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Joe Walker, detached youth work team leader, Walsall Youth Service

1 min read Careers Youth Work
Joe Walker leads a team of outreach youth workers in Walsall in the West Midlands.


Employer: Walsall Youth Service
Age: 48
Time in job: Four years
Salary range: £23,000 to £26,000

"Engaging with young people on their terms in their environment, whether it be a bus shelter or a park, is the most important part of detached youth work," says Joe Walker.

After more than two decades in youth work, including roles such as encouraging hard-to-reach groups participate in sport, Walker now leads a team of outreach youth workers in Walsall in the West Midlands.

The role also includes responsibility for the youth service's mobile detached technology bus, which travels around the area offering free computer training, internet access, online education about issues such as drug abuse, as well as the chance to use games consoles. "This is an important part of our work and has been created in partnership with organisations such as the police. We take the bus out about twice a day and it's really popular among young people," he says.

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