Overview

Focussing directly on actual experiences of homeless people, this important book provides guidance to everyone involved in working in the homeless sector, and helps turn insight into quality services. It shows how categorising homeless people into various stereotypes, and making assumptions about their lives, mis-shapes their identities, and mis-shapes the services that we provide, so significantly that it even impacts on workers' own senses of themselves. And it shows how focusing on individuals' realities - how they cope with their environments, and make sense of their experiences - helps us work together effectively to provide appropriate support. Homeless and ex-homeless people, leading academics and practitioners, describe experiences of going through various homeless 'systems'; sometimes many times. They show how these experiences, alongside other powerful forces, affect not only homeless people, but also homeless workers. Reading about how, as individuals, they contest and negotiate the identities that are thereby superimposed, lets us learn from the lives of rough sleepers, people who have multiple needs, the refugee experience, denial of sexual identity, love on the streets, challenging behaviour, homeless sector culture, and the labelling of 'difficult people' and 'unresponsive services'.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mike Seal
Publisher:   Russell House Publishing Ltd
Imprint:   Russell House Publishing Ltd
Weight:   0.312kg
ISBN:  

9781905541065

ISBN 10:   1905541066
Pages:   192
Publication Date:   November 2006
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Preface. About the Contributors. Introduction. Homelessness and identity Mike Seal. Homeless people making sense of their experiences. Identities of rough sleepers in Oxford Chantal Butchy. Homelessness and the denial of sexual identity Phillip Flynn. Love on the streets: the denial of homeless people's relationships Tony Dodson. The homeless sector making sense of homeless people's experiences. Understanding the refugee experience Jennie Geddes. Difficult people? - Unresponsive services! Working with people who are homeless and have multiple needs Pip Bevan. Contesting and working with challenging behaviour John Ames. Homelessness as a facet of our own identities. Homelessness and its impact on our personal and societal identities Mike Seal. Homeless sector culture Mick Kain & Andrew VanDoorn. Worker identities in the homeless industry Mike Seal. Conclusion. Lessons to be learnt and actions to be taken Mike Seal.

Reviews

Author Information

Mike Seal is a Senior Lecturer in Informal and Community Education and programme director for the Advanced Professional Certificate in Working with Homeless People at the YMCA George Williams College in East London.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions