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National Youth Work Conference 2026

This year’s National Youth Work Conference will take place in Glasgow on Monday 2nd November. The theme is Before Crisis: Youth Work and Young People’s Mental Health. Book your place now!

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  • Topic:  Active Youth Work, Health & Wellbeing, Prevention & Early Intervention, Rights, Participation & Volunteering, Training & Development
  • Date:  11 August, 2026

Across Scotland, young people are experiencing growing pressures on their mental health and wellbeing. Anxiety, trauma, loneliness, poverty, digital pressures, family stress and uncertainty continue to shape young people’s lives. 

Youth workers are often the trusted adults supporting young people before needs escalate. Through relationships, safe spaces, informal education and community support, youth work provides vital early intervention and prevention. 

At the same time, innovative partnership projects are emerging across Scotland, bringing together youth work, health, education and community services in new ways. There is also increasing interest from researchers and policy makers in preventative, relationship-based models of support. 

This conference will bring together practitioners, academics, pioneering projects and policy leaders to shape a stronger national response.

The conference will: 

Why Now? 

Why attend?

Participants will leave with:

 

  • A stronger evidence base.  
  • New partnership ideas.  
  • Scalable practice models.  
  • Clear policy asks. 
  • Better cross-sector relationships.  
  • Greater recognition of youth work’s role. 

Workshops

Youth Work and Growing2gether Partnership

Facilitators: Aberdeen City Council 

 

This workshop will introduce delegates to what Growing2gether is and how the partnership with youth work developed. Attend this workshop to understand how Growing2gether in partnership with youth work can deliver outcomes for young people in relation to mental health and post-school transitions.

 

Aims:

  • An awareness of the partnership between Growing2gether and youth work in Aberdeen.
  • An understanding of how Growing2gether in partnership with youth work can support young people to become more confident, improve their mental health and increase their post-school employability, training and education opportunities.
  • The training and development opportunities available to youth workers through collaboration with Growing2gether.

Beyond the Behaviour:Exploring Risk-Taking and Harmful Behaviour as Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms 

Facilitators: Laura Alexander and Mark Hunter, Fast Forward

Explore the links between risk-taking and harmful behaviour and children and young people’s mental well-being. This workshop will focus on how we can support children and young people to adopt healthy coping strategies in times of crisis, in place of unhealthy coping mechanisms.

 

Aims: 

  • Raised awareness of the drivers behind risk-taking or harmful behaviour and their impacts.
  • Explore the links between unhealthy coping mechanisms and poor mental well-being.
  • Explore youth work approaches that can support children and young people to build resilience and develop healthy coping strategies.

Developing an Anti-Racist Mental Health Intervention    for Young People: Lessons from Practice  

Facilitators: Felicity Hughes and Sadia Hussein-Savuk, Intercultural Youth Scotland  

 

This workshop will share the development of Intercultural Youth Scotland’s anti-racist mental health intervention for young people, exploring how lived experience, evidence, partnership working and trauma-informed practice informed the programme. 

 

Aims: 

  • To promote the effectiveness of anti-racist mental health designs for young people. 
  • To raise awareness of the journeys specific to young people from the global majority and common themes/barriers experienced. 
  • The practical adjustments that can be made to your practice or intervention to make it anti-racist. 

Building a Life Worth Living: Joy as Suicide Prevention  

Facilitators: Paula Manners and Isabelle Huggan, LGBT Youth Scotland 

 

This workshop will present the idea that one of the key roles of youth work is to support young people to build a ‘life worth living’ – that is a life full of joy, fun, meaning, purpose and relationships.  

Aims: 

  • To support youth workers to critically examine the role of fun in youth work. 
  • To reflect on the relationship between joy, wellbeing and a life worth living. 
  • To identify opportunities to create experiences where fun is valued as an outcome in itself. 

Building Brave Spaces: Exploring the Role of Youth Work in Promoting Positive Mental Health  

Facilitators: George Campbell and Kiera McCallum Regen:FX  GOTO Mental Health Service for Young People  

 

What can young people teach us about relationship-based youth work and positive mental health? This workshop will explore how youth work can move beyond providing support to enabling participation, achievement and lasting positive outcomes.  

 

Aims: 

  • Explore how youth work can create ‘Brave Spaces’ where young people develop confidence, resilience, a sense of belonging and positive mental health. 
  • Share the learning, challenges and successes from the Regen:FX GOTO Youth Mental Health Project, demonstrating how relationship-based practice, co-production and strengths-based approaches enable young people’s growth, participation and wellbeing. 
  • Inspire practitioners to reflect on their own practice and identify practical, transferable approaches for creating brave spaces that empower young people to thrive within their own youth work settings. 

Introduction to Support Young People Affected by Someone Else’s Alcohol and Drug Use  

Facilitators: Claire Wadsworth and Megan McGarrigle, Grow Your Own Routes: Scottish Families Affected by Drugs and Alcohol  

 

This interactive workshop will explore the experiences of young people aged 12–26 who are affected by another person’s alcohol or drug use, with a particular focus on the impact on mental health and wellbeing.  

 

Aims: 

  • Understand the impact that someone else’s substance use can have on young people’s mental health. 
  • Identify young people’s individual needs and barriers to support in relation to mental heal. 
  • Develop skills and knowledge to provide effect relationship-based support. 

PRICES

£110 including VAT (YouthLink Scotland Members) and £130 including VAT (Non-members)

Book your place now!

Recording your Professional Learning

Participating in this conference can be recorded as 7 hours of Professional Learning time, which can contribute to the 35 hours per year (pro rata) required for membership of the CLD Standards Council, another professional body, or your own learning and development plan.   When recording your professional learning you may want to reflect on your development from this event in relation to the relevant CLD Competences and CLD Ethics.
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