Hi! My name’s Alicia Pocock and I am one of the new Youth Workers in The Link.

 

I have worked with young people for around 3 years. I have worked in educational and summer camps delivering outreach youth work and running a youth club in a rural area. I have worked as a Teaching Assistant in a Secondary School in South Bristol. I now work as part of Young Gloucestershire in The Link.

 

I have always known that I wanted to work with young people but was never quite sure in what kind of setting. This is why I got into being a Teacher’s Assistant and am now a Youth Worker. I have always wanted to try and help make a difference to young people’s lives and I love being seen as a ‘trusted person’ by the young people I work with. I strive to make a difference in young people’s lives and help them develop themselves in whichever ways they want to. I also love the individuality and challenges that young people bring with them as it gives me an opportunity to build and develop myself whilst trying to help support them through different times in their lives. I find young people enthusiastic and don’t feel like they get given enough time or credit for the amazing individuals they really are. This is why I am so passionate about my job role because I am allowed to talk, laugh, advise and support young people on a daily basis and build positive relationships with them! Who wouldn’t want to do that?

 

I feel like there is far too much pressure on young people to be a certain way and succeed at school or college. Young people have to make decisions when they are still developing, learning and finding their way in the world. They are expected to know their lifelong career and make choices around this before they’ve even been given the guidance and experience in different work areas. Personally I disagree with this and I am really keen to make sure I give young people as much support as possible to allow them to grow and develop as they want to with all the options available to them. I believe young people can be successful in anything they want to be.

 

In The Link we can help and support with many different aspects of a young person’s life and I am part of a team who support young people to achieve their goals. We can help young people to build a CV and apply for jobs. We also offer an Employability Qualification for you to enrol and complete within The Link setting. We offer support in all areas that affect young people, and that includes housing advice, benefit and money advice, financial capability, advice in being a young carer, mental health support, counselling, mentoring, drug and alcohol misuse and help to find and secure employment, education or training.

 

I am loving being a new member of the team at The Link! The staff team are great and I feel like I have fitted in well. I think The Link is a really unique place for young people to come and be themselves. I have been asking young people about their experiences whilst they have been attending The Link and I have only ever had positive feedback.  This is lovely to hear from the young people who come here. From hearing all of this it gives me great confidence in wanting to put my skills and knowledge into practice in The Link and carry on building and improving on all the services available here and seeing what other opportunities arise.

 

Feel free to pop in and say ‘Hello’ anytime, Monday-Friday, 11am-4pm. I would love to meet and have a chat with you!