Expand

Yourself
training for youth workers
All over Europe, January 2018

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 In November 2017, 25 people from five European countries met in the Polish
mountains. They had different education, professional profiles or life experiences. They spoke
different languages, they had different plans for the future. Some knew exactly what they
wanted to do and when. Others were only looking for ideas and tools to implement them in
their daily work. They wanted to help people who are often their age - as peer educators or
beginner youth workers.

They had one thing in common: desire to help people with fewer opportunities. Especially
these ones who enter adulthood without any support, but with many problems.
What they have in common is the desire to help people who enter adulthood without any
support, but with many problems. Working with young people who are in various types of
crises is often a challenge for people with extensive professional experience. What to say about
those enthusiasts who want to do it right from the beginning of their careers?

The EXPAND YOURSELF training, co-financed by the ERASMUS + program, provided

them opportunity to acquire knowledge, new tools or to strengthen empathy and sensitivity to
other people's problems. For 6 days, youth workers, peer educators and volunteers from five
European organisations, worked on expanding their knowledge on assistance work, focused
around young adults in crisis. It was six days of intense workshops, debates and exercises in the
field of non-formal education, where participants shared their experiences which enabled
mutual learning.

The result of this work, this eBook, is a collection of tips and suggestions collected and created
by participants during the entire workout. It contains basic concepts, assumptions and
examples of corrective work plans.

We hope that this free eBook will be for you, our dear readers, a useful tool in everyday work -
especially at the beginning of his career.

Participants of the "Expand Yourself" project

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AUTHORS:

1. Agnieszka Sikora
2. Weronika Zaród
3. Dominika Puszczewicz
4. Maciej Dudek
5. Sebastian Kniza

6. Argiris Alexiadis
7. Magdalini Petridou
8. Niki Koutsoura
9. Eleni Mavroudi
10. Georgia Chatzichristou

11. Borras Thelma

12. Pryanka Tiyakaran
13. Clena Jeunathan
14. Langlais Floriane
15. Mickael Martial

16. Elena Martinelli

17. Francesco Vespa
18. Valentina Alfano (also the author of the pictures)
19. Gabriele Mosconi
20. Francesca Battistini

21. Anabela Brandao

22. Gil Cancela
23. Joana Filipa da Silva Ribeiro
24. Silina Dias Ribeiro
25. Vinicius Nathan De Carvalho Pereira

26. Paweł Rybałtowski (eBook designer)

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1
Who is youth worker?
definition • attitude • skills

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A person (specialist or peer) who works with young people and deal with their
problems – to make a positive change in their life.

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 Youth workers use mostly their own personality to build a relationship with client.
The more authentic we are, the more we seem trustful. Desirable and helpful qualities/skills
can be:

• patience,
• empathy,
• self-confidence,
• motivation,
• being interested and involved,
• open mind,
• consistency,
• emotional and mental stability,
• legality – respect to law,
• kindness,
• education and experience - having knowledge, tools and support in the team.

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2
Peer education

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 A person (specialist or peer) who works with young people and deal with their
problems – to make a positive change in their life.

Peer education participants are both student and teacher. They are sharing their
experiences with positive and constructive aim. The most important thing is that there is no
leader in this form of education. Process can be formal and non-formal.

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NON FORMAL EDUCATION

Non-formal education is characterised by the fact that there is no leader. Thanks to this,
everyone is in the same position, has the same possibilities of action. Participants work in
cooperation with the rest of the group. There are no rigid and specific rules or guidelines.
Evaluation of activities is also carried out in a non-formal way.

PROS AND CONS

Advantages of non-formal education:

• less stressful,

• capability of talk freely,

• more effective - the whole process is built around the needs and capabilities of participants.

Disadvantages of non-formal education:

• can be chaotic,

• less effective for theory,

• process is slower than in formal education.

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FORMAL EDUCATION

Formal education is focused around the leader and has a precise action plan. It is characterised
by rigid rules, order. The main method is to follow the teacher - there is no room for sharing
your thoughts or experiences, brainstorming. The progress of the participants is evaluated by
the leader with the help of grades. The pace is fast and there is often competition among the
participants in the process.

PROS AND CONS

Advantages of formal education:

• Process is fast,

• Clear rules favour objectivity,

• Resources is gathered in books,

• It fits in particular for teaching theory.

Disadvantages of formal education:

• Can be stressful,

• No individual approach,

• Innovative methods are often not acceptable.

Might leave somebody behind

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3
Building a relation with client
base steps

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 How to build a good relationship/relationship with the client? Everyone has
their own method and philosophy for it. However, there is one thing in common:
Treating the customer subjectively. Building relationships can be divided into
two areas - communication and getting to know each other as well as the chosen
type of work and activities with the client. Below you will find some useful tips
for regulating contact with pupils.

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COMMUNICATION

• ability to adapt to the language & vocabulary of the client,

• acceptance,

• lack of judgment,

• trust,

• keeping promises,

• punctuality,

• diplomacy,

• transparency,

• empathy,

• open mind,

• active listening skills,

• honesty,

• mutual respect,

• caring for bond,

• confidentiality,

• time availability,

• common point.

