Josh, a youth worker for The Mix, has spoken about delivering ‘bread and butter’ youth work to his town’s young community.
The Mix focuses on giving young people in Suffolk opportunities to develop, socialise and have fun in safe environments.
This year marks its 10th anniversary and Josh Goddard, open access youth worker, is looking forward to the busy year ahead.
He said: “I just love seeing the development from the young people - I’ve worked a few similar roles to this, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is proper bread and butter youth work at The Mix.
“It’s ground level, it’s just meeting young people where they are - we’re not waiting for a need to arise or anything - it’s just about giving them the space they need to explore.
“The biggest joy in this role is seeing individual triumphs which all look very different from person to person, big or small.”
Josh has worked at The Mix since 2021 and was an integral part of launching The Mix Hut in Needham Market which also gives young people in the area a place to relax and socialise.
He works with his colleague Kayleigh Diss, open access project lead, to deliver youth work which is free and open to anyone aged 11 to18 to engage with.
One of the key ways to do this is through the charity’s drop in sessions which are held every Monday and Thursday in Stowmarket.
These sessions are the charity’s equivalent of a traditional youth club where youngsters can use the space to play games, make friends or do something creative.
The space contains computers, gaming consoles, table tennis, pool table, an arcade machine and there are also quiet areas with sofas, boardgames and snacks to enjoy.
Approximately 100 young people attend sessions each week andJosh said most are from Stowmarket High School and Stowupland High School and some travel from Thurston Community College and King Edward VI School in BurySt Edmunds.
He said: “Once the young people walk through the door, my role is trying to build a relationship with those young people and find out what I can do to support them.
“Youth work so often works by looking at what funding is available and then working from that - but we want to flip that around by finding out what the need is first and then see what money we can get to fill that need.”
To learn more about The Mix and how you can get involved, click here.
“We really want to give everyone who comes to the Drop In a level of respect so they can really make this space their own and we hope to build really strong relationships.”
See the original story on the Suffolk News website.
