As part of the broader social ecology supporting youth outcomes, the objective of this article was to analyse the meaning of work attributed to professionals working in the Brazilian context, and their role as family supports. Additionally, we sought to verify how different perceptions amongst users may affect the relationships with families that make use of these services. The theoretical framework of this article was based on historical-dialectical materialism. While this article presents only the data from the qualitative study, we opted for a complementary research design joining a quantitative survey (Study 1) with a qualitative interview (Study 2). Fieldwork was conducted in seven cities located in São Paulo, Brazil. In Study 1, 100 professionals (15 men; 85 women) participated. Four of these original participants--selected using cluster analysis--were then recruited to study 2. These participants included individuals who demonstrated greater policy knowledge and had a more positive outlook on their work, as well as professionals with less policy knowledge and a less positive belief in the effectiveness of their work. Semi structured interviews were used in Study 2 and this data was analysed using thematic analysis. Aspects that differentiated the two groups of participants were identified and elements essential to understanding the reality of service professionals were highlighted, especially in relation to the perceptions they hold of their work and how this affected the relationships they established with service users.