This paper aims to contribute fresh insights into youth participatory action research (YPAR) by using bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy to illuminate the process of co-designing a program for transition beyond secondary school. Engaged pedagogy is a critical pedagogy that combines critical consciousness and radical wholeness and seeks to foster a learning community. The 10-week YPAR included six staff collaborators (SCs) and five youth collaborators (YCs). Data comprised recordings of weekly collaborative group meetings; group interviews with SCs and YCs; and reflections and artefacts such as planning documents, graphic organisers and photographs. Informed by engaged pedagogy, findings are represented in two themes. First, YCs and SCs raised critical consciousness by collectively unpacking and critiquing the concept of transition. Critical consciousness allowed YCs to share their lived experiences and critique the dominant deficit discourse that represents transition as a linear process that needs to be smoothed by expert adults. Second, YCs and SCs demonstrated what hooks describes as radical wholeness, by bringing their whole selves to the YPAR. While some SCs and YCs struggled with the messiness of co-design as they negotiated expectations and roles, they learned to be honest and share their emotions, becoming what hooks describes as a learning community. Using an engaged pedagogy lens, we conclude by advocating for a holistic approach for YPAR in which educators take the risk of being vulnerable, sharing uncertainty and discomfort while encouraging youth to also take risks by bringing their whole selves to the process.