Outreach Work in ‘Hard-to-Reach’ Communities: A Critical Analysis of Task Shifting, Contact Making, Establishing Credibility and on-the-Spot, Solution-Focused Assistance

Outreach—the opening up of access to social services, information and opportunities—is arguably a crucial yet understudied aspect of social work practice. This study revisits ‘outreach’ as concept, using data from ‘hard to reach’ communities, specifically refugees. Our findings illuminate ‘task-shifting’, whereby professional service providers sought the help of grassroots community leaders in reaching refugees. Findings also point to issues of bidirectionality, credibility and on-the-spot assistance as aspects of outreach work. Theoretically, we apply a structural lens to problematise ‘access’ as an individual level concept, and instead turn attention to the ‘inaccessibility’ of services instead. We problematise the ‘hard-to-reachness’ of communities, and call instead for examining our services and institutions for their limited reach.