Student Name: Kimberly
Pathway Programme: Pathways to Charity and Development (2026 Cohort)
Internship Role: Content Creation Assistant
Internship Employer: DYS Space Youth Services
Summary of Organisation: Space Youth Services works with over 7000 young people each year. We use professional youth work practice to provide time, space and support for teenagers as they navigate the transition to adulthood. This may be through our open access youth centres (including an online youth club), through targeted one to one work with young people struggling at school and/or with their mental health, through streetbased outreach in remote communities and specialist interventions to address issues or personal circumstances as needed (this includes a sexual health programme, work with young people with family members in prison, work using technology to enable housebound young people to plan their futures, and work in hospitals).Â
We have strong links with Devon County Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Housing Associations and health professionals who fund our work but we are a charity that, like others, finds it hard to meet the scale of need we see across the county. Youth work has become an invisible profession but the new National Youth Work Strategy is putting it front and centre again – preventing young people’s engagement in unhealthy, anti-social and harmful behaviours and amplifying and developing their talents. The fundraising team at Space work hard to raise the profile and understanding of the impact of our work and secure a range of income to enable us to develop and reach more young people so that they can gain a sense of belonging, skills, and hope for their future.
Please briefly outline the project/tasks/responsibilities you worked on during your Professional Pathways internship.
“During my internship I had the opportunity to design my own social media campaign designed to encourage people to pursue a career in youth work. Space is planning on developing my work for an actual campaign in November which is super exciting.”
Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, what advice would you give to other students to ensure they gain as much as possible from the experience?
“My top tip would definitely be to have a plan! When I was working in person my line manager made me a schedule of all the things he wanted me to do and I found that really helpful and it allowed me to make sure I got everything done.
If you’re working remotely my advice would be to really put effort into communicating regularly with your line manager to make sure you’re both on the same page about the direction of whatever you’re working on.”
Why would you recommend the Professional Pathways programme to other students?
“I would recommend pathways to all students as it is a way to get a really valuable insight into a sector. The training week was very insightful and was a great opportunity to network with people in the industry. However the best part had to be my internship with Space! It was an amazing opportunity to develop my marketing skills while also getting first hand experience of the day to day running of a charity. Pathways in general is an amazing opportunity to develop employable skills, network and really delve into an industry.”