Hey đź‘‹ I'm Emma Geraghty (Pronounced Geh-rah-tee)
I’m Irish and I’m living and working in London just over 10 years. If I had to pick my worst tube line to use, I’d have to say Central Line. Do we all agree that the Lizzy Line is the best?
Outside of work I love to take photos and learn Spanish (Aprender español es muy difĂcil a veces.!) and, if we meet, there’s a very good chance I’ll show you pictures of my rescue cat, Cleo.
Youth work has been a big part of my life since I was a child. I started attending my local youth centre when I was 7 and signed up for pretty much everything going - summer camps, afterschool clubs, cooking, art, you name it. As I got older, I started volunteering, became a junior youth leader and eventually joined a youth board helping to run the very youth club I had grown up in 🥹
I’m older now, but those experiences showed me first-hand what it feels like when adults genuinely listen to young people, take their ideas seriously and give them real opportunities to learn and make decisions about the things that affect them.
After years of volunteering and working in my community, I went back to university at 23 to study Youth & Community Work and proudly became the first person in my family to get a degree!
Since then, I’ve worked alongside AMAZING children and young people in schools, youth centres, community services, youth justice and diversion programmes, international youth exchanges, campaigns and even the hair industry! (Story for another time)
At Just for Kids Law, my job is to make sure children and young people aren’t just asked for their opinions but that they have meaningful involved and given opportunities to learn, influence decisions, speak truth to power, shape our work and lead change.
A big part of my role is working alongside children and young people aged 11 - 17 with lived and living experience of policing to build a youth-led campaign about policing across England and Wales.
We know that every child’s experience with the police can be different but we also know that some groups of children are more likely to experience certain police powers than others.
My hope for this campaign is that every young person involved feels that this is truly their campaign. A space where their experiences, ideas and opinions are taken seriously, where they choose the issues that matter most to them and decide what they want to change. Together, they’ll turn those ideas into campaign priorities, get creative about how to make change happen and build a campaign they can be proud to call their own
If you are a professional or young person that wants to hear more here's my ✉️ [email protected]