Hi Noah and welcome to your ‘introducing’ interview. 

Thank you

Let’s start with the basics, what is your role at The Door?

I am one of The Door’s Community Youthworkers. This means I organise youth clubs and other youthwork activities for one area of the District. My role focuses on the communities in Cam and Dursley. 

Excellent, so what does being a Community Youthworker look like?

Being a Community Youthworker is all about embedding The Door in communities and working together alongside other organisations not just ‘at them’. I work with the local police, neighbourhood wardens, schools and other charities to ensure everyone is on the same page about working with young people. And making sure that the youth voice is heard.

Sounds busy! What does that look like day to day?

I think it’s hard to explain the day to day. There’s no real set routine apart from delivering youth club sessions. One day I might be meeting councillors, another I might be organising school holiday activities, or I might be doing some 1:1 work, working with The Door’s intensive support team too.

Certainly sounds like it keeps you on your toes,  so how did you become a youthworker at The Door?

The short answer is that while I was working at a supermarket one of my friends suggested it. There was a job going for a sessional youthworker and I thought, what do I have to lose?.

When I got the job I really threw myself into it, doing all the sessions I could and really getting to grips with being a youthworker. I’ve completed level 2 and level 3 youthwork training while at The Door and learned so much.

Soon after I started an opportunity to go full time as a Community Youthworker came up and I couldn’t say no. I enjoy it so much! 

That’s great to hear, so what’s your favourite part of being a youthworker?

That’s such a hard question! There’s so many things to choose from. But if I had to choose one it would be seeing the unique talents, skills and abilities that the young people can bring to the table. Helping them to recognise and realise their potential and building strong relationships is what makes it all worthwhile.

And what are the more challenging things?

For me it’s always time management, it is so easy to get completely invested in these young people and want to give them all 100% of your attention and support. We care about them all and want the best for them. So for me, the challenge is balancing and prioritising that work.

The other challenge is being able to stop when the work stops and ‘home’ begins, especially with some of the more complex issues we work with it can be hard to switch off at the end of the day. The rest of the team are really supportive and we look after each other too.

That’s always good to hear. So looking forwards what are you excited about?

Easy! The launch of our new young leader’s programme. It’s still in development at the moment but I’m really looking forward to helping young people develop the skills they need to be leaders, empowering them to take the lead, building their confidence and unlocking their potential going forwards.

The programme will help them gain transferrable skills like communication and organisation, jump-starting their higher education or career options.

Sounds amazing! Now that brings us to the end of the more serious questions for today, time for the fun stuff.

So… if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?

Can I say Mac and Cheese and see if Francesca notices? No ok, pizza because at least you can have lots of different toppings to keep things interesting.

What about sports?

I play some basketball and follow the Boston Celtics, but closer to home it’s the Gloucester City Queens.

And finally, is there a quote you would like to share?

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know what might have happened.

Thank you for your time today

No problem

Meet more members of the Door Team here