SR Vol 27 No 3, July 2009 - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

YOUTH WORK THAT WORKS
If it’s about us, don’t do it without us
group of innovators – including
Emma Halpern A youth peer leaders – gathered
NSBS Equity Officer recently on Nova Scotia’s South
Shore to brainstorm new ways of
approaching youth work, youth organizing and youth advocacy.
Youth Work That Works, held at White Point Beach Resort in May,
was a three-day training experience that brought together pioneering
youth organizations from across the northeastern U.S. and Atlantic
Canada. It centered on dialogue and relationship-building with
others who are passionate about engaging young people and seeking
innovation in the youth field. It included opportunities to learn from
youth workers who have explored, created and introduced practices
that are shifting the nature of youth work itself, through new programs
and more effective youth engagement.
“The traditional service/client model in our communities is not
serving youth,” said the event’s co-host Tim Merry, founder of the
Split Rock Learning Centre in Yarmouth, a youth drop-in centre that
offers regional programming for youth and youth workers. “Young
leaders and adults working with youth are burning out and many of
us who are innovating around what we’re hearing from youth feel like
we’re working in isolation.”
The White Point experience, then, was about bringing youth workers
together to amplify what is working and leverage areas for change
in this region. It was about working together to build resilient
community leaders, activists and change agents.
Much of the operational youth work facilitated by the event’s hosting
team is grounded in the following core tenets:
• If it’s about us, don’t do it without us.
• You are the experts on youth.
• Everyone is gifted, no one is broken.
• Youth is the focus but the context is intergenerational.
Simple – yet crucial – components of youth work that works.
That’s why young people were fully involved in the design, delivery
and followup for the training, with the Leaders of Today Youth
Co-Hosting Team, sponsored by the Nova Scotia Child and Youth
Strategy and Youth Secretariat. The event was also spearheaded by
Leave Out ViolencE (Halifax) and The Chill Zone youth centre
(Gloucester, Massachusetts).
The following questions formed some of the grounding for the
training:
• What kind of support do young people need to lead the way and
own their destiny in our region?
• How can we ensure any change we make lasts into the future?
• How can we create the conditions for sustained innovation and
growth in our youth organizing and engagement?
Facilitators used the techniques and tools of the Art of Hosting to
delve more deeply into these questions and assist participants to
identify their own questions as they move forward with this work
As the flyer indicated: “This is not for spectators.” All participants
– of all ages – were invited to challenge their own assumptions and
ultimately, take a step towards taking responsibility for what they care
about in the world.
28 The Society Record