Working in partnership with Worcestershire County Council, Youth Focus West Midlands and Big Lottery, Young Solutions have developed 6 e-learning youth work training modules which are being piloted over the next two months.

The training has been developed, with the help of Red Admiral Learning, after Young Solutions identified a need for basic youth work training for volunteers and paid staff working with young people in different capacities. Council-run youth work has drastically decreased across the country due to government and local Council budget cuts and consequently the amount of youth work training has also decreased. Access to courses that do run has become increasingly difficult for many volunteers and sessional staff; this is compounded by many of them living in rural areas unable to attend face to face courses and working in non-youth work jobs during the day. By providing courses online Young Solutions are filling this gap in workforce development, ensuring the continued provision of support and up-skilling those who work with young people.

The modules give a good introduction to most aspects of youth work and cover:

• the Basics of Good Youth Work
• Safeguarding Adolescents
• The Basics of Young People’s Mental Heath
• The Basics of Dealing With Challenging Behaviour
• The Basics of Drug and Alcohol Awareness
• Planning Safe Trips and Residentials

Funding to develop the training was secured by Young Solutions from Worcestershire County Council and by Youth Focus West Midlands from The Big Lottery Awards for All programme. All the modules are CPD (Continuing Personal Development) accredited which ensures their quality, and made up of ‘bite-size’ sections which can be completed at one time or over several sessions. Learners can also print a certificate on completion.

The modules will be piloted from Feb to the end of March 2017, after which they will be available to everyone. There are a limited number of free places for the pilot so if you are interested please contact Andy andy@youngsolutions.org.uk.