Young People's Views On Developing Resilience In A School Setting

Authors

Trish Gledhill,
Dr Judith Duncan
Student MA in Childhood and Youth Studies,

Speaker

Trish Gledhill

Organisation

University of Otago;
Senior Lecturer, University of Otago, Dunedin

This presentation will describe the interim findings of a small qualitative study undertaken for completion of a Master of Arts Degree in Childhood and Youth Studies, Children's Issues Centre, Otago University.

This study is investigating what a low decile secondary school community is currently doing to promote the resilience of young people. Resilience is a term frequently used in health, social services and education when describing the ability of young people to adapt or to develop well, despite experiencing adversity in life circumstances or events.

Milstein and Henry (2000), describe two main mechanisms by which resilience is fostered in young people. Firstly, by initiating interventions that support young people to manage risk, and secondly, by developing protective factors such as skills and relationships.

Overseas research, and more recently New Zealand studies, identify that schools, as well as families, can have a key protective role in influencing positive outcomes and developing the resilience of young people. Using small focus groups with young people and individual interviews with adults, this study will access the views and experiences of students, teachers, parents and other members of the school community. With particular emphasis on the views of young people, these findings will describe how relationships, structures and programmes in the school serve to support and protect young people and to provide opportunities for the development of skills and attributes contributing towards their resilience.

This presentation will aim to describe research findings that provide further understanding about the development of resilience in young people with implications for continued research and practice.

Presentation

Paper

Biography

Trish Gledhill is a Special Education Advisor with Special Education, Ministry of Education currently on study leave in order to complete her Masters Degree. Trish initially trained as an Occupational Therapist and has considerable experience working with families, children and young people in the Mental Health, Addiction, Family Violence and Education fields. More recently she has been working with children and young people with severe behaviour difficulties in schools.

Trish is Secretary and Trustee of the Kina, Families and Addictions Trust and a member of the Advisory Committee to the Hawke's Bay District Health Board on Mental Health and Addictions. In 2003, as part of the requirement for her Postgraduate Diploma in Child Advocacy (Distinction), Otago University, Trish conducted another small study accessing the views of young people about resilience.
These findings have since been presented in a number of forums and will be included in the presentation above.

Trish authored the book '21 Fun Street Kool Kids - Therapeutic Programmmes for Children Living with Addiction and has conducted several training events on topics such as group work, the impact on children living in families with addiction issues, and the resilience of children and young people.