What is detached youth work?
Our street-based youth work provides wrap-around support for young people at street level – a setting where parents, schools and most other services have little reach. The work helps groups of young people, who choose to spend their leisure time in outdoor spaces, make that time as useful and productive as possible
We work with young people on the streets of their own communities across communities in West and South Yorkshire. The key focus of our street-based work is helping groups of young people who choose to use the streets and parks in their leisure time to make that time as useful and productive as possible.
We currently work across several communities in Leeds, Wakefield and Barnsley, where youth workers deliver street-based sessions on multiple weekly evenings. Youth workers initially engage young people at street-level, with a focus on ‘engagement’ and ‘activity’. They run interactive street-based workshops, as well as sports, arts and music, helping to build relationships with young people, generate discussion and provide access to positive role models. From here, young people are supported to design challenging and developmental projects, taking the work to the next level.
That could mean taking on a big outdoor challenge (like climbing a mountain), organizing a residential, cooking outdoors, supporting community cohesion or running social action projects that make a difference to their neighbourhoods.