Mental health needs of children and youth with learning disabilities:Overview of a community needs assessment

The purpose of the present report is to describe a community needs assessment that puts the process and choice of a suitable approach into a context. The study examined the mental health needs of children and youth with learning disabilities and their families and how they fit within the continuum of services in Metropolitan Toronto. A series of recommendations was developed for the Ministry of Community and Social Services. The recommendations emphasize: prevention, training and consultation, and research. The study illustrates the importance of involving relevant constituencies in both the planning of a needs assessment and the formulation and implementation of recommendations based on the investigation.

Bridging the Conceptualization of Youth with Intellectual Disabilities to Sentencing under the YCJA

The current study examined how disability and the concepts of risk, need and responsivity are understood by criminal justice professionals and inform their perceptions of young offenders with ID at sentencing under the ‘different but equal’ philosophy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 lawyers and 8 mental health workers across 6 major urban areas in Ontario. Participants primarily perceived ID through a medical discourse, overlooking social and structural barriers that, in some cases, may hinder adherence to sentencing dispositions. Specifically, participants discussed balancing the reduced culpability of offenders (e.g., intent) – justifying lenient sentencing – with public safety concerns (i.e., ID viewed as a barrier to rehabilitation) – justifying increasing the severity of sentences. Participants assessed clients with ID and their risks, needs and responsivity within the context of other legal factors: criminal history, severity of the offence, and YCJA objectives. Participants articulated the importance of tailored courthouse identification programs, services/funding, and education/training.

School integration and the friendships of youth with developmental disabilities

- The present study was an investigation into the effect ofschool integration on the friendships ofyouth with developmental disabilities and their peers without disabilities. The youths, their parents, and their teachers provided insights into the youths' friendships. A qualitative paradigm was used in this research. The researcher guided the collection and analysis ofthe data with the phenomenologicallifeworld existentials of body, space, time, and human relation (Van Manen, 1990). Individual interviews were conducted with each youth, and group interviews were conducted with each triad (a youth, their parent(s), and their teacher) to discuss the youth's friendships and the supports necessary to facilitate the friendships. Through phenomenological analysis of the data, four thematic statements emerged: friendships are far from perfect, to have a friend you have to be a friend, parents as choreographers offriendship, and teachers as reluctant partners in friendship facilitation. Based on the results ofthis study, it was concluded that the development of friendships between youth with developmental disabilities and their peers without disabilities was happening in integrated school settings. However, it was also evident that the support ofteachers and parents alike were required to facilitate the development and maintenance ofsuch friendships. Recommendations for practice are discussed, including the need for active participation by the youth's parents in the facilitation offriendships, and the use ofa "circle offriends" to facilitate friendship development. Also discussed are the recommendations for further research, including the need for the youth's friends to be interviewed regarding their friendships with the youth with disabilities, and the need for researcher observation ofth~ friendships in action. Further research could also explore the role ofthe mother versus the father in facilitating friendships, and the role of recreation and leisure opportunities in the ,development offriendships.

Youth with intellectual disabilities and the right to make choices : investigating the family context to inform a training program

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more likely to be victims of abuse and human rights violations than people without ID. The 3Rs: Rights, Respect, and Responsibility project has developed and is testing a human rights training program for adults with ID. The current project was conducted to make recommendations to adapt the 3Rs rights training program to be used with youth with ID and their families. An interpretive phenomenological framework was employed to investigate youth with ID, parents', and siblings' perceptions of the i r experiences with choice making, an enactment of rights, in the family context. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed that, consistent with previous research, family members consider family values, conventions, and family members' well being when making decisions. A training program should promote a consideration of expanded opportunities for youth with ID to make choices and should be flexible to address individual families' cultures, needs, and desires.

Rough justice : young people in the shadows

Even in an age of economic prosperity, there are young people who live on the edge of western societies and who are held accountable for their every indiscretion, sometimes even for those of others. This book employs a sociological imagination to make connections between the public issues and private troubles of youth living on the street.

