ServicesWe ran this liveblog from March to May 2020 to help youth leaders respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. All the content shared can still be accessed and searched for via the sidebar.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LIVEBLOG ARCHIVE:
Topic: Research
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Podcast Special #9: Measuring Experiences
We’re creating a special series of the Youthscape podcast, which will continue to appear at semi-regular intervals during the current global crisis.
The latest edition has just gone live; this week, Martin's on holiday so Rachel is, in her own words, "unleashed!" Joining her this week via Zoom is Director of Youthscape's Centre for Research, Dr Lucie Shuker. They discuss some of the findings from the 3x3 surveys so far. Keep an eye out for the next one!
You can listen now here, and subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode, here.
YS Special Edition 9: Measuring Experiences with Dr Lucie Shuker
On this week's podcast, Rachel talks to Dr Lucie Shuker, Director of the Youthscape Centre for Research. They discuss the difference between the experiences of adults and young people and the evolving youth ministry landscape.
The Monday Report: flouting, furlough and finding new connections
Last week we asked you some questions for the Friday 3x3 – a way to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Every Friday at 3pm we’ll ask three questions which will take you no more than three minutes to answer.
It was quieter this week. Last week, lots of those who engaged with our survey told us they were expecting to carry on at the same pace over Easter. But we only had 35 of you glorious people respond to our Thursday survey (a day early!) so maybe we were winding down after all! So, a quick reminder, with only 35 responses this is not representative of what the wider Christian youth work tribe thinks or feels. You can read the full-length breakdown and reflection here but a brief summary is below:
1. FLOUTING: ARE THEY OR AREN'T THEY?
Ministers and public health officials have been under fire for ‘flouting’ (great word) government guidelines, and to some extent so have teenagers. Obviously youth workers won’t really know what young people are doing 24-7, but the majority of those who responded felt that young people were compliant. In contrast, an article in the Telegraph reported that government polling showed teenagers to be a "problem" group when it comes to compliance. If that’s right and teenagers are more likely to gather socially, what is the responsibility of youth workers? On the one hand, we need to help young people #stayathome but we may also need to advocate for them, especially where they may lack safe spaces. Here is a great blog post on that topic.
2. FURLOUGH: VOLUNTEERS HELPING TO SUSTAIN YOUTH MINISTRY
Recent government policy has made it possible for organisations in financial difficulty to ‘furlough’ staff so we asked: "Has youthwork in your context been affected by staff being furloughed?"
26/34 said ‘No’. Five of these added that this was because their youth work team is all volunteers. One person reflected that their volunteers have more time because they been furloughed from their paid work, while another explained that their volunteers are teachers and NHS workers so are still working and volunteering!
Eight people said they or their context had been affected by furlough. In one context the community/schools work team had been furloughed, while church youth work had moved online and been relatively unaffected. Some people told us they had lost between 1/3 to 1/2 of their team with the result that some key relationships were disrupted, and young people either couldn’t see a youth worker or had to meet someone new. In a church context, one person told us that youth and children’s work had merged in response to staff furloughing, while two described blurred boundaries around ‘volunteering’.
“It's so hard in the church - vague boundaries on work/volunteering - the staff have been asked to volunteer for different things, but I think that's unethical and makes the atmosphere - which is already stilted over zoom - more tense!”
3. A MINORITY CONNECTING WITH NEW YOUNG PEOPLE, PARENTS AND PROFESSIONALS
We asked who you had been engaging with since the lockdown, to get a sense of how many of us have experienced our networks expanding or new opportunities for connection presenting themselves. It’s reassuring to find that all respondents told us they are in contact with young people they were already in contact with before and 97% are in contact with parents they were engaged with before. What is more interesting is that these youth workers report being more likely to engage with new parents (57% said ‘yes’ or ‘somewhat’) than new young people (34% said ‘yes or ‘somewhat’). Why is that?
Thanks to those who took part! If you missed it why not join us next time – see you Friday at 3pm?
The (Thursday) 3x3: Furloughing, compliance and engagement
3 MINUTES, 3 QUESTIONS, EVERY FRIDAY AT 3 O'CLOCK
We are scattered, physically distanced and isolated. Yet we’re going through similar experiences in a way that is entirely new. We have never done this before, and everyone is improvising. We thought it might be important to capture some of what this glorious community is doing, thinking and feeling during an entirely new experience.
But things are changing so rapidly we didn’t want to just ask once.
