Using an Emancipatory Paradigm to Adapt a Healing Informed Stress Reduction Intervention for Court-Involved Black Girls and Their Parents/Caregivers

Background: Black girls are among the fastest-growing populations in the youth justice system and are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be incarcerated, despite being disproportionately charged with low-level, non-violent offenses. These disparities are rooted not in individual behaviors but in the intersecting forces of racism, gender bias, and criminalization of Black girlhood. Many court-involved Black girls carry significant trauma histories stemming from systemic neglect, violence, and family separation—yet their mental health needs remain chronically overlooked. Clinical trials and mental health interventions rarely center their voices, experiences, or cultural contexts, resulting in a gap in both research and practice. This study highlights the methodological process of adapting a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention through Healing-Centered Engagement (HCE) and participatory feedback from court-involved Black girls and their parents/caregivers (P/Cs) to co-develop an intervention that not only reduces stress and PTSD symptoms but also promotes collective healing.

Methods: Guided by an emancipatory paradigm, this qualitative study draws on data from Phase I of a two-phase, multimodal mixed methods design. Individual semi-structured interviews with girls and their parents/caregivers (n = 25 dyads) elicited perspectives on their prior mental health treatment experiences and their views of our HCE-adapted MBSR intervention. Our goal was to further tailor the intervention based on their feedback, using thematic analysis to identify key insights for refining the intervention.

Results: Preliminary results suggest participants identified both barriers and facilitators to prior mental health treatment, including experiences of cultural disconnection, mistrust in providers, and limited attention to trauma, racial identity, and structural context. Participants also emphasized the importance of authentic relationships, emotional safety, and culturally responsive care as central components of effective healing. Feedback on the intervention highlighted the value of incorporating racial and gender affirming practices, opportunities for collective reflection, and non-stigmatizing language. Girls and their P/Cs suggest modifications to content, delivery methods, and facilitator characteristics to better reflect their lived experiences and needs. Some of our findings revealed cultural congruence and representation, trauma responsiveness, family-centered approaches, and opportunities for empowerment and agency within the intervention as key factors to incorporate into the tailored intervention.

Conclusion and Implications: This study illustrates the critical importance of centering the voices of court-involved Black girls and their caregivers in the design and adaptation of mental health interventions. By using an emancipatory and intersectional approach, we move beyond individual-level treatment to address the structural and relational contexts that shape mental health experiences. Findings from this study offer a roadmap for tailoring mindfulness-based interventions in ways that are culturally resonant, trauma-responsive, and grounded in community-defined healing. In doing so, this work contributes to transformative change by aligning social work science with the lived realities of marginalized youth, and by informing practice and policy solutions that resist carceral logics and prioritize well-being over punishment. This research affirms that sustainable mental health care for Black girls requires not only clinical innovation but also ethical, participatory approaches that challenge systemic inequities and center racial and gender justice in intervention science.