Customer Reviews

Crossing the Border: Encounters between Homeless People and Outreach Workers

5 star:		(6)
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Having been an outreach worker for roughly six years, I found this book to be surprisingly well written. Too often, books tackling this subject present mere caracatures of the people it talks about, vieweing the subjects more as data or political process than real human beings.

This book presents many different points of views and differing types of outreach workers and the people they seek to help. The homeless are not condescended to nor are the outreach workers glamorized. It is quite factual and quite objective.

I saw myself in some of the types and picked up excellent little reminders about the whole homeless issue and those whose lives it affects. If you are looking for a bit more of the 'human' connection of those who are on the front lines (as opposed to the theorists, the politicians, the directors and others removed from the field), this is a great book toward that end.

Crossing the Border by Michael Rowe clearly conveys why most white, middle-class professional will never become homeless...Rowe's pragmatic examination dispels myths about people who are homeless and the experts who help them. Crossing the Border could command a wide audience of professional mental health care workers, sociologists, anthropologists, bureaucrats, advocates, and policy makers.

"Rowe provides a rich picture not only of a particular group of homeless people, but also of the complicated interactions between the marginalized and those who try to help them." -MDSQ Book News

Crossing the Border makes a noteworthy contribution to the field [of qualitative studies of outreach work.] It should be considered an essential read for everyone- from administrators to those on the front line- working with the most marginalized among the homeless.

"Rowe provides a rich picture not only of a particular group of homeless people, but also of the complicated interactions between the marginalized and those who try to help them." -MDSQ Book News

The preceding reviews and comments were presented to the author with permission from: 1. Deirdre Oakley, Psychiatric Services and 2. Cynthia Karlton, Journal of Addiction and Mental Health.