Relationships, Friendship and youth work

A central task for any youth worker has always been the need to construct and sustain educational and social relationships with young people. The nature of these relationships and the ways in which workers need to drawboundaries around them has long been a focus for discussion. In this chapter Huw Blacker explores the place of relationships in youth work, how they can be developed and sustained, the linkages between professional relationships and friendship and the ways in which workers balance authority, friendship and accessibility.