The youth workers had now delivered their first two camps. They would have a two-month gap between camps two and three to prepare for the arrival of the young people from Mining Town who would participate in their third camp. They had had a chance to see what it was like to deliver a residential camp, the logistics and planning that was associated with such a task, what could go wrong and potential strategies that could avert logistical disasters. They had had a chance to work with some of the partner organisations and had begun to realise the potential consequences that diverging agendas may have. They had had the opportunity to see other youth workers delivering their sessions, giving them a basis from which to develop their own ideas into deliverable sessions. And finally, they had also come to realise the impact of the push from management to incorporate ‘the corporates’ into the youth program. Most importantly, however, they had the time to reflect on these experiences and set about putting some of the lessons learnt into practice for the next camp. The youth workers saw their own improvement in the skills necessary to undertake the tasks associated with planning such a program and observed increasing efficacy in their work through their ability to develop relationships and engage with the young people. They felt that camp three would be an opportunity to put their new found skills and efficacy on display.
167 The morning of camp three felt very different to the mornings of the previous two camps. The youth workers arrived to work later in the day, calm and prepared, as all the logistics for the camp had been confirmed and completed and all paperwork had been signed off. The teachers from Mining Town had completed all their administrative requirements allowing the youth workers to focus on their own administrative processes without having to chase teachers and young people for further documentation associated with such programs. The youth workers had also developed some of their own sessions. Realising the need to establish a connection with the young people and the short amount of time allocated in each camp to do so, they decided to hold a trivia night on the first day of the camp, a fun activity which would also provide a space for the young people and the youth workers to meet without any mention of program goals relating to education or employment. The day was relaxed and in contrast to the other camps, the youth workers seemed prepared, confident and satisfied with their planned program for the week. When the time came the youth workers and I headed out to pick up the young people from Mining Town.
The trivia and games night went well with the young people enjoying the evening’s activities and the youth workers coming away feeling that they had done a good job of hosting it. Also by now some of the logistical ‘issues’ that had caused stress and/or embarrassment for the youth workers at previous camps had started to be ironed out. Transport issues were organised, enough time was allocated for sessions as well as time in between sessions. Back-up sessions were planned in case any partner organisation pulled out at the last minute, and there was an acceptance that some free time or down time during the camp was acceptable as long as it was planned and not a consequence of activities falling through. The teachers had arrived prepared, they were organised and
appreciative of the youth workers’ efforts and impressed by their energy and planning. The young people participated in all the activities with enthusiasm and regularly provided positive feedback to the youth workers about the camps activities. When they were taken to activities that did not particularly interest them they still listened attentively out of politeness, knowing that later in the day there would be activities they found more interesting. During this third camp I would rarely get the chance to sit and speak with the youth workers, they were continuously talking with young people or teaching staff or confirming and planning the next day’s activities, leaving me to rely on observations and anecdotal conversations with the youth workers throughout the day.
I travelled with the youth workers to the airport on the last day to see off the young people from Mining Town. It had been a successful camp, and the youth workers felt they had built up a rapport with the young people from Mining Town. Logistically, whilst there were a few hiccups, overall the
168 week had run to schedule with few cancellations or changes. The feeling of surprise and enthusiasm mixed with the critical reflection on areas for improvement that had dominated at the end of the previous camp discussions was now replaced with a more confident and matter-of-fact response. Where in the first two camps the youth workers appreciated the time to sit as a group and download their perspectives and experiences, they were now doing me a favour answering my questions on their thoughts on camp three. The excerpts below from camp two and then camp three
demonstrate the changes in the youth workers.
Sarah (at the end of camp two): Well the first one was also very stressful and the lead up, there was a lot of things that weren’t finalised, there’s still a lot of pre-camp processes that need to be
streamlined and set up properly, we really and I was really conscious at the fact we don’t have proper partnership in place for getting people to come in and to do sessions and stuff and it’s only reinforced it this camp, and I was well aware that there wouldn’t be time between the completion of the last one and this one to do much about that. We know that it’s an issue but we need to get through this camp and start investigating more of the activities that are off site and how we do the onsite and who do we engage in the onsite sessions so I’m well aware of that and this week’s definitely just reinforced that.
Chris (at the end of camp two): This camp has been a big learning curve for me. I think I’ve grown a lot since the last camp. Probably the same as Tanya, I think I’ve taken on more responsibility, the facilitating and all the talking, actually running some sessions. Things do happen, it doesn’t run smooth all the time, but that’s another learning curve for me. We’ve got to try and work our way, to work around things. Hopefully evaluate what we’re doing. Hopefully get a structure on our
program. So we do need a lot of work before the next camp. But I think we’ve learnt a lot though.
Whereas the focus of the youth workers after camp two was on aspects of their work that needed improving, the discussions at the end of camp three focused more on what they did well and the progress they had made.
Tanya (at the end of camp three): I feel more confident in myself at facilitating the activities, workshops and that. Like with that ‘I am Deadly’ [session]. And especially separating the girls from the boys, we’re even better. I opened up with the girls, told them my story and they all listened and sort of some could relate because they grew up with single mums and that, and it was even the boys as well as, I felt more confident in myself with delivering.
169 Chris (at the end of camp three): So I think, more hands-on, and the more we actually got in and had a go with delivering and participating with the activities, I think, we did get confident with delivering. I know I did, actually just having a go. This camp’s actually built up my confidence. I wouldn’t have done this a couple of months ago. Speaking up, having a yarn to kids, and talking in front of crowds and that, so like just actually having a go. All that ‘no shame’ that we’re trying to build with the kids, you know, you know that’s what we preach.
Sarah (at the end of camp three): And I think the more we deliver that trivia and games and stuff I think the more we go back and look for more activities and more games and do some training on it and stuff, we’ll get ever better at that stuff, I was really happy with the first night I think you could just tell that it was a much different atmosphere, they were even saying on the second day, they were like debating what day it was cause they couldn’t believe they’d been here for one day … I said yeah I felt the same, but felt like on Tuesday morning, it felt like where we were at with the other kids by the Wednesday evening, so I think we intended to do that and make that a priority and we
definitely did that.
And when camp logistics fell through or sessions didn’t run as planned, the youth workers felt they:
Chris: Took care of it.
Sarah: We took care of it, no doubt we can get better and I think we will, for me I just feel like, I’m really happy with the camp. Because it was work we have the control of, the things that we’re disappointed in, or I’m a bit disappointed in are things that we particularly didn’t want involved in the first place.
Chris: Yeah, there has been a lot of last minute decisions, but you know we did pull together as a group.
Sarah: Yeah, and I think that just happens and I think we’re getting used to how to manage things, like, you know, from the start, from the day we got here, the taxis weren’t here, but compared if that had happened to us two camps [ago] or the camp before, I think we were just like, all right we’ll sort it, it didn’t frazzle any of us, we were just like thinking, oh shit, this isn’t a great way to start the week but.
170 Chris: We’re more proactive I think with the camp, like us, like heaps better, we kind of knew what we had to do and we just did it. And that’s that same thing being on the same page we all know what we have to achieve so.
Sarah: I think and having that sense of ownership. Yes, I know there’s quite a few things that are still being forced onto the program. But, mostly I feel as though, we’ve got a sense of, we own this program, we’ve developed this or developing it, and it’s you know.
By the end of camp three the youth workers were seeing improvements in their ability to undertake their roles as youth workers. The third camp was seen as the peak of the year for the youth
workers; it had been well-organised and the youth workers through trial and error had got to the stage where they felt they could deal with any logistical issues which could arise in such a format. They were also confident in their ability to connect with young people, something they felt was important prior to the program starting and had been confirmed across the past three camps.