14 May 2026 | Alex Mahoney
A bit about me and my role at Esteem
My name is Alex, and I’ve been working as a Media and Operations Administrator at Esteem for the last 2 years. My role places me at the front of the building in our reception area, although It’s quite different from your typical reception job.
I get to be involved in a lot of different areas of the charity, and I also get to interact with all of the people who come through Esteem, from young adults, to visitors, to our amazing community volunteers.
I’m fortunate enough to regularly meet new young adults at Esteem and see them at the various stages of their journey.
Seeing Youth Work in action
Back in 2024, there was one particular young adult that I remember coming in for an intro. When this young adult walked through the door, I could tell that he was a bit uncomfortable at first. Coming to Esteem is a big step in itself – it’s an unfamiliar place with lots of new faces, and it can take time to adjust to that.
“Getting to see that positive growth in young adults is one of the best parts of my job.”
One of our youth workers had arranged a quiet cooking session with them in the kitchen, which happens to be the room next to me. Over the course of this session, I heard the young adult gradually opening up, relaxing and getting excited talking about things he enjoyed.
After the session I started to see this young adult coming to Esteem on a regular basis, beginning with more 1-2-1 cooking sessions before eventually joining our main social groups, and with each week I would keep seeing his confidence grow more and more.
Flash forward to today, he is still coming to Esteem every week and it is like talking to a completely different person from the reserved young man I met a couple of years ago. He’s very chatty within the group and always greets me with a smile when he comes through the door.
Experiences like this are something that I see all the time at Esteem, young adults discovering their strengths, making new connections and finding their sense of purpose.
Getting to see that real, positive growth in young adults is one of the best parts of my job.
As you can see, there’s quite a lot that goes on at Esteem. It’s always enjoyable talking to young adults while they’re waiting for these sessions and hearing their unique and valuable thoughts, opinions and insights. I’ve had great conversations with young adults, not only about their hobbies and the things that bring them joy but also about important topics such as identity, the barriers they face and the change they want to see in their local community.
Everything I see in my role suggests that Esteem’s youth-led approach gives young adults power and agency in everything that happens at the charity as well as in their own lives, and it’s an approach that’s been proven to work time and time again. You can really see how much this space means to young adults and I feel so lucky to be able to witness all of the amazing youth work, mentoring and volunteering that happens around the building from my position on the front desk.
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