Paradigms and prisons: a narrative of translation and transformation : my hero's journey from "at-risk" youth to teacher/learner in a jail setting /

All life is suffering. Life is the pursuit ofhappiness. These are two foundational Buddhist dictums that, in their simplicity, I have entirely misunderstood regarding their depth, misreading them as contradictory. Indeed, my superficial interpretations led me to Thoreau's life ofquiet desperation and deep depression. We come to know and bring understanding to our lives by storying them. My own Hero's Journey, the path from my egoic selftoward the universal Self, can be understood as the resultant translations and transformations. Inevitably each of us is involved in such a story, though most are unaware of the stages along our own Hero's journey. ' Narrative honours writing as a means of knowing. The contemplative reflection allows insight into our imprisoning paradigms, beliefs, behaviours, and blind spots. My research revisits and explores nodal experiences along my Hero's Journey through 4 categories: self, society, soil, and Self. While the value of this process of narrative inquiry lay in its ability to come to know and understand one's self, perhaps its greater value is of a more universal nature. My inquiry, while adding to the body of academic educational narrative literature, may also illuminate a path to educators, students, and all interested, encouraging a response to the call of their own Hero's journey. I am a teacher/learner in a jail setting, working with youth between the ages of 12 and 18 who have committed crimes such as armed robbery, assault, rape, and murder. As this thesis follows my continual development from egoic self/teacher/learner to universal Self/Teacher/Learner, it also enables me to both consciously and unconsciously open the ways in which I expand my care, compassion, and love to work with at-risk youth.

Individual differences in risk-taking and associated characteristics : a test of specificity in executive functions /

Multiple measures have been devised by clinicians and theorists from many different backgrounds for the purpose of assessing the influence of the frontal lobes on behaviour. Some utilize self-report measures to investigate behavioural characteristics such as risktaking, sensation seeking, impulsivity, and sensitivity to reward and punishment in an attempt to understand complex human decision making. Others rely more on neuroimaging and electrophysiological investigation involving experimental tasks thought to demonstrate executive functions in action, while other researchers prefer to study clinical populations with selective damage. Neuropsychological models of frontal lobe functioning have led to a greater appreciation of the dissociations among various aspects of prefrontal cortex function. This thesis involves (1) an examination of various psychometric and experimental indices of executive functions for coherence as one would predict on the basis of highly developed neurophysiological models of prefrontal function, particularly those aspects of executive function that involve predominantly cognitive abilities versus processes characterized by affect regulation; and (2) investigation of the relations between risk-taking, attentional abilties and their associated characteristics using a neurophysiological model of prefrontal functions addressed in (1). Late adolescence is a stage in which the prefrontal cortices undergo intensive structural and functional maturational changes; this period also involves increases in levels of risky and sensation driven behaviours, as well as a hypersensitivity to reward and a reduction in inhibition. Consequently, late adolescence spears to represent an ideal developmental period in which to examine these decision-making behaviours due to the maximum variability of behavioural characteristics of interest. Participants were 45 male undergraduate 18- to 19-year olds, who completed a battery of measures that included self-report, experimental and behavioural measures designed to assess particular aspects of prefrontal and executive functioning. As predicted, factor analysis supported the grouping of executive process by type (either primarily cognitive or affective), conforming to the orbitofrontal versus dorsolateral typology; risk-taking and associated characteristics were associated more with the orbitofrontal than the dorsolateral factor, whereas attentional and planning abilities tended to correlate more strongly with the dorsolateral factor. Results are discussed in light of future assessment, investigation and understanding of complex human decision-making and executive functions. Implications, applications and suggestions for future research are also proposed.

Being Relational With Underserved Youth: A Reflective Process

When working with under-served youth, possibly the most important, yet often times the most difficult, thing for practitioners to do is to build positive, trusting, open relationships. This study aims to address this challenge. Two groups of under-served youth were examined, one being teens deemed “at-risk” and one being youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study was novel in its approach as all efforts were made to ensure the youth's opinions on how to be relational with them were heard. Two youths with ASD were nonverbal and a special picture interview procedure was developed to allow their participation. Three thematic statements emerged from the data collected: 1. Youth need low anxiety relationships. 2. Youth need novel forms of engagement. 3. Youth need us to understand that their actions reflect their histories. The analyses that lead to these statements are described as well as the reasoning and implications of these statements.