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ISBN 978 0 7559 1621 4

This document is also available in pdf format (112k)

Working with Hard to Reach Young People - A Practical Guide

This document provides practical guidelines for professionals who seek to improve their engagement with hard to reach young people with a view to reducing offending

Author Tam Hendry
Researcher Kate Polson

This document provides practical guidelines for professionals who seek to improve their engagement with hard to reach young people with a view to reducing offending. It is largely geared towards youth workers , in both the statutory and voluntary sectors who aim to reach young people on the streets. It is also an appropriate reference point for specialist organisations such as, the police, the fire service and health and education professionals, that wish to do targeted outreach work with specific groups of young people especially if this involves going out to where those young people are.

These guidelines will help you to view young people and their behaviour within the context of the family, the community and their peers. It will provide you with clear boundaries for your work to ensure that you are aware of your own limitations as well as the possibilities. It will enable you to understand and manage the risks associated with this type of work appropriately.

Experienced practitioners will need no convincing of the benefits of working with young people on the streets. Those who are new to this approach, however, will appreciate very quickly how willing young people are to listen to and learn from adults who make the effort to move out of their own comfort zone and shape their message to something that young people understand and see the relevance of.

Reaching out to young people, and making them feel part of the community, rather than the enemy within, is the most welcoming invitation you can make towards engaging their commitment and cooperation to safeguarding their community, its people and its property. Whether that's local fire service workers doing preventative outreach work in the weeks preceding bonfire night or police officers doing graffiti clean-up programmes, the pay-off is much more than a reduction in attacks on fire engines and vandalism, it's the start of building a deeper respect for the work that you do and the service you provide.

We want all young people in Scotland to benefit from positive opportunities, which make a real difference to their lives, and a youth work sector equipped and empowered to achieve ongoing positive outcomes for young people now and in the future.

Developed by Streetwork UK and the Scottish Government

Contents

PART 1 - THE CONTEXT

What we mean by Hard To Reach

Young people as part of something
Parents and the family
Peers
The community
The school
The youth Club

Needs, wants and fears
Girls (and boys) just want to have fun
Hair-raising changes
Fear of young people
Different and the same

PART 2 - RECOGNISING THE BARRIERS

The underserved
Black and ethnic minority young people
LGBT
Does ageism start at 16?
Rural isolation

PART 3 - GET ON THE GOOD FOOT

Setting up your street based service
Tools of the job
Always work in pairs
Setting goals
Mapping

Making contact
Building relationships
Manage young people's expectations thoughtfully
Dealing with challenging behaviour
Keep the boundaries clear
Work at their pace
Respect young people's territory
Create learning readiness
Child protection & safer recruitment

Your Safety On The Street
On-call back-up
Avoid trouble
If in doubt get out
Emergency procedure

Measuring success
Recording your work
Data Protection

Core requirements
References

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