Ambassadors

Eva Marie Corbett
Foróige (Clár TechSpace)/ Ireland

My Digital Youth Work journey began in 2018 when I was lucky enough to become part of the Clár TechSpace team that works with educators and youth workers to show them great activities in the digital world with skills they can pass on to their young people. What I enjoy most about this field is the fact that anybody can try it out and you all have a role to play whether you’re new to the digital world, an expert or even a techspert!

Leigha Dugdale
Camara Ireland / Ireland

I received a STEAM in Youth Work training about three years ago and immediately saw the potential in it. I started incorporating my design background with the STEAM skills into my youth work practice. Networking was key for me, attending events and staying in the loop with events and trainings kept me motivated. I am now the National Digital Education Officer collaborating the company who first trained me three years ago.

Florin-Daniel Strîmbu-Coman
Clujul Are Suflet / Romania

I started with a few groups of teenagers from my organization, talking about critical thinking, logic and problem solving. SKILL IT was the perfect project for me and for my work as a youth worker and psychopedagogue. My interests are in team-work, collaboration, logic, problem solving, critical thinking and I think these areas are an important part of what young people have to master as well as they can to help them in the near future, for their growth and personal development.

Tom Manning
Carlow Regional Youth Service / Ireland

“I have spent my working life as a youth worker operating in a range of different contexts. I am now working for Carlow Regional Youth Service and as a research fellow with the Institute of Technology, Carlow with funding from the Irish Research Council.

I am especially drawn to supporting vulnerable young people and have a background in providing targeted youth interventions. I was struck by the high number of young people he worked with for whom digital games were the dominant or sole interest, particularly as a way of coping with significant trauma. I believe that youth workers are uniquely positioned to develop programmes and deliver work that effectively supports these young people.

I am currently overseeing and developing an evidence-based youth work project that responds to the needs of young people using digital gaming heavily. To-date this project has grown to consist of seven different groups running throughout the region, alongside a number of summer programmes and events. The project has attracted significant additional financial backing due to it’s exceptional impact on many young people and I remain committed to extending this further to discover more ways that youth workers can meet the needs of young gamers.”

Filip Zmysłowski
Praesterno Foundation / Poland

My name is Filip. I have been working with young people since 2015. I am a psychologist, therapist and youth worker in one of Krakow’s NGOs – Praesterno Foundation. I have organized workshops in schools in Kraków as well as in the headquarters of the foundation. In my work I aspire to keep up with the needs of teenagers, which are changing all the time. During my early working days in one of the community halls for teenagers in Kraków I understood that young people are searching for ways to develop themselves all the time and with new tools, which I know I can give them: they make progress in the blink of an eye. One year later, in 2016 I started my collaboration with Praesterno Foundation, where I have had multiple opportunities to be a part of many inspiring projects. To achieve our goal of helping Young People in the fastest, most effective way, it is necessary to use the best methods available. Without a doubt digital technology makes it possible. It increases the quality of youth work and, what’s more, it brings me a lot of satisfaction, when I can surprise teenagers or even other youth workers, by showing ways that new technologies help us to achieve our goals faster and easier than old, analogue methods.

Jakub Słowik
Robinson Crusoe Foundation, Praesterno Foundation / Poland

“I am a psychologist and therapist. I work with young people at risk of social exclusion. I have started my Digital Youth Work Practice by working with preventive programme on cyberbullying. Then, I participated in the training course of the Skill IT for Youth project. I got inspired and have noticed how important it is to integrate knowledge and digital skills with teaching social competence for young people.
The field I am most interested in is enhancing social competences by using apps and websites, which also has a positive impact on decreasing the risk of cyberbullying among teenagers.”

Tristan Troy Rasay
OsloWave / Norway

Through my work and side engagement with Norsensus and other NGOs I use digital tools often. The Skill IT International Youth Worker Training in March helped me get a better picture.