Resources: Review - Detached work guide hits almost all thenecessary targets

Don't Shoot! I'm a Detached Youth Worker By Mike and Inez Burgess Published by Russell House Publishing Price: 14.95 ISBN 1903855950 Review - book details

Mike Burgess has been a detached youth worker in the Northeast since 1989. Based on this experience, he and his partner Inez offer a practical guide to the work that he hopes will go some way to support and inspire detached youth workers, as well as informing others about "human services".

Mike and Inez cover a broad range of issues, from starting out and making initial contact with the young people on the streets, to the development of practical projects and issue-based youth work. The latter is clearly the book's greatest strength. His accounts of successful project work are both lively and informative, usefully supported by a selection of articles written at the time by Young People Now's consultant editor Tim Burke of The National Youth Agency. Much as I admire Mike's work I do have some apprehensions. Some of the "starting out" tasks suggested for new workers are clearly the responsibility of management, and the street work advice given to new workers is overly cautious and potentially off-putting.