Learning from the margins : young women, social exclusion and education

This collection of ground-breaking international essays address the educational, social, work and biographical experiences of young women who are routinely constructed as ‘at risk’ and on the margins. Drawing on research from an international range of scholars, this book brings together important new perspectives on the gendered dimensions of social exclusion and educational marginalisation.

Working in Jamie's kitchen : salvation, passion and young workers

"In the UK in 2002, the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver set out to transform a group of unemployed young Londoners into enterprising, passionate workers. Their struggles, and those that train and manage them, to develop a passionate orientation to work, highlight many of the challenges we all face in the globalized labour markets of the 21st century"--Provided by publisher.

Final rule, opportunities for youth : Youthbuild Program.

Mode of access: Internet.

Longing to belong : social inclusion and wellbeing among youth with refugee backgrounds in the first three years in Melbourne, Australia

For young people with refugee backgrounds, establishing a sense of belonging to their family and community, and to their country of resettlement is essential for wellbeing. This paper describes the psychosocial factors associated with subjective health and wellbeing outcomes among a cohort of 97 refugee youth (aged 11-19) during their first three years in Melbourne, Australia. The findings reported here are drawn from the Good Starts Study, a longitudinal investigation of settlement and wellbeing among refugee youth conducted between 2004 and 2008. The overall aim of Good Starts was to identify the psychosocial factors that assist youth with refugee backgrounds in making a good start in their new country. A particular focus was on key transitions: from pre-arrival to Australia, from the language school to mainstream school, and from mainstream school to higher education or to the workforce. Good Starts used a mix of both method and theory from anthropology and social epidemiology. Using standardized measures of wellbeing and generalised estimating equations to model the predictors of wellbeing over time, this paper reports that key factors strongly associated with wellbeing outcomes are those that can be described as indicators of belonging e the most important being subjective social status in the broader Australian community, perceived discrimination and bullying. We argue that settlement specific policies and programs can ultimately be effective if embedded within a broader socially inclusive society - one that offers real opportunities for youth with refugee backgrounds to flourish.

Negotiating family, navigating resettlement : family connectedness amongst resettled youth with refugee backgrounds living in Melbourne, Australia

Refugee adolescents resettling in a new country face many challenges, and being part of a supportive family is a critical factor in assisting them to achieve wellbeing and create positive futures. This longitudinal study documents experiences of family life in the resettlement context of 120 young people with refugee backgrounds living in Melbourne, Australia. Family instability was a core feature of the early settlement period. In this paper, we focus specifically on changing household composition, and levels of trust, attachment, discipline and conflict in family settings during young people’s first years of resettlement. Our results suggest that while families are central to the wellbeing of these young people, changing family dynamics can also pose a threat to wellbeing and successful settlement. We argue that youth focused settlement services must explicitly engage with family contexts in assisting refugee youth to achieve wellbeing and successfully resettle.

Good Starts for recently arrived youth with refugee backgrounds : promoting wellbeing in the first three years of settlement in Melbourne, Australia

This report describes the key findings of a longitudinal study (2004—2008) investigating the experiences of settlement among a group of 120 recently arrived young people with refugee backgrounds settling in Melbourne, Australia. Each year, less than one per cent of the world’s refugees are offered resettlement in one of 18 countries participating in The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resettlement programme. Australia offers places to around 13,500 people per year, of whom about 26 per cent are between the ages of 10 and 19. What are the experiences of these young people in their early settlement years? How do they negotiate the transition from childhood to adulthood given the traumas of their past and the challenges of their present and future in Australia? What are the key social determinants of wellbeing and good settlement and what can we learn from these young people about what social policies and services will most effectively support them to make successful lives in their new home? This study explores these questions, the overall aim being to identify the key social determinants of wellbeing and settlement and to describe the lived experiences of these young people as they shape their lives in Australia.