Get a copy of The Youth Worker's Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis for $5 with every purchase over $100.

If you work with students, you will encounter crisis. Leading crisis-management expert Rich Van Pelt and respected author and youth worker Jim Hancock unfold step-by-step plans for managing the fallout from all sorts of worst-case scenarios. This resource also includes action items geared to help prevent small crises from escalating to huge ones.

Winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Novel A Time Best Mystery and Thriller Book of All Time The “gripping... page-turner” (Time) hitting all the best of summer reading lists, Miracle Creek is perfect for book clubs and fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng How far will you go to protect your family? Will you keep their secrets? Ignore their lies? In a small town in Virginia, a group of people know each other because they’re part of a special treatment center, a hyperbaric chamber that may cure a range of conditions from infertility to autism. But then the chamber explodes, two people die, and it’s clear the explosion wasn’t an accident. A powerful showdown unfolds as the story moves across characters who are all maybe keeping secrets, hiding betrayals. Chapter by chapter, we shift alliances and gather evidence: Was it the careless mother of a patient? Was it the owners, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? Could it have been a protester, trying to prove the treatment isn’t safe? “A stunning debut about parents, children and the unwavering hope of a better life, even when all hope seems lost" (Washington Post), Miracle Creek uncovers the worst prejudice and best intentions, tense rivalries and the challenges of parenting a child with special needs. It’s “a quick-paced murder mystery that plumbs the power and perils of community” (O Magazine) as it carefully pieces together the tense atmosphere of a courtroom drama and the complexities of life as an immigrant family. Drawing on the author’s own experiences as a Korean-American, former trial lawyer, and mother of a “miracle submarine” patient, this is a novel steeped in suspense and igniting discussion. Recommended by Erin Morgenstern, Jean Kwok, Jennifer Weiner, Scott Turow, Laura Lippman, and more--Miracle Creek is a brave, moving debut from an unforgettable new voice.

Professional development of caring, capable adults who interact with and on behalf of youth is a key issue for youth organizations and agencies committed to creating environments that nurture young people’s growth and transition into adulthood. This issue offers a glimpse of some of the innovated, sustained, and coordinated efforts to advance the preparation and support of youth workers based on the principles of positive youth development. Contributors provide examples demonstrating how to support youth work interaction as well as training networks that take common approaches to professional development and outline some of the significant challenges faced in youth worker professional development and their solutions. From defining competencies for entry-level youth workers to case studies that explore the role of colleges and universities in professionalizing the field, this issue serves as a record of the evolution of the youth development field and a call for its continued progress in building a comprehensive system that can meet the needs of both youth workers and the young people they come into contact with each day. This is the 104th volume of the quarterly report series New Directions for Youth Development. Click here to view the entire catalog of New Directions for Youth Development titles.