Empowering Homeless Youth Finding a Way Back Research Paper

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Total Length: 3344 words ( 11 double-spaced pages)

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Abstract

Much of the research that shaped this paper reflected how the most functional adults were able to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood with the emotional and financial support of their parents. Homeless youths don’t have such pillars to rely upon and if they’re going to successfully transition into productive, stable adults free of psychological scars, drug addiction or other destructive tendencies, there needs to be a social support entity who is able to fill in some of these parental gaps and offer these young people protection, guidance and support. This paper also looks at the risk factors in connection with LGBTQ youth who are often kicked out of their familial homes, and who are subjected to more health risks and dangers on the streets and in the foster care and shelter system. This paper examines the more common traumas that face homeless youth and the best structural components of social work to confront these traumas. Finally, this paper examines some of the methodologies used to address the nuances of this complex problem. For example, spiritual development and psychological treatment can help young people build internal reserves of resilience and coping mechanisms to help them deal with the inevitable setbacks and uncertainty of life. Much of this research will orbit around the work done at ACR Health for the good and improvement of youth homelessness. ACR Health is a non-profit, community centered organization that offers support services for people with a range of diseases and works to provide targeted prevention of STDs and offer sexual health services to individuals.

Introduction

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact number of homeless youths that emerge on the streets each year, but the number is likely between 1.5 and 2 million (Dworsky, 2010). For some of these youths, the homelessness is just a temporary episode, and for others, it’s an ongoing fight for survival. The manner in which these young people end up on the streets is as equally diverse as they are: some of them run away, often running from abusive homes, or are forced out—this is how many pregnant or LGBTQ teens end up on the street. Others are homeless because they’ve aged out of the foster care system or out of juvenile hall (Dworsky, 2010). The experiences that homeless youths have on the streets are as diverse as the reasons that brought them there. Understanding the background of homeless youths is crucial in order to illuminate the best ways to help them. This paper will look at the multi-faceted needs of homeless youth and how ACR attempts to meet those needs. Some of the most basic tactics involve assessing if there can be any familial reconciliation, and in many cases it is in the best interest of the youths involved if there isn’t such a resolution. This paper will explore how stability is created and maintained for these young people, and the type of goal setting that is involved in order to help them make the transition to stable adulthood. Exploring these goals and intention was a massive part of this research project. The bulk of this project involved interviewing and shadowing Tyler Gilyward, the director of Youth Housing at ACR. Mr. Gilyward was able to aptly illuminate for me many of the obstacles that ACR has in helping homeless young people exit homelessness permanently and demonstrate through real life examples how the company attempts to navigate many of those examples. This project that was conducted with the help and insight from Mr. Gilyward was able to illuminate some of the nuances of more theoretical musings on this subject.

Agency Name and Description

The agency in question that was studied both in person and through research goes by the name of ACR Health: AIDS Community Resources. The mission of the organization is to provide health services to all people suffering from chronic diseases, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, income with a focus on those suffering from HIV/AIDS in the northern counties of New York State, such as St. Lawrence, Oswego, Oneida and other northern counties close to Canada and Vermont (ACR Health, 2018). Aside from working with people who have HIV/AIDS, they also work with people who are struggling to deal with diabetes, obesity, heart disease, drug addiction, mental illnesses and asthma with the ultimate goal of helping individuals to effectively manage their conditions so that positive health manifestations occur and remain consistently. Another pillar of the work that ACR does is that it helps guide and empower individuals to make better decisions that will manifest better outcomes for their health and safety (ACR Health, 2018).

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This is an aspect of the work that they do via specific STD and unwanted pregnancy prevention and a component of the sexual health services they offer to individuals. Ultimately the organization endeavors to bolster the wellness of all who need such help in their communities and to be the pillar that assists people in achieving that (ACR Health, 2018). As Tyler Gilyward, the director of Youth Housing, explains, a lot of the young people they work with come from homes and families that have perpetuated a legacy of neglect. Many of the youths they work with don’t know about basic things they’re supposed to do to stay healthy and to ward off disease, such as brushing their teeth twice a day (T. Gilyward, Personal Communication, February 13, 2018). “It may sound silly, but many of these young people weren’t taught the basic health behaviors that would keep them safe and prevent disease. So a lot of what we do is we help to bridge so many of the gaps in that their parents left during their development” (T. Gilyward, Personal Communication, February 13, 2018).

Principles and Goals of Case Management

Effective case management has long been connected with reaping positive outcomes with homeless youth. However, in 2018 effective case management has to have an electronic component, particularly when dealing with youths (Bender et al., 2015). According to Gilyward, the team at Youth Housing does incorporate an electronic case management component to their work as sometimes the teenagers have logistical barriers that stop them from showing up at in-person meetings (Bender et al., 2015), and because communicating over electronic technology is second nature to these youths. Tyler Gilyward explains, that when funding allows it, the youths receive prepaid cell phones and a case manager who offers four electronic case management sessions every two weeks over a 12-week period. It’s up to the case managers to document how often the youths were active with their phones and responding to calls, emails and texts. Youths generally needed consistent engagement and prodding from case managers to respond, but they generally rate electronic case management in a very positive way. Gilyward explains that teens were most communicative over texting and was very excited about the implications of these results for the future of case management.

In regards to the type of case management model ACR uses, Gilyward described it as “…a hybrid between the Broker Case Management Model and the Clinical Case Management Model, depending on the needs of the individual youth. Some teenagers just need a case manager to collaborate services for them through a range of social service avenues. In these cases, it’s enough to just evaluate their needs, make appropriate referrals and observe the treatment they receive over a period of time. On the other hand, other youths require more from us, and that’s when we incorporate more of the Clinical Case Management Model. This is useful to us as it is more centered on engaging the youths in regular therapeutic interventions such as psychotherapy and crisis interventions” (T. Gilyward, Personal Communication, February 13, 2018). Gilyward went onto explain that they were working with a homeless youth who was HIV positive and engaged in behaviors of self-harm such as cutting. He wasn’t able to promise that he’d be able to stop his self-harming behaviors, not even for a day; the youth said that they were too soothing to him and helped him feel calm. Hence, given the circumstances it was important to make a concerted and lasting crisis intervention. In the case of this youth, he had to be admitted to the hospital for monitoring for a few days, while the best psychotherapists experienced with HIV/AIDS patients met with him, until they were confident that they could trust he would not engage in self-harm. This was achieved in part, by connecting the youth with a team of social support avenues, aside from his case manager, and ensuring that he felt totally supported.

Of course, such a case is extreme. As Gilyward explained, much of case management is very individualized. Each teenager is paired with a case manager and together as a team they help the teen create a self-sufficiency plan or an individual action plan as a result of their strengths and objectives (Dworsky, 2010). For example, for some students a major goal is getting….....

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