Friday, 14 January 2005 - 4:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Qualitative Research on Client Experiences of Treatment

Inner City Youth as Creators of Their Own Mental Health Program

Purpose: This qualitative study examined the experiences of inner city youth who participated in a group therapy program created by and for young people at a culturally diverse urban public high school. Research suggests that mental health programs are typically inadequate to respond to the stressors that inner city youth experience (Weist & Christodulu, 2000) and that therapy for this population is highly stigmatized, in large part, by their own communities (Larson, 2000). From the clients’ perspectives, this research aims to broaden the understanding of processes that make mental health services more accessible to and beneficial for inner city youth.

Methods: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 current and 10 former program participants over a nine-month period. The participants ranged in age from 14 to 23 years old and included recent immigrants from Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad, Panama, and Guyana as well as African-American, Puerto Rican and Dominican students. The average length of participation in this voluntary program at the time of interview was 18 months with a range from 2 months to 4 years. These single-session interviews lasted between 45 and 60 minutes and were recorded. The participants discussed why they joined the program, why they stayed, how they experienced the process, and if and how it helped them in their lives. Interview transcripts were analyzed using open and axial coding and conceptual mapping techniques.

Results: The young people described a range of benefits they derived from program participation. As a fairly disparate grouping of individuals they succeeded at collectively creating an environment to provide and receive emotional and social support. They reported gaining a sense of ownership of the therapy; a sense of possibility in place of hopelessness and despair; and recognition of themselves as choice makers and performers of their lives. Many of the young people described a process whereby their negative identities were challenged through making a contribution to the collective building process. They discussed how the social worker taught them to use the idea of performance in everyday life. They also spoke about how they dealt with breaches of confidentiality.

Implications: This study provides insights for social workers who are interested in working in partnership with young clients to develop strengths-based interventions around their mental health needs. It provides a detailed accounting of a group of inner city youth’s initial fears of participating in mental health services and the process by which they became actively engaged. It highlights how being related to as active builders of their environment helps young people to develop and deal effectively with the struggles in their lives. The interview process was coherent with the principles of the therapy by inviting the interviewees to co-create a flexible conversation. As such, the experience of being “studied” was minimized.

References:

Larson, R.W. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55, 170-183.

Weist, M.D. & Christodulu, K.V. (2000). Better mental health care helps heal kids, The Education Digest, 66, 50-56.

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