Ronnie Crichton knows he's doing a good job when he isn't needed anymore.
The 58-year-old last week marked 40 years as a council worker, initially with Strathclyde and then South Lanarkshire.
For the last 24 years of his career, he's been working with youngsters across the region, most recently with Universal Connections and the Youth, Family and Community Learning group in Rutherglen.
That means Ronnie, from East Kilbride, is trying to help teenagers have a voice and realise their potential during what can be a turbulent time.
"I guess when I'm doing well, I'm not needed, " he laughs, looking back on his lengthy career.
"Young people have a really important, productive role to play. It's not just for the future, which is something that gets said a lot, but right now they can do a lot as they are.
"What we try and do here can't be tokenistic, where I'm just telling them what to do and then they just do it. It's about giving them the power to succeed, and then they can keep doing that again and again.
"There isn't a single answer to what I'm proudest of doing (over the past 40 years) but just giving youths the opportunity and helping young people a voice is right up there."
Ronnie started out as a clerical worker with Strathclyde Regional Council in 1982, moving over to South Lanarkshire when the region's boundaries changed in the mid 1990s.
He spent 16 years working in various roles, including with schools transport, before his then boss suggested he apply for a post in the local authority's youth facilities department in 1998.
He feels that is when he truly discovered his passion, working across the region, including with the South Lanarkshire Youth Council and with the Scottish Youth Parliament.
He admits it's been a learning experience along the way.
"It's the best career move I've ever made," he told Lanarkshire Live.
"A skill I've had to gain along the way is how to best communicate with young people and to ensure the message I speak is understood.
£It's not as easy as thinking that because you were young yourself once you'll understand what they're feeling or going through, so I've had to adapt too.
"The best way to do that is introduce them to other peer workers, people of their own age, and get them talking. You want them to have a voice."
As time goes on, that can bring its own rewards too, with Ronnie admitting that one of the most humbling parts of his job is hearing from people he worked with over the years.
"One thing I've never enjoyed was social media, but I had to take that plunge when COVID happened, as it was the easiest way of keeping track of things.
"Then I started hearing from people I hadn't seen in 15, 20 years, and they were telling me they had jobs, or families, and felt they'd been helped along the way by the work we did.
"It was only part of their journey but it's an important part, and hearing that is the most satisfying thing."
For the past five years he's worked with Rutherglen Universal Connections, a time period interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
"COVID put us in a situation where the most important thing was not losing people we worked with, so we had to sustain that support. Maybe we couldn't gain as much as before, but at least we kept going with what we had.
"The thing is, we heard so many fantastic stories of community volunteering from young people, whether they were identifying vulnerable families and neighbours and helping them, or trying to volunteer. at places that needed them.
"You hear a lot about how bad teenagers and youths can be, but there are so many brilliant ones out there too, and they are doing so many good things. I'm really lucky to have a job that's part of that."
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