Abstract
Why do young men become marginalised? Why are they over-represented among the unemployed? Why, though, do men comprise only one third of the customers of the employment services?
Where do men vanish to? The project Auta miestä mäessä [Help a man when he needs it], managed by Diaconia University of Applied Scien ces, searched for answers and solutions to these questions. The project develo ped group-form and activity-based coaching services to meet young men’s service needs.
The project report is intended for such professionals, citizen’s organisations and students in social and health services and youth work, who work with young men (ages 18–29). Adopting the viewpoint of young people’s education and career paths, the objective is to show the importance of gender-sensitive work with men and that of male-specific work in general. The report describes a model of coaching that combines the process of young men’s group activity and their personal mentoring.
The report discusses the importance of the gender sensitive and male-specific approach on a general level as well as in relation to career choices by young men and the possible support needs related to the choices. The practice-oriented articles in the report describe the coaching process developed during the project and the role of mentoring in the context of the coaching. Two of the articles assess the experiences of the young men who participated in the coaching, and also assess the mentoring as a part of the coaching process.
This report can be used as a guide book when planning group-form job coach- ing or career counselling for young men in particular. Naturally, these methods can be applied for leading other types of groups as well. The articles in the report also form stand-alone units and offer a view to the gender-sensitive approach to work at a general level.
Key words: men, young people, marginalisation, incapacity for employment, prevention, job coaching
Writer: Haapanen Ari, VTM, projektipäällikkö, Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu. Toiminut hankkeen projektipäällikkönä osallistuen hankkeen valmennusmallin kehittämiseen ja valmennusryhmien käytännön vetämiseen. Aiemmin työskennellyt mm. yritysten yhteiskuntavastuun ja työelämän monimuotoisuuden tutkijana sekä uravalmentajana.
