A Dundee youth worker who turned his life around has been shortlisted for the prestigious National Youth Worker of the Year Awards 2014.
Callum McKay, who works as a young people’s mentor for Xplore Peer Mentoring in the city, has been praised as a great role model, but it was not always the case.
In the past a night out often ended with Callum being brought home by the police, but he has worked hard to overcome his own difficulties and proved it is possible to turn negative experiences into more positive outcomes.
His mum said: “Since Callum became a peer mentor I don’t have the bobbies at the door anymore.”
Through the peer training course at Xplore, Callum has been able to use his experiences to help other young people. He now has 500 hours of volunteering under his belt and gives up three evenings a week to turn other people’s lives around.
As a keen baker, he runs cooking sessions at Xplore and he also holds the weekly drop-in and is involved in the organisation’s boys’ group too.
Xplore Peer Mentoring provides a 26-week training programme for people aged 14-22. Once they have completed their training, they are given the opportunity to gain experience through volunteering and a variety of groups run by Xplore.
Carie Burns, project worker at Xplore, was delighted that Callum has been shortlisted for the awards run by YouthLink Scotland.
She said: “Callum has turned his life around. He has faced a number of difficult issues in his own life and is now helping others to make changes in their lives.
“He is a fantastic role model and it was the young people he works with that wanted to nominate him for this award.”
Jim Sweeney, chief executive of YouthLink Scotland, said: “The finalists from across Scotland have demonstrated outstanding commitment and passion to changing the lives of young people for the better.”
The winners will be announced at the National Youth Worker of the Year Awards dinner in Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel on Thursday next week.