Blog

Meet Shady, a dedicated Youth Support Worker with a passion for making a difference in young people's lives. In this interview, shares insights into his career, highlighting moments that he finds most rewarding. He also discusses the perks of his work, including the opportunity for professional growth and development. Tell us a bit about yourself I’m a Youth Support Worker in Adelaide, South Australia. I’ve been working in the field for over 3 years now for a few different organisations. Why did you choose to join Edmen? I decided to join Edmen due to the fact it’s a bigger organisation, the pay rate is better and there’s a good amount of work. They also have a referral policy so if you refer people to work with Edmen you get rewarded, which is a perk. Generally speaking, it’s a good place. People are professional and they support their staff where it's needed. There is plenty of work and options when it comes to work. Why did you become a youth worker? I’ve been involved with kids for most of my life. I teach music and coach junior basketball. Plus in church, I volunteer to help with kids’ camps. About 3 years ago it struck me why don’t I make this a job. So I did the research, got the qualifications and became a youth worker. How old are the kids you support? It varies. With Edmen I don’t have a specific placement or residential house I work in, so I get sent to a number of different houses. The youngest person I’ve supported was 9 and the oldest was 17. How long have you been working with Edmen? I’ve just hit the 6 month mark. Chat to us about your recent deployment to Mt Gambier I recently got deployed to go to Mt Gambier which was a fun experience. I was sent there to support a young people who is in residential care with one of Edmen’s client organisations. I got a call from my Service Coordinator, who asked if I was interested and explained how the pay and allowances would work. Mt Gambier looked really nice so I went and it ended up being a very good time. The city itself is chill, quite small and quiet and I had the chance to see some sights in my free time like the Blue Lake. During my 4 days in Mt Gambier, I was working day shifts and passive nights and was staying at the placement or residential facility. The young person I was supporting loved fishing, so we drove a couple of times to Port McDonald and spent a few hours crabbing there which was a lot of fun. What do you like most about being a Youth Worker? Engaging with the young people and doing activities with them. I enjoy helping them with daily tasks like school, homework, gym or training. Even like cooking together and gaming, it’s a diverse job that changes day-to-day. Can you run us through a typical day at work It depends on the shift, you can have a day, afternoon or night shift. Night shifts can be active or passive. Generally speaking, if it’s a day shift, you turn up really early when most likely the young people are still asleep. If it’s a school day, you start by preparing their school lunch boxes and checking that their uniforms are ready. Then it’s time to wake the kids up, arrange breakfast, then drop them off at school. While the young people are at school, we’ll go back to the placement and do some house chores and get prepared for the afternoon shift. After school, our duties include helping with homework, cooking dinner, getting the kids to sport training or to any appointments. After that, it’s time to prepare the young people for bedtime. If it’s a school holiday, the routine is obviously different. They might stay at home or go out and do an activity, but as the youth worker, we still help plan the day. Do you have any highlights or standout moments as a Youth Support Worker? For me, one of the most rewarding parts of the job is the mentoring that’s involved and imparting general life advice and knowledge. This happens a lot. For example, when we go shopping, I ask the young person to pay so they can understand about money and develop their numeracy skills. When we go grocery shopping, I ask them to help do the meal planning with me. These are everyday tasks where there are little moments throughout the day where I can see I’ve made an impact in developing their life skills. What’s your favourite thing about working with Edmen? The pay rate is good. The app that we use to make ourselves available or unavailable to work is efficient. There are also some great opportunities to be had, like my recent trip to Mt Gambier, and the refer a friend policy is great. What’s the hardest part of your job? The challenging behaviour of some of the young people. That’s something that you’re always dealing with as part of the job, but with sufficient training this can be overcome. Most of the organisations, including Edmen provide training on how to deal with these situations. Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about becoming a Youth Support Worker? Go for it. It’s great and such a rewarding career. Pay attention to the training and follow the advice of your manager. Ready to make the jump and join Edmen? Check out our open Youth Support Worker roles and apply today.

We sat down with Edmen Youth Support Worker, Precious, to chat about what he gets up to in a typical day at work supporting young people at the Department of Child Protection in South Australia. Read on to hear what he has to say about his job, what made him pursue a career in youth work with Edmen and why he doesn't look back.

Introducing Monica, Edmen's Youth Worker

In our latest installment of Day in the Life, we sat down with Edmen Disability Support Worker, Eunice. We chat about how she first got into the sector, what she loves most about working with Edmen and get her advice for others thinking about a career in disability support.

Before becoming a Youth Worker, Chris was stuck in a career rut. Having spent the good part of 7 years working in the same sales and marketing role for the Not-for-Profit sector, he was ready for a new chapter, one that preferably didn’t involve stopping strangers at shopping centres.

We sat down to chat with Dele, about his career change from teacher to Youth Support Worker.

We sat down with Disability Support Worker, Judy, to learn about her career change from Aged Care.

Tell us a bit about yourself I’m a Residential Youth Worker with Edmen in the Central Coast. I started working with Edmen at the beginning of the year and I support young people in out of home care. I’m also currently studying a Bachelor of Social Work. What do you want to do after finishing university? I’m currently studying social work which aligns well with Youth Work. I want to go into child protection after uni so having this background and experience in the Youth sector is helpful. I’ve gained a wide variety experience working in the residential houses. What type of settings do you work in? I work at three main types of houses that provide different levels of support. There’s a house that runs a 13 week program for young people so that’s shorter term care. I also work in houses that provide 1 to 1 support and group homes. What does a typical day at work look like? A typical day would involve a morning activity after the young people wake up, this could involve cooking or cleaning. Our role is to help them develop their skills so once they grow up, they can look after themselves in the adult world. During the day we do all sorts of things, we go to the beach, we go to the park, we go shopping. How old are the young people you support? They are anywhere between 8 to 16 or 17. What do you like most about working with Edmen? The thing I like most about working with Edmen is the flexibility. They [Edmen] have a lot of contracts with out of home providers so there are a lot of places for us to work. I’m a university student so it’s hard to find a job to fit in with my schedule but Edmen works well because I can go and do what I need to do while also making a decent living. Do you have any advice for people wanting to get into Youth Work? If you want to get into Youth Work, firstly you must have a passion for supporting children and young people in their transitional years. It does take a lot of patience and you have to be passionate about it. I think it’s also worth noting that you need good communication skills and de-escalation skills, as well as self-confidence. You’ve got to know yourself - you can’t go into this job insecure. Do you have any highlights or moments that have stuck with you as a Youth Worker? There was one instance where a young person I support was having a bad day and there’s this TikTok game called ‘Randonautica’ which gives you a random location to go out and explore. This young person suggested we go out and play this game so we did and her mood completely changed. Once we got home, all she could talk about was how much fun we had on our scavenger hunt. It’s these little things like this that you think are insignificant which stay with these young people. Our job is to make this time of their lives as positive as possible. Have the young people taught you anything? Yes, they’ve taught me so much. I always joke that I know what all the kids are into now days. But on a personal level, I’ve learnt so much about myself and really developed my communication skills. What’s next for you? I should graduate in June next year so I hope to use my experience gained at Edmen to work at Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ).