‘We Are the Eyes on the Streets’—Modes of Proactive Youth Outreach

ABSTRACT There is an increasing emphasis on the need for more prevention initiatives targeting the rise of mental health issues, addiction and crime in the youth population across Europe. Youth outreach work has a long‐standing tradition of working with marginalized youth; however, youth culture is dynamic, and there has been limited research in the field over the past two decades. In this article, we explore professional practice in youth outreach in three Norwegian cities, drawing on focus groups with 12 social workers and four individual interviews with managers. Our analytical framework combines reflexive thematic analysis and collective qualitative data analysis to identify the characteristics of youth outreach practices. We identified three modes that constitute youth outreach practices: outreach , follow‐up and mapping . To sustain a proactive approach, these modes need to be seen as interdependent and applied continuously.