Synopsis
'Fascinating . . . While the rest of us are worrying about it, Dorcas Gwata is doing something about it' - Wendy Joseph, author of Unlawful Killings
Through the lives of ten young people an award-winning nurse reveals the impact of gang culture on mental health.
Dorcas Gwata is an award-winning nurse specialising in mental health. She has worked closely with vulnerable young people exposed to the knife crime, sexual exploitation, drug use and poor mental health associated with gangs. In The Street Clinic, we accompany her in her work as she meets and cares for young people on the street and on their terms.
We meet Fuz, who is on trial for aggravated assault. There's Abdul, who’s exploring his sexuality and has been humiliated online. Louise's promising future is compromised by her controlling boyfriend. And there’s Zane, whose parents’ divorce opens up an emotional hole in his life that’s plugged by an ill-chosen new friendship.
Drawing on her own experiences of loss and social injustice, and twenty-five years on the NHS frontline, Dorcas offers a bird’s-eye view of London: its multicultural population, wealth inequalities, tireless healthcare professionals, and an NHS that doesn’t always work for everyone. And she asks the big questions: What lies behind London’s youth violence crisis? What is its impact on the mental health of its victims? How are the families of our young people and the wider community affected?
Exposing some uncomfortable truths about British society, The Street Clinic is also a powerful story of resilience, strength and, ultimately, hope.
With photographs by Chanel Pinnock
Details
12 February 2026
9781035006915Reviews
Beautifully written, Nurse Dorcas does not let us pretend these youths are invisible. Anyone who cares about humankind will be enlightened, or perhaps shocked, but touched by these stories of struggling youth and their families, being helped through bold and caring interventions of the street clinic.
A fascinating perspective on why young people join gangs and carry knives. While the rest of us are worrying about it, Dorcas Gwata is doing something.
This is the book we didn't know we were missing and, now that it exists, it feels impossible to imagine understanding contemporary Britain, or the NHS, without it. Dorcas Gwata has given us an essential text, in every sense of that word. NHS leaders must read it. Learn from it. Let it change what you think is possible.
Gwata's case study-led account of treating young people on the fringes of gang crime twists and turns as it tells their stories . . . handled with curiosity and dedication.