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PROCESS

• client is always primary,

• choose approach that fits the needs of client,

• step-by-step rule – it goes as well as for building trust and for creating a plan of work,

• focus on goal – the best solution for client,

• building and respecting rules,

• having authority - being positive adults,

• cooperation,

• learning from experience,

• gathering new knowledge regarding the topic.

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5
Plan of work

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When working with a client, an action plan is needed. Building it (step by step)
facilitates work: organises and gathers needs, difficulties that require help from
outside. The final should be a positive change in the life of the client -
overworking difficulties and solving problems.
The ideal is to fulfil the plan from the beginning to the end - but it is often a
utopia. Usually, making one step ahead, later we have to do two steps
backwards. Even if only one thing from the plan works, it is a big success!
We need information and tools to build a good and constructive plan.

Here are some tips:

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DIAGNOSIS

Collecting information from:

• the client,
• his family,
• school/work,
• social groups,
• institutions.

through:

• observations,
• interviews,
• projection,
• methods,
• questionnaires.

• Every information about client’s life is useful.

• Collecting information for diagnosis requires the skill of active listening and empathy.

• Gathering knowledge of client.

• Creating a nice and relaxed atmosphere will make it much easier for us to build proper
contact.

• Collecting information for diagnosis requires the skill of active listening and empathy.
It is worth observing the client in different situations and contexts.

• Every time try to create bridges.

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NEEDS

Identify the needs of a client. Try to involve him/her to identify his/her needs. Sometimes
that can be hardest part.

A good and helpful analysis is SWOT tool:

STRENGTHS WEAKNESS

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

• Sometimes it is worth helping the customer to discover and name their needs.

• Discussing them - what they are, what their hierarchy looks like, what they mean -
facilitates the process of identifying needs.

• Help to cover some needs if you can. It can be a first step with plan of work.

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MOTIVATION

Inspire the young - this is the key of the motivation.

Have in your mind the 3L:

• INFORM

• INSPIRE

• INFLUENCE

• See the positive aspects of his/her personality and relay with it to rebuild.

• Inform that you are "there” for him/her.

• Present to him/her people with similar experiences – such as common problems from past,
that they manage to overcome and now have a "normal" life. It helps youth believe that they
can also do it, that it is not impossible to achieve.

• If the client is very negative try to give him a role, where he/she can do something
constructive – e.g. assistants.

• Give him some options/choices for his life situation. Let him know that he is responsible for
the choices he makes and that it will have consequences

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PROBLEM YOUTH WORKER CAN FACE – TYPES

Working with youth with fewer opportunities can be challenging. All problems, difficulties
and harsh experiences from past often comes in one package. To make a positive change in
their lives creates necessity to offer a complex help, which covers more than one problem.

So, what kind of problems of young people youth worker can face?

• addictions – drugs, food, alcohol, gambling, behavioural

• mental problems – diseases and disorders

• disabilities – mental & physical,

• discrimination regarding sexual orientation, criminal past, ethnicity, social background,

economic or appearance, skin colour, religion,

• education – dropping out of school, bulling, low educational skills

• style of living – crimes, homelessness, sex workers,

• family problems – abuse, violence, health, economical problems.

Working with client is also not easy job, especially for youth workers. Difficulties can also
appear in the work with the client - in his/her attitude, deficits, low resources. Often these
difficulties are the result of acquired survival strategies, childhood experiences or distrust of
adults. Some problems may also be caused by the system in a given country or in the
organisation (NGO, institutes etc.) itself.

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We can experience:

• aggressive behaviour of a client,

• difficulties in cooperation,

• lack of motivation,

• lack of boundaries,

• gap in system – lack of good and effective solutions for youth with fewer opportunities,

• lack of knowledge and experiences.

Remember! You are not superhero, you cannot solve all problems and difficulties. The final
decision and work is on client’s account. He/she is the one who make decisions. It’s their right
to choose bad.

It’s important to take care of ourselves during work. Try to find a way to reduce stress.

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6
Youth worker ethics

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 • TRANSPARENCY

• CONFIDENTIALITY

• NO CORRUPTION

One of main goals with working with a client is to establish trust, to be a rock, that client
can lain on. To achieve that, among other things, youth worker should respect confidentiality,
honesty and to be clear on what he/she is saying. No hidden motives or tricks. Relationship
based on that – trust & honesty - is a ground that everything else is based on.

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POWER TO MAKE A CHANGE

• DUTY OD CARE
• SELF-CARE
• EMPOWERMENT

Inviting youth to enter a process to make a change requires duty of care from youth
worker – to have passion, strength to protect client from further harm. Still, youth worker
should also remember to protect herself/himself during work. If we have given too much that
we could, there is a high Chance to get hurt/loose objectivity/burnt out.

Protection from both sides is a base to empower ourselves – to make a positive change in
client's life.

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DEVELOPMENTAL ENVIRONMENT:

• ECOLOGY
• KNOWLEDGE
• SELF-AWARENESS
• INTEGRITY

The youth workers work is not limited to the individual, covering all of the individual's
context of life. Also, the youth worker has the responsibility to keep up to date with information
and loyalty to the practice of the youth work, being conscious of their own values and interests.

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BASE OF RELATIONSHIP:

• PRIMARY CLIENT
• COOPERATION
• BOUNDARIES
• EQUITY

The primary client of the youth worker is the young person, which has to be treated without
discrimination and with cooperation one to another, always respecting the limits.

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