Transcript Consistent Service Quality Why what you do makes a difference

An Enduring Presence
moving beyond short, single interventions with vulnerable
young people
The Pathways to Resilience Study
Robyn Munford
Jackie Sanders
With grateful thanks to:
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment
who have funded the research and to Linda Liebenberg and
Mike Ungar in Canada who conceptualised the original
Pathways study and have supported the development of the
research.
www.youthsay.co.nz
Two Studies
Pathways to Resilience.
National sample
Mixed methods
Multi stage
The role of services and resilience in
outcomes for youth at high risk
Youth Transitions.
Factors associated with positive transitions
to young adulthood for high risk youth
Who are the young people?
1494 youth in total (610 vulnerable youth, 886 comparison group)
61% male, 39% female)
Ethnicity:
45% Maori, 18% Pacific, 34% Pakeha/other euro, 4% other
Age range
12-17 years. Mean age 15.7 years
Service involvement:
339 child welfare,
642 youth justice,
642 alternative education,
351 mental health
An enduring presence
We’re just the lost generation that had shit parents and
are angry at everybody in the world.
You just have to be there for the person, like the extra
mile like how [my social worker] said ‘if you don’t txt
me I’ll find you’ and she did find me, took me to [a
café]… And she just talked to me and said ‘it’s got to
stop’ [drug use] but she talked to me on my level when
she was talking to me, she wasn’t talking to me as this
person that had to do their job, I was real to her, it
helped.
Episodic Interventions for chronic
problems
It’s pretty much a waste of time for me doing
that [telling people what is going on] coz when it
comes to services and that, they just wanna
know a little bit then they take you away put you
away and then that’s it. File closed. Or we’ll send
you back to your family, send you back to drugs
and drunks. And then close the file that’s it.
What could we do differently?
She never judged me, I was scared, I didn’t know why I got angry. She just kept
seeing me and talking to me about it and I got to understand what was going
on. She talked to me heaps, she listened to me heaps, [we worked out ]what I
could do like remove myself from situations, stuff like that.
First I went to the GP and then to CAFS then the social worker got me to go to
counselling and she took me there. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. She was
always there when I needed someone to talk to and she helped me understand
what was going on for me.
I saw them every week and they sometimes would come to my meetings with
me (with other workers), they would stand up for me and have a talk and yeah
that helped me.
1. Ecological approaches
2. Engaged, responsive, respectful and reliable
3. Youth focused inter-professional practice
So, in conclusion......
Why What You Do Makes A Difference
•
Consistent service quality was associated better resilience, improved outcomes
and lower risk.
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Highest risk youth were most likely to experience services negatively.
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For two measures, consistent quality was associated with outcomes that were
similar to those of Comparison Group youth.
•
How services are delivered makes a difference - respectful, tuned into youth
circumstances, empowering, opportunities to exercise agency.
•
What each provider does makes a difference – one quality service was better
than no quality services for some but not all outcomes, therefore..
•
Services cannot compensate for each other, what each practitioner does makes
a difference.
•
The challenge for services is to work together using youth development
principles – these are associated with better outcomes.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the young people who have participated in this study and taken the time to share their experiences with us. They have been generous in their time and in the effort
they have put into answering a complex questionnaire. Many of the youth who participated in this research also nominated an adult who knew a lot about them (PMK) who we could interview.
We would like to thank all the PMK who generously gave their time to this study.
The following individuals and organisations have provided intensive support to us at various points in the study. Professor Michael Ungar and Dr Linda Liebenberg at the Resilience Research
Centre based at Dalhousie University in Halifax Canada provided the methodologies and research materials and supported us in applying their ground-breaking Canadian study in New Zealand.
They have provided enormous amounts of ongoing support to the project. Kāpiti Youth Support (KYS) and particularly Raechel the Manager and Briar the social worker, Presbyterian Support
Upper South Island, and in particular Sue Quinn, the Highbury Whānau Centre and particularly Michelle Swain and Anjali Butler, Pete Butler and his team at START, Youth Transitions in
Palmerston North. Special thanks to Barbara, Vicki and the team at Otago Youth Wellness Trust who provided assistance and support to the Dunedin research team for the duration of the
study. The Ministry of Social Development, and particularly Child Youth and Family Services, The Families Commission, as well as the Department of Corrections also provided ongoing support at
various stages in the research which would like to acknowledge. We also acknowledge the contribution of the Victoria University Research Trust and its staff; The Donald Beasley Institute;
Youthline Auckland and Otago University. Finally, we would like to thank and acknowledge the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment for funding this research
In addition to this many organisations across the country supported the research at various stages in its development and we would like to thank them for everything they have done to
contribute to the research:
Adventure Development Ltd
Mt Cargill Trust
London House Learning Centre
Te Hou Ora Whanau Services
Mirror Services Whakāta Tohu Tohu
Kokiri Training Centre
Corstorphine Baptist Community Trust
Presbyterian Support Otago Family Works
YouthGrow and Buddy Programme
Presybterian Support Upper South Island,
Christchurch
Cafe for Youth Health Taupo
AIMHI Alternative Education Consortium
Auckland Central Alternative Education
Consortium
Best Training
Bluelight
Dingwall Trust
Genesis Project
Martin Hautus Institute
Aotea College
QEC College PN
St Patricks Town School
2 Much YDP
South Pacific Academy
YMCA
Challenge 2000
City Mission
EVOLVE
Mission for Youth
BGI
Porirua Alt School
VIBE
Wellington Activity Centre
Porirua Activity Centre
Strengthening Families
BGI
YMCA Palmerston North
YOSS Palmerston North
198 Youth Health
The Collaborative
Glenfield AOG youth
Strive Trust
Awatapu College
St Peters College PN
Wellington Girls College
Kings College