Josh White is the Youth Engagement Coordinator for Capital Region Community Services. Josh leads a team of six youth workers, whilst providing support for other youth workers in the Belconnen region. He’s been a youth worker for over five years, and has been deservedly recognised for his excellent work as a previous winner of the Outstanding Youth Worker Award in 2018. Josh has had more opportunities to demonstrate his leadership abilities in the past year, and has been a key contributor to innovative and responsive service responses during a challenging period.
Josh has consistently demonstrated his commitment to strengths-based youth work practice, with this being something that any young person who has been supported by him could testify to. Josh is a very hands-on leader, leading from the front and learning along the way. This contributes to Josh’s ability to synthesise input from young people and his team into practice improvements; he’s on the ground, so he gets it.
Josh has been trained as a Joint Case Review facilitator – leading to improved case work practice for himself and his team. He has grown greatly in his time as a school youth worker, and now his work in the community sector has seen him put person-centred service design at the forefront of all planning decisions.
Josh has always been a visionary, and it’s easy to get caught up in a conversation with him about how to grow and develop youth work here in the ACT. This is where his passion lies, and his energy for practice improvement is relentless. Josh receives numerous requests for mentoring and guidance for new youth workers as a testament to his standing as a youth worker within education and the community sector.
Josh is leading initiatives for bringing youth workers in Belconnen together to share learnings and participate in professional development activities. This is an exceptional achievement, with Josh’s humility a key attribute for getting partners on board for collective movement towards a more cohesive and professional support network. Josh has the rare ability to see what’s happening on the ground, while keeping an eye on the horizon. We are lucky to have a practice leader in youth work like Josh White.
