Exploring young people's and youth workers' experiences of spaces for ‘youth development’: creating cultures of participation

Spaces of connection and belonging: young people’s perspectives on the role of youth cafés in their lives

“…Having a sense of belonging can result in a feeling of "rootedness or centeredness" or of attachment to the place and group (Proshansky, Fabian, and Kaminoff 1983, 60) and has been shown to positively influence identity development in children and young people (Spencer and Woolley 1998) Young people also saw this supportive context as helping them to develop their sense of identity, build confidence and develop valuable life skills, reflecting previous findings that informal settings can help young people to engage in 'identity work' (Nolas, 2014;Hall, Coffey and Williamson, 2009). While not all young people attending youth cafes have experienced adversity in their lives, the findings of this research indicate that youth cafe has functioned as a 'protective factor' for young people exposed to adversity by providing a safe and relaxing environment that allows them to get relief from or avoid risky or stressful situations in their home or community environments.…”

“…Research has shown that such relationships remain critical to the well-being and transitions of young people (Dooley and Fitzgerald, 2013;Thomson, 2007). Nolas (2014), like Hendry and others (1993, p.2) argues for the protection of those 'liminal spaces' in which young people can interact freely and 'truly become themselves'.…”

Socialinio tinklo intervencijos modelio taikymas dirbant su jaunimu

“…Būtina pažymėti, kad tyrimo metodo praktinį reikšmingumą pabrėžia nuoseklus tyrimo etapų naudojimas, profesionalus ir kompetetingas socialinės darbuotojos darbas, kuris galėtų būti pavyzdžiu kitiems specialistams, naudojantiems socialinio tinklo intervencijos metodą. Mokslinėje literatūroje buvo akcentuojama nevyriausybinių organizacijų teikiama nauda, pabrėžiant jaunimui saugią aplinką, kurioje jų niekas nevaržytų (Nolas, 2014). Tyrimo metu pasitvirtino, kad jaunimui yra svarbi aplinka, kurioje jis veikia.…”

Talking About Food Choices of Former Homeless Young People: Making Sense of Conflicting Discourses of Blame Through Social Worlds Theory

“…At the same time, in the relevant literature, I found a tendency to look at either youth workers' or young people's perspectives on the malfunctioning of services instead of combining their perspectives and giving them equal value (Nolas, 2014;Kennedy Elder, 2004). In this paper, therefore, I seek to present a counter perspective.…”

“…A common ground of understanding and strong, positive relationships between youth workers and youth programme participants have been reported to be the key element to successful programme execution. This is, in terms of meeting programme goals, increasing young people's participation, and ensuring long term commitment to the programmes (Davidson, Evans & Sicafuse, 2011;Hirsch, 2015;Alcantara, Harper & Keys, 2015;Nolas, 2014). From this perspective, and as noted above, I elected to consider young people's and staff members' answers as equally informative, whilst remaining attentive to who said what.…”