Co-Designing a Mindfulness Based Intervention with Street Outreach Workers and Youth: The Power of Participatory Action Research to Drive Solutions

Introduction: COVID-19 amplified what was already an unfolding mental health crisis among youth. Youth living in marginalized neighborhoods in particular experience a burden of high stress, including exposure to firearm violence, a result of decades of targeted structural violence. Mindfulness provides a potentially effective intervention strategy for stress by providing individuals with important tools to manage thoughts and emotions. Concurrently, participatory research approaches underscore that the community itself holds wisdom for how to thrive. Any approaches to creating support for youth stress are most effective stemming from community driven solutions. The present study details the participatory and iterative process of co-creating the core components of a mindfulness-based intervention for youth impacted by community violence.

Methods: Using a community-based participatory research approach, the conception and execution of this study was conducted with COMPASS Youth Collaborative, a community-based organization in Hartford, CT. COMPASS supports youth impacted by gun violence using a street outreach model. To co-create the core ideas of the mindfulness intervention, researchers collaborated with a youth participatory action research board, and conducted exploratory focus groups with youth and street outreach workers. The process of co-creation of core ideas for the mindfulness intervention highlighted a need for support not only for the youth, but also for the street outreach workers supporting youth. As a result, a two hour mindfulness and yoga pilot workshop was created for both youth and workers. Focus groups were conducted with adolescents (N=14) and street outreach workers (N=12) to explore reactions to the mindfulness pilot. The majority of adolescents (78%) and street outreach workers (86%) identified as Black. Focus groups were facilitated by study staff alongside COMPASS staff. Focus groups were transcribed, analyzed and coded by the study team.

Results: Focus group data with the street outreach workers centered around three themes. First, workers highlighted the importance of including time within their day to support their wellbeing. Second, workers underscored that mindfulness and yoga was useful in managing stress, underscoring the usefulness of cultivating care for their experience. Third, workers highlighted creative approaches for applying mindfulness to their work supporting youth. Focus group data with youth revealed a resonance with mindfulness and yoga approaches that do not seek to change their behavior, but offer tools for acceptance of their experience.

Conclusions: This study underscores that the process of co-creating the intervention pilot was as important as the outcome. Stemming from the strong relationships between the university researchers and the community partners, a key finding was the importance of co-creating a mindfulness intervention not only for youth, but also for the street outreach workers This finding is aligned with points from participatory research scholars noting that adults who support youth require healing and support (Ginwright, 2019). It is notable that both youth and workers viewed mindfulness as a tool that supported their capacity to accept their experience. Youth and workers’ insights underscore that mindfulness is not a tool that attempts to fix or change an individual, but empowers individuals to access their own wisdom.