The Russell House companion to working with young people

This comprehensive new book: * brings together a broad wealth of practice experience * sets it in the fast-changing contexts of young people's needs and policy imperatives * offers clear and rigorous critical analysis, underpinned by contemporary social policy debate * gives practitioners from a wide variety of professional backgrounds a guide to the different models and styles of intervention and delivery that we - as a highly sought-after, but sometimes misunderstood group - are expected to engage with at a time of great expectations mixed with uncertainty * offers guidance to researchers and policy-makers to the breadth and variety of the work that has developed - and continues to evolve - in communities where young people spend their adolescence and early adulthood. It will help readers * understand and illuminate the tensions and opportunities that continue to arise as the holistic values and experiences of previously voluntary relationships between young people and practitioners find their way alongside the new focus on targeted and sometimes compulsory service provision for those most in need or at risk * build networks and partnerships that will help young people find the help and support that can be made available when they need it * educate and enskill young people so that they are equipped to take on the role of active citizens in a society where increasing demands are placed on them - and opportunities presented to them - to become active participants and creators of their own destiny.