Liisi Trumm
Head of Lille Youth Centre
The recently concluded Youth Work Week's slogan #doyourselfgood effectively highlights the importance of mental health and connects the topic with youth work. The relationship between these topics can be examined from two aspects: first, how participation in youth work helps young people improve their mental health, and second, how youth workers themselves maintain their mental health. In this article, I will focus on the latter aspect, encouraging youth workers to take care of themselves.
Youth workers are often the type of people who are world-savers, always rushing to help when young people have problems. We are ready, trained, and open to solving the problems of others. How could it be otherwise, when initial counseling is one of the directions of youth work. At the same time, the slogan for Youth Work Week is not “Do good for others,” but “Do good for yourself.” But is it possible, in such a job, to remain untouched by the problems of others and thereby live by both mottos simultaneously?
It seems to me that one of the slogans mentioned earlier always needs repetition and practice. There are people who, either due to previous experiences or simply survival instinct, are very good at standing up for themselves, but in doing so, they forget that often it is other people who need protection or support. Then there are others who always worry about those around them, being extremely empathetic and taking on the emotions and worries of others, completely forgetting their own needs. These are the ones who send you a work email late at night, and if you reply immediately, they say: 'Why are you working now? You should be resting too!'
As previously mentioned, I believe that youth workers, like all professionals working with people, primarily fall into the second category. A good youth worker is empathetic, helpful, a good communicator, and trustworthy. All these qualities practically invite helping others, and indeed, that is what is expected of us in this profession. However, the problem arises when taking care of oneself is completely forgotten. At the same time, how much can we truly help others if we ourselves are not doing very well? When flying, flight attendants always remind us that in an emergency, put on your own oxygen mask first before helping others. Someone should also repeat this when you remember in bed at night that a work email was still unsent and sleep is gone, or when you cancel a spa trip with family because a few things still need to be tweaked.
Therefore, I urge all these world-saving youth workers to take care of themselves, because only by taking care of yourself can you provide young people with the best development opportunities and advice.
