The Importance of Child and Youth Care Work

On this episode of Your Right to Speak Salvatore talks with his colleague Alyssa Chermaz on the values of the child and youth care (CYC). Alyssa starts the conversation by discussing the difference between the field of social work and CYC. She explains that in child and youth care there is a more of a focus on building relationships compared to social work, which tends to be more clinical. Alyssa also addresses the misguided notation that people working in child and youth cares are glorified babysitters and the importance of explaining the work the child and youth care workers do.  Alyssa then explains the important skills she feels that child and youth workers should have and reveals the most important lesson she has learned so far in her career.