7: Ancient Wisdom: Modern Science with Michelle Hammond - Episode 77: Ancient Wisdom: Modern Science with Michelle Hammond - Episode 7
UK Health Radio Podcast
Host Michelle Hammond talks with youth work leader Ben Drabble about the pressures facing teenagers today and the impact of cuts, social media and lost community spaces. They share how simple acts of care, collaboration and volunteering might support young people and their families more effectively.
50:55•7 May 2026
Ancient Wisdom, Modern Youth Work: How Community Care Supports Teenagers
Episode Overview
- Youth work focused on low-pressure, agenda-free relationships can give teenagers trusted adults they often lack elsewhere.
- Cuts to public services and education have shifted vital preventative support onto small charities operating with limited funding.
- Social media and smartphones, designed for addiction, are seen as hugely damaging when combined with reduced real-world freedom for teens.
- Young people need safe, welcoming physical spaces and affordable activities, especially as many feel pushed out of public areas.
- Simple community actions – from smiling at teens to flexible volunteering and school partnerships – can ease pressure on families and help young people feel they belong.
“Teenagers aren’t that scary, and they really value trusted adult relationships.”
Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of how community care can change young lives. This conversation on UK Health Radio’s *Ancient Wisdom: Modern Science* brings together host Michelle Hammond and guest Ben Drabble, CEO of TRAIN Youth, to look at what life actually feels like for teenagers growing up today.
You’ll hear Ben trace his journey from engineering into “detached youth work” – spending Tuesday nights on the streets of Didcot chatting with groups of young people who might be bored, unsafe at home, or simply needing an adult who shows up without an agenda.
As he puts it, youth work is about “building relationships with young people that aren’t necessarily characterised with a particular agenda or with a particular kind of authority or power dynamic.” The conversation shines a light on rising anxiety, self-harm, school disengagement and the huge pressures facing both teens and their parents. Ben links this to cuts in public services, stretched schools, the cost of living, the impact of smartphones, and the aftershocks of lockdown.
At the same time, there’s a warm call to action: smile at teenagers on the street, volunteer in whatever way fits your life, and remember, as Ben jokes, that today’s teens are the ones who’ll be “propping up the economy so that you can enjoy retirement and old age with reasonable public services.” If you’ve ever wondered what might actually help young people feel safer, seen and supported, this conversation gives you plenty to think about – and some simple ways to start helping.
Yet he and Michelle keep circling back to practical hope: prevention instead of crisis-only services, stronger collaboration between schools, charities and councils, and more local people getting involved. They talk frankly about social media’s “engineering of addiction”, the loss of safe spaces for teens on new housing estates, and the way young people feel unwelcome almost everywhere.
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