Categories: General
      Date: Jan 14, 2010
     Title: At-Risk Youth Part III

By Sonya M. Thompkins and Robert C. Schwartz, PhD

Recent evidence suggests that personal resilience can have positive therapeutic implications for guiding youth at risk toward improved coping skills and enhanced functional outcomes. Various clinical issues presented by child and adolescent clients are particularly challenging for psychotherapists. It is not uncommon for psychotherapists to feel helplessness, frustration and confusion regarding the issues that children and adolescents manifest in therapy.



As described, a plethora of risky behaviors exists among youth. The aforementioned statistics and descriptions of youth at risk demonstrate that many younger psychotherapy clients will be identified as at-risk. Therefore, the need for psychotherapeutic intervention strategies for this populace is  vital. If psychotherapists acquire the knowledge about such issues and reduce the psychosocial risks, their chances of helping juvenile clients would be greatly improved. It is important to ask, “How do individuals in this vulnerable population recover or bounce back from such precarious situations?” and, “Is it possible that specific factors or constructs provide the necessary strength and power to tenaciously assist youth with strong coping skills amid stressful and disruptive psychosocial problems?” Perhaps personal resilience is one such construct that can help serve as a valuable resource for youth at risk.
Resilience and Youth at Risk
Resilience is a complex phenomenon that refers to the process of constructive human growth and development emerging from successful adaptability and healthy coping skills. It is one’s ability to overcome stressors, misfortune, or unforeseen circumstances. It is the internal process of coping with stressors, adversity, or change in a manner that results in the fortification and enrichment of protective factors (Richardson, 2002). According to Ahern, Kiehl, Sole, and Byers (2006), researchers argue that the construct of resilience is defined by a set of traits (Jacelon, 1997), a result (Olsson, Bond, Burns, Vella-Brodrick, & Sawyer, 2003; Vinson, 2002), or a developmental process (Olsson et al., 2003).
Richardson (2002) describes resiliency as a multidimensional concept and identifies three waves of resiliency literature based on a resiliency model (Richardson, Neiger, Jensen, & Kumpfer, 1990). The first wave asks the question, “What personal traits distinguish individuals who will successfully thrive in the face of adversity as opposed to those who submit to destructive behaviors?” The first wave of literature on resiliency essentially placed the focus on the core intrapersonal and external qualities that allow an individual to recover from major setbacks or adversities. The second wave was the search to identify the process of attaining the known resilient qualities and how such characteristics were acquired. Later, many unanswered questions birthed the third wave of resiliency inquiry and asked the question, “What and where is the energy source or motivation (that permits one) to reintegrate resiliently?” Richardson (2002, p. 313) states that “a succinct statement of resilience theory is that there is a force within everyone that drives them to seek self-actualization, altruism, wisdom, and harmony with a spiritual source of strength. This force is resilience, and it has a variety of names depending upon the discipline.”
When considering the survival strategies and psychological needs of individuals, resilience is a powerful phenomenon. The life-preserving element of resilience has numerous benefits, especially within the at-risk youth population. As Ahern et al. (2006) explains, resilience is a personal characteristic that restrains the negative effects of stress and promotes healthy adaptation. Enhanced resiliency produces more positive outcomes in the face of adversity. A comprehensive understanding of the processes that build resilient qualities in youth at risk will enable psychotherapists to encourage such behaviors during life transitions and periods of adversity.
We define resilience as “a construct that refers to personal qualities and characteristics that enable one to adapt or thrive when exposed to adversity, personal life challenges, or stressors.” Resiliency typically determines an individual’s response to exposure to stress or trauma. Youth at risk are more susceptible to adverse or negative responses due to their fragile psyches and underdeveloped personalities. Resilience is a significant factor which promotes positive outcomes. Resilience generates self-esteem, self-mastery, self-confidence, and improved quality of life (Ahern et al., 2006). Resilient youth present with intrinsic strength and resources that permit them to overcome feelings of hopelessness, despair, and depression. In addition, resilience is a protective process that furnishes at-risk youth with a sense of empowerment and often reduces the need for them to resort to negative and self-destructive behaviors.
Tags: Robert O'Block, Psychotherapy, youth at risk, at-risk youth, resilience