This week we’re marking Youth Work Week with some stories from our amazing your workers, making a difference in the live of young people across Brighton and Hove. Today Hospital Youth Worker Saskia tells about a day in the life.
I start my workday at 11am, because we work on teenage waking hours! I get into the office, drink my coffee and start working through the opening routines. I check the hospital systems, and screen for anyone who might benefit from a chat with us.
There’s currently no one in A&E who fits our criteria, so I spend some time writing up notes from the young person I saw yesterday evening. She was 15, and had come to A&E with self-harm, and had been struggling to attend school. I then give her a ring - I check in with her, we talk for a bit, and I ask if I can refer her to two services that I think might be able to support her.
She agrees to one, but not the other. This is completely her decision, and after the phone call, I make that referral.
It is now lunch time, so I leave the office to eat - it is important to take breaks, but I do often forget to do this when I’m at work!
After lunch, I check the hospital systems again. There is someone in the waiting room who we might be able to support - a 14-year-old with a hand injury - but they haven’t been triaged yet. I will check back in 20 minutes.
I use the time to build up our directory of local services, which is a resource that helps my team find support services for young people more easily. I check the system again, and I see more details on the young person’s case. The allocated doctor’s notes say that the hand injury is a punch wound from a fight. I decide to go into the emergency department to get more information and find out if I can support.
The doctor says that she thinks this young person would benefit from our input, but she hadn’t mentioned our service to him yet. She goes away, and comes back quickly, saying that he is happy to see me.
I go into the side room to see him. He tells me what has happened - after sending his mum out of the room - and tells me other things, that he hadn’t told the doctor.
I’m in there for around an hour, and when I leave him, we have a plan. It involves referrals from me, goals for him, and a plan to follow up on the phone in a few days. It also involves telling his Mum some pretty big things that he has been hiding. We agree to wait a day or two for that, and that I will support him with it, over the phone. His Mum needs to know so that she can support and safeguard him, but I understand that today has already been stressful.
He seems lighter, and his Mum comments that she wasn’t expecting a youth worker to be in the hospital. She is pleased that I was able to see her son today. I am, too.
By the time I get back to the office, I just have time to write the notes, debrief with my manager, and make sure that anything else that I need to do is on a list for tomorrow. I will pick it up then, but for now, it is time to leave!
I change out of my HYW uniform, and head home. The workday is over.