Youth Work

The Diocesan Youth Work Officer is here to help and support youth workers in our parishes and provide training.

Contact: Diocesan Youth Officer, Susie Mapledoram

Contact Susie for support with:

• Setting up your youth group
• Good practice in  youth work
• Confirmation resources
• Young people and leadership
• Mentoring young people
• Grief and loss
• Training for youth leaders
• Support and mentoring youth leaders
• Support for parishes in appointing youth workers
• Resources for youth groups

Training

In 2022 we will be offering a series of training evenings which run parallel to the ALM course. The youth work elective will cover sessions on relational youth work, developing a team and leadership and young people.

The aims for these training sessions are:

• To explore and learn from the adolescent and social development of young people and its impact on our youth work
• To learn and discuss some of the key principles around relational youth work and to be able to contextualise it to parish, project and community
• To make space to dream, develop and deliver a programme of youth work in their context and identify key resources that would enable that
• To explore, equip and train participants in specialist areas of youth work such as mental health, detached youth work, schools work as specialist bolt-ons
• To ensure that all participants are up to date with current guidelines and best practice in youth work

Find out more about our ALM courses and sign up to the Youth Elective.

Bespoke training

If there are particular areas or issues that you would like some more specific training on, please do contact the Diocesan Youth Officer to discuss this. Details on local and regional training events can be found on the Events page and in the Source newsletter. 

Key training

If you are just starting out in youth work or looking for refresher training, Key 1 and Key 2 are for you. Each is free and can be delivered at a time and place that suits you.

Key 1 explores why we work with young people, understanding learning styles, evaluation and good practice including risk assessments and health and safety.

Key 2 looks at the world of a young person, their faith and values, listening skills and pastoral care.

If you are a team of youth leaders looking to start a group and want to do some training to both equip in this, then The Key is a brilliant course to use. It is delivered in a conversational style across a day, two mornings or several evenings. It is free and we can organise to deliver this at a time and place that suits your team. You might want to arrange a course for youth leaders in your deanery and therefore create a great opportunity to share ideas and best practice. The course covers subjects on working as a team, planning a session and practical guides around risk assessments and best practice.

Resources

A big part of what we do is helping to resource parishes and youth groups with good, tried and tested resources for your ministry with young people. This starts best with a phone call with the Youth Officer to chat about what kind of resource you are after and where suggestions can be discussed on what might be a good fit. Call Susie on: 07967 657587

Our library at Church House has some great books and resources, and we can arrange to get those to you via post or delivery.

Follow the Youth Officer on Twitter

Join our Diocese of Manchester Youth Work Resources Facebook group

Follow the Diocese of Manchester youth account on Instagram