Three nights per week our youth workers go out onto the streets to meet the hardest to access group of young people, on their own territory. We value young people for who they are, not for what they have achieved or what they own. For a variety of reasons these young people feel disengaged and excluded from mainstream society and put themselves in a position where they cannot access the services or adults who can help them. Young people aged 12 – 18 are attracted to the commercial premises in the town centre and also to the parks and open spaces; their presence often causes unease to passers by, residents and the business people of the town. They are perceived as engaging in anti-social behaviour but are actually vulnerable to drug dealers and sexual predators and are the most likely young people to become the victims, or perpetrators, of crime. Three nights per week the youth work team go out and on average meet 51 new people per month who need our support, information, advice and guidance. Some of the more frequent problems are: • Unprotected sex – we are licensed to demonstrate and distribute condoms • Concerns about sexual health and infections – we organise appointments at the sexual health clinic • Substance misuse – we engage in tier 1 and 2 drug intervention work, distribute harm minimisation cards to know drug users and ‘signpost’ people to the community drug project programme for additional support • Youth unemployment – we carry vacancies with us. Although the problems faced by the young people are many and varied the issue of low self-esteem is almost universal. We spend a lot of time listening to them and allowing them the space and freedom to say what they want, in order to build up a relationship with them. Once this trust has been established we are able to invite them to visit the JusB centre-based projects, challenge anti-social behaviour and work with them to improve their levels of self-esteem through structured activities (with the opportunity to gain an accredited award if they wish) and one-to-one work with the youth workers.