Young leaders volunteering in a youth club

Contact a youth worker at your local youth club

Get more information and advice about becoming a young leader at a youth club in Dorset.

As a young leader you work with other young people, giving your time to support the youth work team.

This is an opportunity to develop skills and responsibilities. Young leaders play an important role in the service we offer young people.

Becoming a young leader is a privilege; committing yourself to this role is an important decision to make.

You'll need to carefully consider if you're:

We recommend that you're at least 2 years older than the young people you're working with.

To become a youth work young leader, you'll need to:

be interested in working with young people
have time to offer
be non-judgemental
be aged between 14 and 17; at 18 you become an adult volunteer and complete a Disclosure Barring Scheme (DBS) form

As a young leader it's likely you'll do a variety of jobs, such as:

Your responsibilities will be to:

let your line manager know about any medical conditions that might affect the range of work you're able to take part in
keep to your agreed working pattern, letting your line manager know if you can't attend, or if you're going to be late
take part in appropriate training opportunities as required by the service

Your line manager's responsibilities will be to:

provide a clear explanation of your role and what you'll be expected to do
provide you with an induction programme to help you understand your role
provide you with an experienced youth worker who you can ask for advice, guidance and support
provide you with access to training opportunities
respect your skills and needs
make sure that as a young leader, you're not classed as a full member of staff and never asked to work in an unsupervised situation