What personal qualities do you need for the job? You have to be able to enforce boundaries while showing that you care.
How did you get into this line of work? This was my first job after graduating and I've been here for five years. I had nine weeks of intensive training in child protection, legislation, court procedure and good parenting skills.
You have to be a good "parent", but also security-conscious, a mediator and an advocate. The training teaches you to fit those roles together.
How do you measure the effectiveness of what you do? You can't always do that. It's disappointing if you hear that someone has gone back to offending. But we also get feedback from youth offending teams and parents, which can be very positive, saying how much the young person has changed.
They live and learn within groups, so they're learning a lot of life skills, such as talking without being verbally abusive, and what constitutes appropriate behaviour.
What is the most rewarding part of your job? When you see young people serving long sentences change their behaviour. A good day on the unit is one when the young people are relaxed with each other, you've been able to talk and there have been no incidents. On days like that, you go home and feel that you have achieved something.
