One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

Decorating pottery with students over Spring Break Over the past three years with Youth Unlimited I have learned about the process of relationship building. Our goal as youth workers is to be a safe adult in their life that won’t leave when things get tough. Trust takes times to build. If you were to eavesdrop on some of the conversations I have with youth, they would sound very surface level. This is an intentional part of relationship building and our hope is to foster relationships that will grow to something deeper. When I first started meeting with Aaron, our conversations would never go beyond his favourite band or the homework he had due next week. He would display a tough exterior in order to protect himself but over the years I have been able to peel away the layers and dive deeper into his life. He began to share with me his experience with church and I was able to ask questions about religion and faith. From there we entered into conversations that had deeper signi