Humour is Serious Business: humour as a means of engaging and empowering young people more effectively is a 6-day training programme that will enhance the quality of individual youth work practice through the power of humour as the means by which to engage and empower young people more meaningfully and more effectively. Participants will learn how humour can be an asset, a ‘tool,’ a resource, and more, and in doing so discover how it can be the most effective mechanism for building rapport, enhancing relationships, addressing, and resolving issues, managing conflict, problem-solve challenges, create alternate approaches, and present and reflect upon learning. The ‘Humour Journey’ which is an 18-stage process across three phases – pre-, during and post-programme - will lead to: i) upskilling youth work practitioners in the use of humour as an effective tool for engaging young people and youth work communities ii) enhancing knowledge of the various types of humour so as to increase understanding of how, where, when and why it can be applied iii) increasing awareness of how humour can be used as a pro-active and deliberate methodology in youth work and not just as a natural consequence of and response to specific situations iv) consideration of cultural differences in humour and understanding better how these can be used to support and inform youth work practice v) provision of space and time for practitioners to reflect upon the use of their own sense of humour and consider where it can be altered to support their practice vi) challenge participants to step out of their ‘comfort zone’ in order to appreciate their own commitment to learning vii) the development of ‘in-house’ humour-based activities to test methodologies and techniques with a view to informing humour-based practice among youth work colleagues viii) the development post-programme actions that address and respond to identified issues affecting young people within their communities, e.g., lack of opportunities and/or mobility, career choices, unemployment, lack of resources, dealing with climate change, populism, racism, etc