YouthLink Scotland CEO and St Paul’s Youth Forum youth team leader Neil Young spoke about the challenges the youth work sector faced during lockdowns, and the impact of its response.
YouthLink Scotland CEO Tim Frew gave evidence to the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry last week alongside youth work sector colleagues. He laid out the youth work sector’s response, the role of the national agency for youth work, and lessons learnt for what is still an underfunded sector. He also talked about the challenges for YouthLink Scotland as the national agency, representing Scotland youth work sector amid sizeable cuts to funding.
Watch the full Covid-19 Inquiry evidence session here.
Meanwhile, Neil Young, Youth Team Leader at St Paul’s Youth Forum in Glasgow’s Provanmill, gave evidence on a raft of issues facing youth workers and the wider sector throughout the pandemic. He spoke of youth work’s role in collaborating with local schools, acting as an intermediary to speak with young people that schools were having difficulty contacting. He also highlighted the digital agility of St Paul’s Youth Forum, transitioning to digital youth work on Zoom and assisting young people with adapting to online learning.
He highlighted the impact of the pandemic on youth workers, specifically elements of burnout and poor mental health that arose from the stress of consecutive lockdowns and youth workers having to juggle personal circumstances with having to adapt to a new and challenging way of working. Neil also spoke to key issues impacting young people as a consequence of Covid-19, including digital poverty, loneliness and isolation, addition issues, housing support and a widening attainment gap.
The youth work sector panel in the afternoon of evidence talked about the loss of social learning, the growing issue of youth violence post pandemic, the need for parity with formal education and a lack of understanding from both local and national government about the vital role of youth work. Giving evidence were Mark Molloy and Kelly Ross from Dumfries and Galloway Council who laid out the supportive role their council played during the pandemic. Graeme Luke, CEO of Scouts Scotland who challenged government to put more trust in the sector and Michelle Meehan of Youth Scotland who spoke of the difficulties on the ground with ever changing guidance which made it challenging for youth workers to support young people.