By Victoria Stone-Meadows
AARON Garth from Ultimate Youth Worker was the lucky recipient of office space in the new Casey Cardinia Business Hub in Narre Warren.
Mr Garth started his business in 2012 when he noticed a high turnover of staff in the youth services industry and he decided something needed to be done about it.
“I started recognizing that a whole heap of my friends had left the youth sector,” he said.
“When we started to ask about why it was general things like a lack of communication, lack of jobs, no ongoing support, and a lack of supervision and training.
“So we decided to have look and see if anyone was trying to fix it and no one was.”
It was through this gap in the market that Ultimate Youth Worker was born to help people in the youth services industry maintain a passion for the work and provide up-to-date training.
Mr Garth and his colleagues provide supervision sessions, coaching, mentoring and clinical training such as youth mental health, first aid, and self-care to youth worker professionals to keep them engaged and enjoying their work.
The business has expanded into different areas of Melbourne since it began and Mr Garth was looking for a new office space to help youth workers in new areas.
“I was driving home one day and heard about the competition for the Casey Cardinia Business Hub on the radio,” he said.
“There was the potential to win a co-working space and a major prize of an office and I had to jump on it.
“I knew the City of Casey has the largest youth population in Australia and there would be youth workers facing the same issues.”
Although Ultimate Youth Worker has only been in Casey for a few months, Mr Garth said he has received great feedback from the people it has been working with.
“We are getting positive feedback and found there was a real need for us here but the biggest issue is the lack of funding,” he said.
“With most of the Government’s agendas of free market economy and defunding health and community services, there is going to be a much higher turnover in years to come.”
Mr Garth said he enjoys working in Casey and is well on his way to staking a claim here for people in youth services who need a career boost.
“We want longevity in the social sector,” he said.
“The average youth worker lasts about five years and general social workers about eight, compared to nursing which is about 28 years.
“For us it’s all about how we can we provide the support social workers need to have career longevity.”
