Two Takes on the BEST Training
/By Latasha Scott, YLC Program Coordinator
As I'm spearheading my professional career at St. Stephen's Youth Programs (SSYP) there are many opportunities to impact my progress as a professional. One of those is the training that St.Stephens encourages staff as youth workers to take advantage of and that's the BEST training. This training is all about Youth work and how to better serve the youth you work with. I learned great things like Youth development, development outcomes, and indicators.
Prior to training, I figured we all had this unspoken rule of giving youth the best as I could as a youth worker because they are deserving, however, I had not known the many ways to measure the content and relationship building I was doing with my Middle school program. This training was a reflection on my past 3 years at SSYP, my roles and responsibilities, and how it impacted my youth.
This training shows many ways to interact with youth and the power they have to impact their own future with less adultism and more collaboration. What also made this experience so cool, was that I got to be paired with my own staff, so we are learning together and able to be better youth workers that serve youth that we dearly love at the same time, as Dominick, my 5th-grade lead staff would say SENSATIONAL, check below for his words on the importance of the BEST training.
By Dominick Jackson, Community Organizer & Lead Counselor
The Best Training is set out to teach youth workers about how to better serve the youth they work with, such as working with youth to help them feel big, safe, and connected; this is something we pride ourselves on at SSYP. In the best training, the people were very open to sharing ideas and experiences that help them navigate challenges and showing their strengths in youth work. I learned a few things that I could definitely apply to my service now. I learned that giving the kids more leadership roles such as grabbing pencils, markers, or paper for the group, helping pass out snacks, and also helping peers with homework can help with group management.
Another thing that stuck to me is that you don't have to wear a suit and tie to know what you are doing as a professional. I think this is a beneficial tip for myself and anyone new to youth work, as I strive to do my best I want to look my best, however, we touched on a topic of adultism, and prior to this training, I did not know what that was as to how it impacted me so much. I played up on my own image and now understand my look is relational for some youth and being me is what keeps my youth coming back to program. With the help of the BEST training, I was able to put that into perspective.
Latasha Scott is a New York native and currently lives in Roxbury, MA. She has been integrated with St. Stephen's since the fall of 2017 as a lead counselor. This year her role has shifted to YLC Program Director after serving 2 years as Massachusetts Promise Fellow. She is enrolled in Northeastern University as a health science major. Latasha likes to build relationships and connect with the youth in a fresh way. She enjoys learning and teaching about current events.
Dominick first joined SSYP in 2012 as a CIT, and in 2016, he became a community organizer to fight for youth jobs, school funding, gun violence, and much more. Dom also always tries to make you smile — ”it’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.”