A usual day at Taldy starts at 7.00am.  Youth workers climb out of the luxurious bed into the not-so-luxurious surroundings of the staff bedroom.  As we make our way along the corridor scratching and yawning we wake up sleeping young people to remind them that they too need to get up and get to it.  Most respond with a yawn or a grunt – only a few with more colourful language – but eventually the whole house is up and ready for a brand new day.

Between making toast and coffee we check on everyone’s activities for the day – who has to go to school, who has TAFE, does everyone have travel money, does everyone have their lunch?  Balancing a cup of coffee and plate of toast, we then make our way to the office while hungry (previously homeless) felines rub against our leg looking for their breakfast.  Place breakfast on desk – go outside to feed those pesky cats – come back to office – eat cold breakfast!  Ah, this is the life….

So the day begins but not before we revisit the activities of the night before.  As we cast our minds back, we ponder:  who cooked, who played pool, who had friends over, who stole the Foxtel card for a lark.  Fishing all this information from the dark recesses of our minds, we write our case notes, communication notes and balance the petty cash.

As the young people make their way into the wide world, we settle in for the day.  OK, so what do we do?  Well we need to check the diary – will ‘up the road’ be coming by to take the van?  Does anyone have an appointment with the doctor/lawyer/Centrelink/counsellor?   Do we need to pick up petty cash or go to the office to interview a hopeful young person wishing to join our happy family?  Plan the day, plan the day.  Any outreach clients who need a phone call to wake them up and have a chat?  The offer of a free lunch usually brings the desired response and we make time to meet up and talk over some food.

Paperwork is the joy and lifeblood of a youth worker’s life.  Case plans to be typed, budgets, agreements, support letters, references, CVs, timetables, minutes from staff meetings, letters to our therapists, affidavits – the list goes on and on. 

A day in the Life… continued

Once paperwork is out of the way, then the real work starts.  Cleaning up the mess that the hurricane of young people have left in their wake.  A hungry dishwasher to feed, cats, well Teddy, wants more food while we are there.  The lounge room needs to be straightened back to the state of semi-chaos that is the norm, countless light switches to be turned off, and the strange odour emanating from the fridge needs to be investigated before the Health Department do a raid.  “Get the tongs and hazardous materials bag!”

The staff mobile may go off around this point.  One of the young people hasn’t made it to school!  Oh dear…phone young person, patiently listen to excuse and then tell them to get to school.  Call school – all is well.

Once a week, we get to rub shoulders with the North Shore tennis set – at Woolworths.  Standing in the queue with a trolley heavily laden with food we get questioning looks – “just how many children does that young woman/man have?”  It takes too long to explain, so we enjoy the air of mystery we have created and sail off counting the Crumpet Toasts as we go.  It’s always the first to go. 
Just as we have finally packed everything away in cupboards and fridges, the young people start drifting back and quickly undo all our careful work. Yoghurts are distributed throughout the house for later consumption, bacon and egg muffins are cooked up and the highly prized caramel tea needs to be hidden.

During the day we field phone calls from parents, counsellors, teachers – just about anyone.  Some looking for one of our residents.  Sometimes local parents, who just need a sounding board because they are dealing with angry adolescents and need to hear that they are doing a good job.  We call around to organise outings, find free tickets or weekends away. 

Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon the next shift arrives bright and ready for action.  We hand it all over and leave, safe in the knowledge that anything left undone will be done and everyone will be waiting for us the next time round. 

Jo Whelan and Paula Maiorano