The Development of a Parent Support Group as a Means of Initiating Family Involvement in a Residential Program

SUMMARY

Working with the families of children in residential care is critical to the success of the placement. For a variety of reasons, parents of adolescents in one residential setting were not receiving adequate services during placement. A parent support and education group was designed and implemented to provide opportunities for parents to access support, learn new parenting skills and, ultimately, optimize their relationships with their children. The responses of both parents and staff to this program were favorable. The group is now a regular component of the organization's range of services, and served as a springboard to enhance family involvement in other program areas.     

One Small Step at a Time: Implementing Continuous Quality Improvement in Child and Youth Mental Health Services

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is increasingly being adopted by health care, including child and youth mental health services. As part of the commitment to ongoing quality improvement, child and youth mental health teams in the Fraser region in British Columbia undertook CQI projects over a one year period (2007–2008). The projects covered a range of domains and service features and staff gained experience in developing projects. Patience, management support and ongoing dialogue were key elements in the implementation of CQI. Three projects are highlighted to illustrate how teams developed their own unique projects and the outcomes.     

When There Is No Blueprint: The Provision of Mental Health Services in Alternative School Programs for Suspended and Expelled Youth

A variety of alternative programs are being implemented in Canada and the United States for students who have exhibited conduct problems and who are suspended or expelled from their schools. Given the complexity of issues that these students frequently face, treatment must be multifaceted, wrap-around, delivered by trained professionals and be targeted to these students' unique biopsychosocial needs. This article reviews the literature on delivery of mental health services within the broader school-based context. Specific mental health issues endemic in the high-risk adolescent demographic are highlighted, and implications for mental health professionals, particularly psychologists, working with such individuals are discussed. Suggestions are made with respect to screening and assessment instruments and treatment.     

The Importance and Benefits of Supervision in Youth Work Practice

This article explores the concept of supervision and its implementation within a youth work context. The article describes and explores a process of staff development facilitated by the author which involved providing supervision training to a group of youth work practitioners at Cork YMCA in Ireland and continuing to meet them on a monthly basis over a period of a year in a mentoring capacity. These sessions provided a supportive space for supervisors and aimed to facilitate a reflective process in relation to their own supervisory practice. This article explores the opportunities and challenges of the supervision process, advocates the importance of supervision in ensuring effective youth work practice, and identifies the beneficial impact of this at a number of levels.     

Not-Knowing Gives Way to Knowing

One of the few truly reassuring features of not-knowing among youth workers is the realization that not-knowing cannot last forever. Eventually, some feature of the situation shifts, and youth workers move back into the capacity for action. This chapter describes the last of five themes associated with youth workers' experiences of not knowing what to do: Not-knowing gives way to knowing. In addition to presenting the dominant theme, this chapter discusses the three variations on it, as described by youth worker participants: (a) The rousing power of someone else, (b) I have to respond, because no one else will, and (c) The power of winging it.     

Whose Stories are These?

Phenomenological research investigates the meaning of lived experiences for participants, as well as the implications of those experiences. This chapter presents brief biographical sketches of 12 youth workers who participated in a phenomenological investigation of the experience of self in moments of not-knowing what to do. Each participant's characteristics, professional location in the broad field of American youth work, and circumstances surrounding the experience of not-knowing are described.     

The Voice of Young People

No abstract available for this article.     

Reducing Black Adolescents' Drug Use:

This article focuses on prevention and reduction of drug use among Black adolescents. The family is considered to be a major source in preparing children to handle adolescent stresses such as drug involvement pressures. Primary prevention of drug use begins in early childhood. The family is an underutilized and minimally acknowledged resource in drug abuse prevention efforts. The discussion centers on a review of research findings intimately related to adolescent drug use and Black family issues. An argument is made for a national family policy in support of all American famiiies. Young famiIies are a prime area for the investment or resources. Now and in the future, the American family represents the best primary prevention program available.