Sketching Youth, Self, and Youth Work

In part a semi-autobiographical memoir of the life of a youth worker and in part a supplemental text that can be used to learn a method of qualitative research and youth work practice, Sketching Youth, Self, and Youth Work is a book for practitioners, scholars and researchers trying to understand human interactions. The author describes a method of reflexivity and experimental autobiography that places self at the center, and shares several sketches (vignettes) based on his experiences as a youth, youth worker with troubled youth, and professor of youth work.Written in the spirit of discovery learning, the material is presented with the assumption that it will be discussed, questioned and critiqued by individual readers and in classrooms and other forums where people play with and discuss written material. Researchers interested in alternative forms of mixed genre inquiry will also find the book useful. Mark Krueger is concerned with what is. He wants to show youth work as he experiences and understands it with the hope that his work and sketches will ring true with the experiences of the reader and lead to new discoveries of their own. The hope is that in reading this book you too will be able to understand your world and the worlds of youth and youth work a little better as you know them to be. Simply brilliant! Krueger's images and reflections distill all that is child and youth care work into its most primary context - one single moment in the life of a single Self. True to his stated objective, this eminent contributor to our profession makes himself fully "visible," and what you see is who you are. The writing is distinctively Kruegerian, bold, delicate and intensely personal. If others wish to borrow my copy, I will have no hesitation in saying, "go buy one for yourself, you'll never regret it."GERRY FEWSTER, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professsor, Department of Applied Psychology, University of Calgary.Author of Being in Child Care: A Journey into Self. Founding Editor, Relational Child & Youth Care Practice. In this beautiful, rich and lyric exploration of the dynamic world of youth and youth worker, Krueger opens up radically new possibilities for research, youth work training and insight into ourselves and the field of youth-adult relations... A ground-breaking work of major importance to the field of youth work and any other field interested in practice based on relationship and critical reflection. .I love the book and can't wait to use it in my qualitative research course.HANS SKOTT MYHRE, Child and Youth Studies, Brock University.This book belongs with the American Masters in literature as well as with the best texts in child and youth care, counseling and youth work. It has a place of honor on my shelf because it evokes the complex and deeply human ethos that is central to good human-to-human practice. Mark Krueger gives us the gift of allowing us into his inner world as he negotiates the intersection between himself and others while keeping his eye on the prize: intervention that moves forward both the child, the youth, the family AND the worker so that not only change but transformation can take place. Thank you Mark. This is a wonderful book.SIBYLLE ARTZ, PhD, Director and Professor, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria Mark Krueger is, always, a most interesting individual to read. He is, perhaps, the individual in the field of child and youth care with the most exact eye for detail; a poet's eye and a painter of words springs to mind. DR NIALL MCELWEE, Senior Lecturer in Child and Youth Care and Editor, Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies.Art work by Suzanne Vandeboom, www.artvitae.com/vandeboom