The purposes of youth work in Wales are defined as:
- to promote equality of opportunity for all young people in order that they may fulfil their potential as empowered individuals and as members of groups and communities.
- to support young people in the transition to adulthood.
- to assist young people to develop attitudes and skills which enable them to make purposeful use of their personal resources and time.
And all youth work projects should be designed to promote equality for all through the challenging of oppression and inequity, from the acceptance of differences which spring from race, sexual identity, gender, disability, age and religion, and the recognition of the diversity of culture and language in Wales.
In the past youth work was very much a reactive profession. Youth workers knew what they did but often could not explain it. It was something to do with being in tune with young people, providing what they wanted that would also keep them off of the streets (pool, darts a place to hang out), organising the odd trip, being available etc. This is still what some aspects of youth work are and should be about, however there is, and always has been, the need also for a dynamic/proactive approach to youth work.
The numbers of Welsh Office and Assembly initiatives, which encourage proactive youth work, have increased dramatically in recent years. These include the Youth Access Initiative, Children and Youth Partnership and the Youth Work and Schools Partnership. Within the arena of these projects there is massive scope to work with the development of emotional intelligence. As an organisation we have been involved in these projects within our home county of Pembrokeshire. We have found that all young people benefit from work, which focuses on emotional development, not just those identified as "disaffected." As an example, part of the work we have been doing in schools, has been to train volunteer 6th formers to be peer tutors within their schools. To quote just one of the many hundreds of young people we have trained:
"A lot of the problems you deal with, I have not experienced in life, so your work prepared me for when I may have to deal with a situation like the ones you go through and it made me have a better understanding of the matter so that I can help others around me who may have problems such as these. - - - It is important for people like me who are very fortunate to help others around me, and feel compassionate towards my neighbours."
ThFfC can be commissioned for projects with youth clubs; youth theatres; youth initiatives within schools, PRUs and elsewhere. We use theatre, games, circle time and a wide toolbox of techniques within the framework of emotional intelligence to create projects which are educative, expressive, participative, empowering - and huge fun!
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