One of the themes of this year’s National Youth Work Week is supporting young people to learn so they can earn.

At The Door we see ourselves as champions for young people and offer a wide range of opportunities for them to learn the skills they need to join the work force (including our own staff!). Sessional Youthworker Courtney is just one of these stories:

Hi I’m Courtney and as a Sessional Youthworker my role at The Door is to build healthy relationships with young people aged 11- 25 in our communities. I work alongside our young people to help them develop new life skills, gain confidence and to understand their values and beliefs. On a practical level, I plan and organise activities for our young people to engage in during sessions.

When I first arrived at The Door, I was a young person myself, I used to come to sessions with my mates and hang out. While I was at college studying Health and Social Care I did work experience with Kathleen at The Vibe in Dursley. Doing work experience at The Door was a good way for me to find my feet in youthwork. With every session that I helped in, I gained confidence in myself. It proved to me that Youthwork was the career I wanted to pursue.

After my work experience ended I stayed on as a volunteer, and when a Sessional Youthwork position became available I couldn’t wait to apply!

The team at The Door supported me so much throughout my time as a volunteer, and continued to do so as I made the transition into to becoming a fully-fledged staff member. My supervisions with Kathleen made it so easy for me to raise any concerns that I had, work towards my goals and manage any problems that may have occurred. I think I was also given the perfect amount of responsibility in session, allowing me to work towards my goals successfully. 

Looking ahead my goal is to continue gaining experience to help me become the best youthworker that I can be, as I am very passionate about my work. I also look to add to my skill set whilst working hard to help young people around the local area. I’m currently working to towards having the skills and confidence to become a lead youth worker. This would mean taking on more responsibility in sessions and investing more of my time into The Door.

More from Courtney – Read Courtney’s Work Experience Story or Watch her ‘how to make slime’ session on YouTube