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.