week One – Stay At Home Save Lives It’s fair to say that in our house, along with the rest of the world, it’s been a week of mixed emotions, there’s been ups and downs, tears and laughter. There’s a lot to be thankful for alongside the frustrations of self-quarantine/lockdown/isolation whichever word you’re …
