Author Archives: Liam Doherty

I try to remember that I might be the only positively impactful adult this young person has spent appreciable time with in their day, and, too often, their whole week.

Sense a change of season today? I have just finished a year working in the most rewarding position I’ve held in my life so far, as a youth worker. When colleague asked why I was leaving, I caught myself saying it’s ‘unfortunate’ the role isn’t financially rewarding. This is not what I truly think. WhatContinue reading “Thirty: What Happens Now?!”

The teacher threatened to phone Dad if they didn’t behave. This young person replied, “Don’t you f***ing dare!”

It’s some feeling, leaving club after belting out Bohemian Rhapsody with operatic passion, alongside kids whose private lives I know to be traumatised and traumatising, having carved out of their day two hours of good, clean, safe fun. 

The impossible majesty of a new day announces itself with the sun rising over Herm. A flock of ducks flies by, beating and quacking, in perfect V formation. He is gone, but he is present. He is free.

The most time consuming, the most emotionally consuming, and the most rewarding part of my job is providing advocacy

Don’t mind me as I eat my words about talking shop. I promise, it’s bloody interesting, with vicissitudes of gravity and levity that whip from heart-wrenching to hilarious and back again in the space of hours, sometimes minutes.

Mornings are an eternally appreciating asset: they increase in value as long as you own them. If you own your morning, you can afford all that your day demands of you.