ABSTRACT
‘Relationships are, and always have been, at the heart of youth work’ (Young, 2005: 62). They provide the foundation of the youth work process. The relationship between the young person and the youth worker is the guiding thread of the process, without which no process can develop. The work begins with the worker getting to know the young person and is continually guided by the relationship that is developed. In any given youth work setting, whether a residential weekend, a street corner, a youth club or a specific project, what occurs as a result of the interplay of the relationships and the resulting dynamics, both between youth workers and young people as well as between the young people themselves, provides the ‘grist for the mill’ of personal and social education.
