Youth Workers, Stuckness, and the Myth of Supercompetence: Not knowing what to do

by Ben Anderson-Nathe

Overview

This book explores how youth workers experience the moment of not-knowing what to do in the helping relationship. Professionals often talk about the stress and doubt they feel after moments in which they did not know how to respond.

This book was published as a special issue of Child & Youth Services.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415997737
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/09/2010
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ben Anderson-Nathe is Assistant Professor in Child and Family Studies at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, where he also coordinates undergraduate practicum experiences for students entering the fields of youth work, social work, and education. His areas of research and teaching are youth development, youth worker training and development, human sexuality, anti-oppression organizing and education, and the bridges between theory and practice in public policy, health, and social services.

Table of Contents

1. My Stomach Fell Through the Floor: The Moment of Not-Knowing What to Do 2. Contextualizing Not-Knowing: Terminology and the Role of Professional Identity 3. Investigating Not-Knowing: Research Methodology 4. Whose Stories are These? 5. Like a Deer in the Headlights: The Paralysis of Stuckness 6. Helpless, Hopeless, and Out of Control: Features of Despair 7. Center Stage: Humiliation, Being Found Out, and the Myth of Supercompetence 8. It’s Just a Little Too Human: Questions of Vocation 9. Not-Knowing Gives Way to Knowing 10. So What? Now What? Implications for Youth Work Practice 11. Appendix A: Interview Guide