Reflective Review of Youth Work Practice

My decision to study E131 Introduction to Working with Young people was based on my desire to cement my experiential learning by developing my knowledge of theoretical concepts through academic study. I have worked with young people for seven years, and the majority of my training thus far has been practice based. My current role is as a group worker in a therapeutic community for children and young people. The therapeutic community is a residential provision with a specialist education and therapy centre for children and young people with attachment disruption and trauma leading to social and behavioural difficulties. We also work with children displaying sexualised and self-harming behaviours. The therapeutic milieu which exists within the community is underpinned by an attachment focussed approach and provides stability for chaotic behaviour and a disregulated emotional state. The therapeutic provision is underpinned by an integrated team approach which includes Child Psychotherapy, Clinical and Forensic Psychology, Educational Psychology, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Social Work and Counselling.

Prior to beginning Open University’s E131 Introduction to Working with Young People, and due to the highly specialised nature of the work I do, I held the belief that I had little to learn relating to youth work. The most significant, and surprising, realisation I experienced whist working through the module was that I will never and can never know everything there is to know about youth work. In fact, the very nature of my role within the Therapeutic Community may have narrowed my view of young people to only the most damaged individuals, which in turn has narrowed my outlook on the issues that young people are faced with today.

A young person commented ‘…you can’t talk about “understanding young people” – all young people are different, so you would have to know different things to understand them all’ (The Open University, 2005, Study Topic 3, pg