”UTAN RELATION KOMMER INGENTING ATT FUNGERA” Att skapa trygghet i praktiken – relationella och emotionella processer i fritidsgårdens vardag.

Abstract

This study investigates how relational and emotional practices shape experiences and understandings of emotional safety in everyday life at a youth centre, and how these practices relate to wider societal dynamics. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this study combines participant observation with semi-structured interviews conducted with youths and staff. The findings show that safety does not emerge as a given condition, but as something continuously produced in social interactions. Central to this process are relationships built over time through presence, continuity and everyday practices. These relationships enable staff to recognize subtle changes in youths’ behaviour and respond accordingly. Emotional labour emerges as a key aspect of this work, as staff both regulate their own emotions and actively shape situations to appear calm and manageable. Even though staff rarely describe their work in terms of crime prevention, youth centres are often discussed in public debate and policy, as having a preventive social function. The findings of this study suggest that such preventive aspects are not primarily expressed through formal interventions, but rather through the creation of alternative social context, stable relationships and consistent adult presence. Moreover, the findings show that youth workers’ roles are characterized by a continuous balancing between being supportive relational figures and representatives of institutional structure and authority. In conclusion, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how relational and emotional practices shape experiences of safety in the everyday life of youth centres.