Argyll and Bute is blessed with many wonderful attributes and without doubt one of our greatest, and often much maligned, is our young people! Several years ago, I had a manager who told me that I should count myself lucky to be a youth worker as “working with young people wasn’t just a job it was a privilege.” Now, if I’m honest…… I can’t say that it always feels that way but there is nothing better than working alongside young people in our communities, supporting them to develop as individuals and strive to reach their potential.
The Youth Service Team works with a wide range of young people on an even wider range of programmes, subjects and issues. Routinely, a youth worker may find themselves working in a school with a group of young people on a personal development programme one day and out in a community centre one to one with a young person on an Activity Agreement the next. Regardless of the context the common approach used is to work with the young person on their terms, forming often quite unique bonds of trust to negotiate worthwhile and exciting programmes. Formal and informal youth work can significantly improve young people’s opportunities through learning, personal development and active citizenship.
Without doubt, the best evidence that “#Youth Work Changes Lives “ is the young people themselves – Naomi Campbell from Soroba in Oban first became involved in youth work when she was 11. Through her involvement with North Argyll Youth Forum Naomi was given the opportunity to take part in training and personal development activities that boosted her skills and confidence. Naomi’s leadership potential was shining through and she was selected to take part in the Youth Service 
Leadership programme. Putting her newly acquired skills and experience to good use, Naomi volunteered as a young leader at the “Newbies” residential for S1/S2 pupils and represented Argyll and Bute on the National Youth Bank Forum. Naomi was elected by her peers as Chair of Argyll and Bute Youth Forum in 2015 and enjoyed several highlights in her time in office including co-hosting the AB Awards in front of an audience of 150, alongside former Big Brother winner John Loughton (pic). In June 2016 Naomi was successful in obtaining a Modern Apprenticeship with the Community Development team at Argyll and Bute Council – “Being a part of the Youth Forum, Youth Bank etc and just having great support from the Youth Services team has definitely boosted my confidence, you might not believe it if you met me but… I used to be shy and quiet!”– Naomi Campbell.
Building the capacity of young people to express their voice and demonstrate social commitment is a key outcome for youth work and involvement training, young leader courses and supporting young people to participate in youth forums and the Scottish Youth Parliament are just some of the opportunities available. Argyll and Bute 
has three Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) and one of them Jamie Murray, from Bute, has been selected to represent Scotland’s young people at the 8th Commonwealth Youth Parliament (CYP) sitting which takes place this year in Victoria, British Columbia. The CYP is an annual event that’s held in a different Commonwealth region each year. Up to 66 young people from across the Commonwealth have a unique opportunity to participate in educational sessions led by experienced parliamentary officials, take part in parliamentary proceedings and debate and vote on legislation and motions. A great honour for Jamie and for Argyll and Bute!
On the subject of travelling abroad, a group of ten young people from Oban, Bute and Helensburgh have recently returned from a week long international exchange trip to Amberg Sulzbach in Bavaria. Working alongside the host group, the young people shared what health and wellbeing meant to young people in each country and explored the similarities and differences. The return leg will take place next year when a group of Bavarian young people are making the journey to Argyll. The groups have agreed that the theme for the second leg will be the issues faced by refugees in the respective communities. Coincidently, 2017 is also the 50th Anniversary of the twinning arrangement between Argyll and Bute and Amberg Sulzbach and another excuse to celebrate with a ceilidh!
With all these young people achieving wonderful things, it’s only fair that they get recognition for the time and effort they put into taking part. Accreditation and wider achievement is now integral to youth work activities and Youth Achievement Awards, Dynamic Youth Awards, John Muir Awards, Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Saltire Awards are just some of the youth awards built into our programmes.
Becoming part of the Education Service has been a key factor in increasing access to school and developing a closer working relationship – most of Youth Work team spend at least sixty percent of their working week delivering programmes in school.
I sincerely hope that this piece has given you a flavour of the type of activities the Youth Service team are involved in and just why it’s such a privilege to work with these young people!
Martin Turnbull
Youth Service Manager
