Emily Collinsbeare
Emily started helping out at a youth club around the corner from her home as a teenager and didn’t even know being a youth worker could be a profession. She went on to study a Youth and Community Studies degree at the University of Exeter at the College of St Mark and St John campus in Plymouth. Plymouth was the first place that Emily got paid for working as a detached youth worker and was (almost immediately) convinced it was a great way to engage young people in their ‘safe spaces’. Emily now manages a Youth Engagement service in South London with specialist strands around Detached and Outreach, Voice and Participation and 14-19 NEET prevention.
Emily first became involved in the Federation for Detached Youth Work by attending conferences in Newquay while a student. She has been an Executive member for 10 years and was chair for 3. She feels strongly that detached youth work is one of the best ways to create lasting and impactful relationships with young people in communities.
Kevin Jones
Kevin has over 25 years of experience in Detached Youth Work in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. He is an experienced trainer who never tires of pointing out he has trained detached teams "from Shetland to Penzance". After qualifying from St Martins College, Lancaster, he moved to London where he worked in, and managed, detached teams. He spent his last eight years in London working for a number of Registered Social Landlords both as an employee and a consultant in youth and community work, but always informed by the principles of democratic engagement he gained through his background in streetwork. In 2007 he moved back to the north where he has worked as Development Director for Young Advisors Charity, specialising in young people's participation in communities, and ventured back into social housing as Youth Lead for Trafford Housing Trust. He has a keen interest in Youth Work Training, which he has put to use as a lecturer on the Youth Work course at Bolton University, and in the governance and structure of youth services which has led him to being a trustee for 42nd Street, Manchester and a Director of Trafford Youth Trust. He has been involved with the Fed for 12 years, performing 2 stints as Chair, and consistently impresses us with his forensic organisational skills and attention to detail.
Ruth has a long career in Youth and Community Work starting out in the voluntary sector in Bristol in 1983.She has worked with a wide variety of communities in different settings and parts of the country. She has a keen interest in getting out and meeting young people “where they are” (physically and metaphorically) so for the last 15 years she has been a Detached Youth Worker for Calderdale MBC in Halifax West Yorkshire. She has been an active Executive Committee Member of the Federation for Detached Youth Work for the last 8 years.
Ruth Ware
Graeme is an Independent Education Consultant. Having been a detached youth worker for many years, Graeme became an independent education consultant in 2000. He is a trainer, lecturer and researcher and supports project development (work as diverse as creating a European Master’s degree in Street Work and pioneering the methodology of Community Philosophy). These activities take him throughout the UK and often to other European countries. Graeme is an Associate Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, an External Advisor to the Welsh Government’s Youth Work Reference Group, and continues to pursue PhD studies in democratic education at University College London, where his focus is on ‘uncertainties’ in education. Graeme is the author of Reconnecting Detached Youth Work: Standards and Guidelines for Excellence (2007), Detached Youth Work and Democratic Education (2008), a chapter in Critical Issues in Youth Work Management (Ord, J. (ed.), 2011), and Policy making for good practice, a chapter in the recently published Responding Meaningfully to Youth Learning: A form of community?
Graeme Tiffany
Miriam has been a youth worker for 35 years spending most of her youth work years working with young women and as a detached youth worker. She worked in Blackpool, Hull and managed the Borough detached project in Camden, London. Now she works as a part time detached youth worker in a Shrewsbury. Miriam has been involved in the Federation from its inception .Taking a break when working as a rural youth worker on Shropshire. To return 3 years ago to support her colleagues to put on a conference.
Miriam Turner
Mike has been involved in detached youth work, both as a young person and now as a qualified youth worker. He has now been a professionally qualified youth worker for 22 years . He managed a detached project and youth centre in the city of Bradford for eight years, in a local community scarred by the riots, as a detached team they chose not to respond to the issues that local councillors declared, but listened, observed and spoke to young people. They ran detached sessions that brought different ethnic groups together, barbeques, sports activities and art sessions that expressed their hopes and fears in their community. This eventually led to a community garden that adults and young people raised money for and played a part in the design.
Now he manages a detached youth work project in the West Midlands. The focus has changed a lot in fourteen years, from Youth service, Positive Activities to Targeted youth work. They are now more responsive to CSE and CE as their main line of work.
And yet after 22 years of doing youth work he still enjoys the skill of connecting with young people in a detached context, the excitement of that first contact, observing young people trying to work you out, starting with their agenda not his.
Mike Collyer
Bill Cox MBE has supported the Federation for Detached Youth Work (FDYW) for many years as an original member, treasurer and, more recently as the FDYW's President. Bill has worked in the voluntary sector for 50 years, including 10 years as a part time youth worker, 4 years as a youth club leader, 6 years as a full time detached youth worker and 24 years as a full time youth work manager with responsibility for training and development.
Bill retired in September 2004. Since then he has actively supported a variety of young people's provision in Liverpool. In 2014 Bill was awarded an MBE for his invaluable contribution to youth work.
Bill Cox
Andrew Taylor
I am a new trustee of the Federation of detached youth work
My professional background is youth and community work in which I have 20 years experience. My experiences of youth work has ostensibly been making contact with the community via the detached work method.I have worked my way around the country and have developed many inter-generational projects. I have semi rural and inner city experiences. I have worked with young people who runaway from home or care and those working in the sex industry. I have extensive experience as a trainer/consultant and spent 4 years as a senior lecturer teaching on the foundation degree of youth and community work and aspects of BA (Hons) social policy and MA (social work).
I have previously worked with the federation for detached work. My first conference was in 1989 and have facilitated workshops and managed national conferences in the early nineties.
I am very pleased to offer my experiences and knowledge to support the federation and further the expanse and development of detached work.