Welcome to this week’s (Thursday) 3x3 - a way to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Every Friday at 3pm we’ll ask three questions which should take you about three minutes to answer. Due to the bank holiday tomorrow, we're releasing it a day early this week. Today we’re asking about guideline compliance, the experience of furloughing and who you’ve been engaging with.
Come back to the blog next week for results in our Monday Report.
The Story: Free poster 2 – ‘Everything you need to know about sexting’
We’ve been rummaging around in the digital basement, and found some old posters from the first few editions of our research quarterly The Story, way back in the heady years of 2015 and 2016. We thought we’d share one a week with you, as a free download, in case you find yourself with a little more time for reflection and reading. If that’s not you, stick it in a file marked ‘Later’. You can download the poster as a PDF via the adjacent link.
As well as the information found in this poster, you can read more about our response to sexting in this Research News blog by Rachel Gardner. We have also worked with esteem Acet UK to produce #isitOK? - a resource to help youth workers talk to young people about the dangers of sexting.
We've also now released the spring edition of The Story: you can read it online here, or to get the full version in print, subscribe to The Story here.
The Story Poster 2: Sexting
A free downloadable PDF from our research quarterly The Story, on 'everything you need to know about sexting'.
The Monday Report: Digital burnout? Not yet
Last week we asked you some questions for the Friday 3x3– a way to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Every Friday at 3pm we’ll ask three questions which will take you no more than three minutes to answer. Sixty-nine people responded this week. So, this doesn’t represent the wider community of Christian youth workers - it just gives us a sense of what’s going on.
You can read the full-length breakdown and reflection here, but a brief summary is below:
The Monday Report: Digital burnout? Not yet
Head of Research Lucie Shuker breaks down the results of our new weekly survey designed to hear how youth leaders are doing in the midst of COVID-19.
1. EASTER: KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON?
This will be an Easter like no other. We asked you to complete the statement "Over Easter, I anticipate that I will mostly…" Half of you said you were going to carry on at your current pace, with 8.7% expecting to work harder. Only 40.6% expected to slow down or stop working. Of course, we don’t know what ‘current pace’ means, or whether Easter would normally be a time for rest for all Christian youth workers (I suspect not..). But it’s a reminder that this situation will affect us differently.
2. STAYING MENTALLY WELL: PEOPLE AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
We asked, "How important have these been for looking after your own mental health this week?" and presented a list of activities, many recommended by the NHS and other mental health charities. The weighted average shows "Staying connected to people" was most important, closely followed by "Going outside". Prayer and worship feature highly, alongside diet and rest. With a minority anticipating slowing down over Easter, it will be important for us to consider what rest means over the following two weeks.
- Staying connected to people - 2.70
- Going outside - 2.68
- Prayer, worship or meditation - 2.55
- Eating and drinking well - 2.54
- Rest - 2.50
3. DIGITAL BURNOUT: NOT MUCH "NOW", A LOT OF "NOT YET"
Digital burnout can mean feeling exhausted, distracted or disengaged when interacting online, or beginning to avoid online activity. We asked whether you had seen any evidence of young people you support experiencing digital burnout.
Fifty-five people answered this question, with 39 (71%) reporting that they had not seen evidence of young people experiencing digital burnout. Some added that they were intentionally keeping online activity simple or minimal, either in response to young people’s request for space or to avoid overload. 18 of these added the caveat ‘Not yet’with some anticipating that they would see this in days to come. Seven people said that while they didn’t see digital burnout among young people, they were experiencing it themselves.
Fourteen (25.4%) told us that they had seen evidence of young people experiencing digital burnout. Ten responded with a clear ‘yes’ to our question, and an additional four reported lower engagement with digital youth work this week compared to last week. A few of these 14 told us that young people want screen-free evenings when they’ve been doing schoolwork online in the day and that some have turned their phones off for a day.
Thanks to those who took part! If you missed it why not join us next time – see you Friday at 3pm?
The Friday 3x3: Easter, mental health and digital burnout
3 MINUTES, 3 QUESTIONS, EVERY FRIDAY AT 3 O'CLOCK
We are scattered, physically distanced and isolated. Yet we’re going through similar experiences in a way that is entirely new. We have never done this before, and everyone is improvising. We thought it might be important to capture some of what this glorious community is doing, thinking and feeling during an entirely new experience.
But things are changing so rapidly we didn’t want to just ask once.
Welcome to this week’s Friday 3x3 - a way to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Every Friday at 3pm we’ll ask three questions which should take you about three minutes to answer. This week we’re anticipating Easter, hearing about how you’re managing your mental health and asking about digital burnout.
Come back to the blog next week for results in our Monday Report.
