Working with Young Men

Vanessa Rogers is a qualified teacher and youth worker with over ten years' experience within Hertfordshire Youth Service both at practitioner and management levels. Prior to becoming a nationally acclaimed youth work consultant, Vanessa managed a wide range of services for young people including a large youth centre and targeted detached projects for Hertfordshire County Council. Vanessa has written a number of popular resource books aimed at those working with young people, and she also has a column in 'Youth Work Now', a supplement of the national magazine 'Children and Young People Now'. Vanessa's website can be found at www.vanessarogers.co.uk.

I can thoroughly recommend this book for anyone working with groups of young men. It would be ideal for youth workers, youth offending teams, and schools. Some of the activities could be used by counsellors to supplement one-to-one work... Each activity is very simply explained, and gives the user advice on how to facilitate the session. It materials are required, they are often minimal such as flip chart, paper, or paints, but many of the activities do not require materials. Additionally, some of the pages are clearly marked to indicate permission to photocopy them, which obviously assists the youth worker... At the back of the book is a list of useful websites, including the author's own, for further information. Most of the activities would be equally useful for use with young females, though I believe there is a separate book available for them by the same author... In summary, I would say this is an excellent and helpful resource and good value for money.

• Acknowledgements/contributors. Introduction. How to set up a young men's group. 1. Getting started. 2. Developing communication skills. 3. Expressing emotions. 4. Exploring values and attitudes. 5. Taking risks. 6. Working together. 7. Endings. Useful websites.