Conversations to nurture the next generation
Meaningful conversations with the people shaping young lives, strengthening communities and preparing us for what comes next.
What Does It Take to Raise the Next Generation Well?
I Love Youth Work brings together people who have spent their lives confronting that question, in youth work, education, leadership, coaching, culture, business, technology and community. These conversations examine what young people are facing, what they need from the adults around them, and what we must build, change and remember if they are to thrive.
Featured Conversation: What Must Youth Work Protect and What Must It Change?
Bob speaks with Adam Muirhead, Director of Youth Work at the Trust for Developing Communities in Brighton and Hove and former Chair of the Institute for Youth Work, about where youth work stands now and what the sector must protect, challenge and rebuild for the young people who depend on it.
Why I Love Youth Work Exists
I Love Youth Work began in 2011 as an early podcast dedicated specifically to conversations with and for youth workers.
At a time when podcasting was still an emerging medium, ILYW created space for people across the sector to discuss practice, leadership, policy, social media, enterprise and the realities of working alongside young people.
More than a decade later, the need for those conversations has not disappeared. It has grown. Young people are now coming of age amid rapid technological change, widening inequality, pressure on public services, shifting cultures and uncertainty about education, work and belonging. Youth work remains the foundation of ILYW, but the responsibility for raising the next generation extends far beyond one profession.
The platform brings youth workers into conversation with educators, coaches, parents, leaders, entrepreneurs, technologists, storytellers and community builders. The aim is to surface hard-won knowledge, question assumptions and understand what young people need from the adults, organisations and systems around them.
Three Questions for Adults Nurturing the Future
ILYW brings its conversations back to three defining questions:
1. What Do Young People Need From Us Now?
Young people are growing up inside pressures, technologies and social conditions that many adults did not face at the same age. ILYW explores what genuinely helps them build confidence, identity, judgement, belonging and hope—and what the adults, institutions and communities around them must do better.
2. How Do We Become the Adults They Can Rely On?
Good intentions are not enough. The people supporting young people need the courage to listen, the skill to build trust and the self-awareness to lead without controlling. These conversations examine what it takes to become stronger youth workers, educators, coaches, parents, mentors and community leaders.
3. What Kind of Future Are We Preparing Them For?
Artificial intelligence, inequality, education, work, culture and community are all changing at speed. ILYW brings together people who can help us understand what is coming, what is at stake and how we prepare young people not simply to survive the future, but to shape it.
More ILYW Content
Youth Work in India
Follow the ILYW team on a journey across India, meeting youth and community organisations and exploring how leadership, education, culture and local action are shaping opportunities for young people.
Amani Simpson: Turning Pain into Purpose
A conversation with award-winning youth coach, filmmaker and social entrepreneur Amani Simpson about his journey, his work with young people and how honest storytelling can turn lived experience into hope, responsibility and positive action.
Sanjhi Sikhiya: Developing Young Leaders
ILYW visits Sanjhi Sikhiya in Punjab to learn how the organisation develops young leaders to work alongside schools, teachers and government, improving the conditions in which children can learn and thrive.
Watch all I Love Youth Work content on YouTube
Meet Bob Singha
Bob Singha is a master coach, trainer and mentor with more than 28 years of experience working across personal development, youth work, leadership and community change. He co-founded the Youth Coaching Academy in 2001 and has since trained and mentored coaches, youth workers and leaders working with young people and communities.
As host of I Love Youth Work, Bob brings curiosity, lived experience and a coaching approach that helps guests move beyond surface-level answers. His role is not simply to interview people, but to draw out the ideas, stories and lessons that can help others lead, support and serve more effectively.
Through ILYW, Bob connects people working across different fields around a shared question:
What must we remember about ourselves if the next generation is to flourish?
Be Part of the Conversation
Know someone whose experience, ideas or story could deepen how we understand young people, leadership or community? ILYW is looking for people who can bring hard-won insight, challenge familiar assumptions and move an important conversation forward. Guests receive a thoughtful platform for their work and ideas, a professionally produced conversation, and a direct connection with an audience committed to young people and community.
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