I think this is at least my fourth time taking this idealogy inventory since my time with YDEV. From it being 3 ideologies and being the only one (in my first YDEV class ever) to fall into what was then called Critical Youth Development to now feeling confident in not only identifying my own ideology but the ideology of organizations and of individual programs as well. For context, critical YDEV, if I recall correctly was sort of a combination of Civic and Social Justice YDEV. When I came back for my MA and Victoria re-introduced this to me and explained the now 4 ideologies I knew pretty quickly I would fall under the social justice YDEV ideology. That's always been my jam, working with youth on social justice topics they're passionate about. This is always my dominant ideology.
Civic and Positive usually fall pretty close to each other and tail not too far behind Social Justice. Risk, Resiliency & Prevention is always last and is pretty far behind the others. I used to think that was the "bad" one because it just didn't align with how I felt about youth work. But, after a solid 5 (maybe more?) years of being able to learn and explore YDEV within this context, I've learned a lot about how each ideology is just better suited for certain orgs and spaces.
I reflect on these a lot during my work as I feel personally I am SJ YDEV but that the organizations I find myself working for are more Positive YDEV, again, nothing wrong with that but I've been doing a lot of reflecting on what this means to me. I ask, does this feel ok, am I ok with where I'm at, and most importantly, are there opportunities for me to incorporate my ideology into my work/do I need to?
I ask "do I need to incorporate my ideology into my work?" because it's something I go back in forth on. On one hand, I think about how beneficial this could be to the young people I work with and believe it would hugely empower them. On the other, sometimes I think about the spaces youth are going to need to be just as they are, positive, safe spaces for youth to explore and express themselves. Which brings me to my final question "is introducing/exposing them to spaces that do provide SJ youth development enough?"
I think SJYD is always going to have a close second that is important because social work comes with caring and that means something different for everyone. I think positive YD encourages youth to really explore themselves in a safe environment. You probably aren't looking for an answer for your last question but that was just a thought.
ReplyDeleteAlso when I was reading your blogpost I was thinking about how beneficial you are to these spaces that are primarily positive youth development, you add so much into the space and give insight that youth and other youth workers may not be used to seeing/hearing.
I wrestle with this question ALL THE TIME Kelly, mostly when students are applying their skills/living their values, getting pushback, and are coming home to our community to grieve. It's def worth further consideration.
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