ABSTRACT
With young people, replying ‘I don’t know’ to any question asked of them seems almost like an automatic refl ex. Either they think it’s an enormous inconvenience on their part to process the question or they are just genuinely helpless and confused, and hopeful that I would both ask the question and answer it for them. For this reason, it can often be an incredibly frustrating or nervewracking experience working with young people. To illustrate this, the following is an excerpt of the fi rst session with a student, Gabriel, who was referred to me for persistent late attendance issues.
