Recognizing and Supporting Resilience
Principal Organization: Faculty of Community Services at Ryerson University
Author: Elizabeth McCay, RN, Ph.D
Investigators: Elizabeth McCay, RN, Ph.D; John Langley, MD, FRCP (c); Heather Beanlands, RN, Ph.D; Linda Cooper, RN, Ph.D; Karen Bach, BA, MPsych; Colin Dart, MPsych; Carol Howes, MSW; Susan Miner, Social Services (Dip); Patricia Robinson, RN, C.B.S. (Dip), M. Ed.
Participants: Youth aged 16-24 in Toronto who had been without a home or without a place of their own for at least one month
Research Methods: Questionnaires, interviews, self-reporting measures, focus groups, participatory action research (PAR)
Achieving things is going to make me a better person. It is going to make me realize that no matter what obstacle this world is going to throw at me I am going to get around it, or crawl under it, I don’t care, I am going to find a way around it, you know. (Youth Participant, p. 3)
The social environments and activities of homeless youth frequently create a downward spiral leading to drug abuse and survival sex, as well as self-harm behaviours and suicidality. In response to this profound level of mental health need amongst street youth, our collaborative community-based research team undertook a comprehensive assessment of mental health challenges in order to ultimately provide direction for intervention.
Download the report Seeing Possibilities
Key Recommendations
- There is an urgent need for increased access to mental health services for street-involved youth
- Mental health services for street-involved youth need to be non-stigmatizing
- Multi-component mental health programmes and interventions are required to enhance youth’s resilience and capacity to cope with challenging circumstances
- Skillful intervention needs to
- emphasize positive self acceptance
- focus on the need to move away from negative coping strategies (such as self harm or addiction) toward more adaptive strategies (such as building positive relationships)
Themes Addressed
- Surviving life on the street
- Living with mental health challenges
- Strength in the midst of challenge: The emergence of resilience
