An Enduring Presence? Moving beyond single interventions with vulnerable youth
With grateful thanks to:
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
who have funded the research and to Linda Liebenberg and Mike Ungar in Canada who conceptualised the original Pathways study and have supported the development of the research.
The Pathways to Resilience and Youth Transitions Studies
Robyn Munford Jackie Sanders
www.youthsay.co.nz
© RRC
Le ve l o f Fu n ct o n in g
Time
Expected/
Actual
Patterns of positve development
© RRC
Le ve l o f Fu n ct o n in g
Time
Chronic Stressors Expected Acute Stressor/trauma
Actual
“Hidden Resilience”
Patterns of Positve Development Under Adversity
© RRC
© RRC
WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
In the presence of significant adversity
resilience is the capacity of
individuals to navigate their way to the psychological, social, cultural and physical
resources that sustain their well-being and their capacity to individually and collectvely
negotiate for these resources to be provided in
culturally meaningful ways
© RRC2537
1350
1057
120
0 1477
Two Studies
Natonal samples Mixed methods Mult stage
Pathways to Resilience.
The role of services and resilience in outcomes for youth at high risk.
Two groups – service using and comparison
Youth Transitions.
Factors associated with positve
transitons to young adulthood
for high risk youth. Tracking
development for service using
youth
2008 2014
Who are the young people?
1477 young people Range : 12-17 years Mean age 15.7 years
Male Female
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Gender (n= 1477)
child welfare youth justce additonal educaton mental health 0
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Chart Title
Maori
Pakeha Pacific Is- land
Other eth- nicity
Comparing Risk and Resilience
vulnerable group comparison group
RESILIENCE
t(1193.81)= -8.09, p< .001
RISK
t(1123.6) =26.31, p<.001) HIGH
LOW
Compressed childhoods:
• Frequent moves
• Social & emotional disruption
• Unpredictable or little effective family support
• Abuse & neglect Accelerated autonomy:
• Adult decisions
• Financial responsibility
• Caring for others early
Accelerated and Compressed
Development
The Role of Services in Moderatng Risk, Building Resilience and Enhancing Outcomes
Contextual Risk Individual Risk Service Quality Service volume
Outcomes Resilience
Positve effect Negatve effect
The Role of Consistent Service Quality
Positve parent
relatonship Positve school
relatonships Community risks Individual risks
Two positve service experiences
Resilience
Outcomes
Positve effect Negatve effect
Positve peers
4 Key Messages
• Relatonships
• Persistence
• Time
• Adaptable/agile responses
An Enduring Presence
We’re just the lost generation that had shit parents, and are angry at everybody in the world.
You just have to be there for the person. Like the extra
mile, like how [my social worker] said: ‘if you don’t txt me, I’ll find you’. And she did find me. Took me to [a café]…
And she just talked to me and said: ‘It’s got to stop’ [drug use]. But she talked to me on my level when she was
talking to me. She wasn’t talking to me as this person
that had to do their job. I was real to her, it helped.
Observed Neglect
It’s pretty much a waste of time for me doing
that [telling people what is going on] coz when it comes to services and that, they dont want to
know your back life, they just wanna know a
little bit then they take you away put you away
and then that’s it. File closed. Or we’ll send you
back to your family, send you back to drugs and
drunks. And then close the file that’s it.
What could we do differently?
She never judged me. I was scared. I didn’t know why I got angry. She just kept seeing me and talking to me about it and I got to understand what was going on.
She talked to me heaps, she listened to me heaps, [we
worked out ]what I could do, like remove myself from
situations, stuff like that.
The Enduring Presence
First I went to the GP, and then to CAFS. Then the social
worker got me to go to counselling. And she took me there. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. She was always there when I needed someone to talk to, and she helped me understand what was going on for me.
I saw them every week and they sometimes would come to my meetings with me (with other workers). They would
stand up for me, and have a talk, and yeah that helped me.
1. Ecological approaches
2. Engaged, responsive, respectful and reliable 3. Youth focused, consistent approach
4. Collaboratve
Good Practce
Acknowledgements
YMCA Palmerston North YOSS Palmerston North Adventure Development Ltd Mt Cargill Trust
London House Learning Centre Te Hou Ora Whanau Services Mirror Services Whakāta Tohu Tohu Kokiri Training Centre
Corstorphine Baptist Community Trust Presbyterian Support Otago Family Works YouthGrow and Buddy Programme
Presybterian Support Upper South Island, Christchurch
Cafe for Youth Health Taupo Best Training
Glenfield AOG youth
2 Much YDP
South Pacific Academy YMCAChallenge 2000 City Mission EVOLVE
Mission for Youth BGIPorirua Alt School VIBEWellington Activity Centre Porirua Activity Centre Strengthening Families BGI198 Youth Health The Collaborative District Health Boardsis
Bluelight Dingwall Trust Genesis Project Martin Hautus Institute AIMHI Alternative Education Consortium
Auckland Central Alternative Education Consortium Aotea College QEC College PN St Patricks Town School Awatapu College St Peters College PN Strive Trust Kings College
Wellington Girls College The Ministry of Education
We would like to thank all the young people who have partcipated in this study and taken the tme to share their experiences with us. They have been generous in their tme and in the effort they have put into answering a complex questonnaire. Many of the youth who partcipated in this research also nominated an adult who knew a lot about them (PMK) who we could interview.
We would like to thank all the PMK who generously gave their tme to this study.
The following individuals and organisatons have provided intensive support to us at various points in the study. Professor Michael Ungar and Dr Linda Liebenberg at the Resilience Research Centre based at Dalhousie University in Halifax Canada provided the methodologies and research materials and supported us in applying their ground-breaking Canadian study in New Zealand. They have provided enormous amounts of ongoing support to the project. Kāpit Youth Support (KYS) and partcularly Raechel the Manager and Briar the social worker, Presbyterian Support Upper South Island, and in partcular Sue Quinn, the Highbury Whānau Centre and partcularly Michelle Swain and Anjali Butler, Pete Butler and his team at START, Youth Transitons in Palmerston North. Special thanks to Barbara, Vicki and the team at Otago Youth Wellness Trust who provided assistance and support to the Dunedin research team for the duraton of the study. The Ministry of Social Development, and partcularly Child Youth and Family, The Families Commission, as well as the Department of Correctons also provided ongoing support at various stages in the
research which would like to acknowledge. We also acknowledge the contributon of the Victoria University Research Trust and its staff; The Donald Beasley Insttute; Youthline Auckland and Otago University. Finally, we would like to thank and acknowledge the Ministry of Business Innovaton and Employment for funding this research. In additon to this many organisatons across the country supported the research at various stages in its development and we would like to thank them for everything they have done to contribute to the research:
