Exclusionary Practices and the Delegitimization of Client Voice

Abstract

This article provides a case study of a drop-in center serving homeless youth, focusing on staff-client conflict. It is the result of approximately 200 hours of ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with staff members. This article explores how and why staff actively utilize the exclusionary practices of withdrawal, nonengagement, and silencing. Second, it examines how these practices, which are meant to be therapeutic and prevent conflict, paradoxically create, sustain, and escalate much of the staff-client conflict within the center, forcing staff to rely heavily on expulsion to maintain control of clients. A closing example is offered as evidence.