Listening to Young People in School, Youth Work and Counselling
Effective work with young people requires empathy and understanding. This accessible book captures the reality of young people’s experiences, their relationships and the things that are important to them. Using in-depth examples from his many years’ experience as a teacher, youth worker and psychotherapist, Nick Luxmoore outlines a creative approach that will enable professionals to respond appropriately to the complex needs and sometimes demanding behaviour of young people.
Luxmoore describes the dynamics of young people’s relationships, offering original insights into
* the ways in which young people approach intimacy and manage secrecy and privacy
* their relationships with siblings, friends and adults
* their anxieties about themselves and their identity
* how they interact with strangers and strange situations.
This sensitive, accessible and practical book will enable professionals in teaching, counselling and youth work to listen to young people, to understand their needs and to support them effectively.
Luxmoore describes the dynamics of young people’s relationships, offering original insights into
* the ways in which young people approach intimacy and manage secrecy and privacy
* their relationships with siblings, friends and adults
* their anxieties about themselves and their identity
* how they interact with strangers and strange situations.
This sensitive, accessible and practical book will enable professionals in teaching, counselling and youth work to listen to young people, to understand their needs and to support them effectively.
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Reviews
This little book, to its credit, serves to explore the real meaning of what children are saying and to give lots of examples, counselling techniques, stories and descriptions of counselling episodes to illustrate the approach…The book would be useful for teachers, counsellors, youth workers and trainee educational psychologists.
A book written out of invaluable experience and the consequent insights of a lively, open and creative mind
What I found refreshing about this book in comparison to other reference guides is its relevance to practice as opposed to theory. Luxmoore draws from his many years of experience (as a youth worker, teacher and counsellor) and, by using in-depth case examples, offers practical suggestions that will enable professionals to listen, understand and support young people more effectively.
Nick Luxmoore has wide-ranging experience with young people through his careers as teacher, youth worker and dramatherapist, employing the combination of his skills with great warmth and humour…The 10 chapters deal with aspects of teen life and incorporate mini case studies, references to the established authorities, like Bowlby and Winnicot, and contemporary parallels like Harry Enfield's Kevin…These illustrate Luxmoore's investigation of the source of adolescents' difficulties, their process and the facilitation of their resolution, often through group work and role-play and with an adult who takes them very seriously. This description makes it sound very 'heavy', but the book is actually very easy to read and entertaining as well as profound.
Although there is reference to theory, most of this book is given over to examples of practical work with all ages of secondary school pupils…There were many examples of practicle work within the school setting from individual work either from drop-in session's or on-going weekly contact, group work and support for a group offering peer conselling. It was reasurring to find that these examples came from work within the school setting. Many of the examples relate to situations that adults would describe as "petty". It is good to see these treated with the same importance as some of the more complicated problems faced by teenagers today. The practical nature of the book leaves the reader feeling that these are suggestions of how the problems could be approached-rather than the only solution.
This is a book which a goodly number of youth workers will thoroughly enjoy reading. Photocopied chapters are going to be passed from worker to worker, whilst some sections will be long employed on training programmes to provide a focus for discussion. It is definitely one of those books. The sort you ask yourself – why didn't someone think of doing this before ? Accessible serious and unapologetically written with the practitioner in mind, it promises to have a lengthy shelf life and find a ready audience…reading it was time well spent.
This book is a tour de force. ALL the chapters in the book are of superlative quality. Chapters are easy to read due to the author's "friendly" style. His liberal use of pop groups –Supergrass, Manic Street Preachers – and characters from popular culture –Wyatt Earp, Spice Girls and Harry Endfield's Kevin, Lulu and Harry all ease the reader's entry into the culture of young people… Anyone who wishes to develop their ability to enter the world of others would do well to acquire this book. In words that might be used by of one of the author's young people “totally brilliant."
Luxmoore describes the complex nature of intimacy, privacy, secrets, ordinary anxiety and anxiety related to crisis. These issues are covered imaginatively and extensively... Listening to Young People will appeal to parents, students and practitioners. It reflects a wealth of experience both of young people and the current complex demands of the school experience.
A short and interesting starter to digging a little deeper in aspects of youthwork that sometimes we experience but may not understand the dynamics of…It involves us thinking and reflecting about what we do critically, and bringing greater professionalism and excellence to our youth work.
Nick Luxmoore's book of essays is a welcome addition to the literature on working with adolescents. It is likely to appeal to the professional reader, as well as to parents of adolescents anxiously trying to understand their children's changes in mood and behaviour. Luxmoore takes a fresh look at adolescence and makes some interesting interpretations based on his own direct therapeutic work with young people in youth clubs and schools.