The Story: Free poster 1 – ‘Everything you need to know about self-harm’
We’ve been rummaging around in the digital basement, and found some old posters from the first few editions of our research quarterly The Story, way back in the heady years of 2015 and 2016. We thought we’d share one a week with you, as a free download, in case you find yourself with a little more time for reflection and reading. If that’s not you, stick it in a file marked ‘Later’. You can download the poster as a PDF via the adjacent link.
Although much of this is still very relevant, there has been lots of research published since we produced our first poster on self-harm. You can read some of it in this Research News blog that we published last year.
We also released the spring edition of The Story this week: you can read it online here, or to get the full version in print, subscribe to The Story here.
The Story poster 1: Self-harm
A free downloadable PDF from our research quarterly The Story, on 'everything you need to know about self-harm'.
The Monday Report: overwhelmed but optimistic
Last week we asked you some questions for the Friday 3x3– a way to take the temperature of the youth ministry community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Every Friday at 3pm we’ll ask three questions which will take you no more than three minutes to answer. We’ve started with a modest 60 responses, so this doesn’t represent the wider community of Christian youth workers – it just gives us a sense of what’s going on.
You can read the full-length breakdown and reflection here, but a brief summary is below:
1. ALL THE FEELS
We provided a list of 25 emotions and asked you to pick up to three that described how you’d been feeling last week. Of the 60 who responded, the top two emotions were ‘overwhelmed’ (38%), ‘optimistic’ (37%) and ‘thankful’ (35%).
It’s not surprising to see that people feel overwhelmed. We have been experiencing something unprecedented and have had to suddenly change our way of life. It’s encouraging to see that, despite stress, there are also feelings of gratitude. We know that thankfulness is crucial for our mental health in times like this, for those with and without faith. It’s interesting to see optimism here. Perhaps it’s the closest to ‘hopeful’, which wasn’t one of the emotions provided but has theological resonance for many of us.
The Monday Report: overwhelmed but optimistic
Head of Research Lucie Shuker breaks down the results of our new weekly survey designed to hear how youth leaders are doing in the midst of COVID-19.
2. ZOOM-STA-GRAM
We asked which tools/platforms you used to communicate with young people since Tuesday, and joint top were Instagram posts and Zoom. Again, this was a small group of respondents, so we can’t take too much from it. But the phrase ‘zoomed out’ has now appeared in our lexicon, reflecting the platform’s meteoric rise in use over the last week and a half. So maybe we can trust the results after all? You know what hadn’t been used by any of our 60 respondents? Skype. Twelve had used email, four had seen young people face-to-face (2m apart) and one had even sent a letter. But no one had used Skype. Farewell, Skype.
3. ONLY CONNECT
Our third question was ‘In your own words, what have young people needed from you this week?’
The most frequent answer was connection. Some kind of contact, check-in, acknowledgment or presence in a crazy week. One person said, “knowing someone is thinking of them.” After that were a number of references to fun. This meant the chance to laugh, celebrate a birthday or engage in “usual banter". Some expressed this as entertainment and others as joy. The third most reported need was for reassurance – that it will be ok, that we are still there or that “it's okay to feel a mixture of emotions in these unusual times”.
Thanks to those who took part! If you missed it why not join us next time – see you Friday at 3pm?
The Friday 3x3
3 MINUTES, 3 QUESTIONS, EVERY FRIDAY AT 3 O'CLOCK
We are scattered, physically distanced and isolated. Yet we’re going through similar experiences in a way that is entirely new. We have never done this before, and everyone is improvising. We thought it might be important to capture some of what this glorious community is doing, thinking and feeling during an entirely new experience.
But things are changing so rapidly we didn’t want to just ask once.
So we’re going to take a moment at the end of each working week, to ask you a few short questions about what is going on for you. It will be super quick – three minutes at most – and it will only ever be three questions. We’ll try to get a sense of what is important to reflect on or capture each week, but the questions will always focus on what it means to be a Christian youth worker during the Coronavirus pandemic. We will ask about you, youth ministry and young people.
Every Monday we’ll share what we found on the blog. We hope it will give you some insight about what is happening across the youth ministry community, but also help you feel connected to that community.
We are keen to know what you would ask, so please do email us with suggested questions, or let us know on social media.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Your answers are anonymous, and you can read the results every Monday at our Coronavirus liveblog. The questions will be open from 3pm on a Friday to 3pm on a Sunday and you can answer at any point during those 48 hours.
Your answers will be used to write blog posts and may be used to produce a report on youth ministry during the Coronavirus pandemic. All answers will be stored securely and destroyed after 12 months.
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