Young people need to be given the right information to equip them for adult life.

That’s the message from new youth service head Nigel Howard.

Mr Howard said young people face pressure in school as they work towards exams, they face peer pressure and have to deal with issues such as their sexuality.

On top of that, there are the challenges posed by anti-social behaviour that they may encounter or become involved in, plus questions over drug and alcohol use.

’They want to be, or should be, correctly informed of all the risks of these and we do some elements of that within youth club settings,’ he said.

Adults need to be aware where young people learn their behaviour, not least in terms of alcohol use.

’We have grown them,’ said Mr Howard, who is principal youth officer for the Department of Education and Children.

’We are the people who historically, every time there is a birth, or even every time there is a death, every time we celebrate something we have a drink.’

Reports of gangs of youths hanging around, causing concern, are nothing new. The advent of social media, however, means that sometimes the problem escalates quickly.

Mr Howard said: ’We tend to hear that there have been groups of young people hanging around in Onchan and at the Sea Terminal and also some were becoming involved in drink.

’With that, some of them are getting involved in low-level anti-social behaviour.’

He said the youth service tried to address the incidents of anti-social behaviour by talking to the young people involved and that had, in itself, impacted positively on some of those taking part in schemes to help the community.

’We don’t want to be rewarding bad behaviour, you have to challenge it and engage them,’ he said.

’Hopefully we try to get them involved in something positive.’

There are other issues, of course.

’Our battles are with young people being fixated on the internet and their access to the internet,’ said Mr Howard.

’It is one of the areas that youth workers and parents and others probably struggle to control.

’We want to make sure kids are safe online.’ One of the key aims of the youth service was to protect and inform young people.

’We are at the front line of keeping young people safe in a universal setting.

’Young people access clubs and youth work settings because they want to feel safe, to feel part of a group, with their friends and the staff that are there.’

Finding their own identity was something many young people struggled with.

Youth workers will do what they can to support those who need help.

Mr Howard said that, while there were other youth groups that were run by churches, the youth service-run clubs did not follow any religious lines when giving advice.

There is a regular LGBT night at the Café Laare venue in Douglas, he added.

’That is a busy session,’ he said. ’People coming from all over island to somewhere they feel accepted and comfortable.’