No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The number of homeless children and youth in the United States is on the rise (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2016). Between 2016 and 2017 in the Los Angeles County Homeless Count, there was a 41% increase in the number of homeless minors (The Los Angeles Service Authority, 2017). Education is key to bringing people out of poverty and ending the cycle of homelessness. Using a socio-psychological lens, this case study examined the perceptions of six of the staff and volunteers at one site of the Griffon Learning Center, an organization trying to close the educational gaps of homeless children and youth. It also includes the perspectives of 12 children and youth who utilized their services. The data of this study include interviews, observations of a participant observer, ethnographic field notes, journal reflections, and document analysis. An examination of the relevant literature is included. Although this study cannot end the cycle of homelessness, it hopes to shed light on the issue and makes recommendations to organizations, school districts, politicians and legislatures, and educational researchers

The purpose of this study was to gain a deep phenomenological understanding of how young adults living in a detoxification centre for people with no fixed abode made the life changing decision to free themselves from substance use and provide insights that could be helpful for counselling psychologists working therapeutically with this client group. An exploratory study was conducted using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The participants were between the ages of 25 and 29 years old (1 female and 5 males). All participants had spent 6 weeks in the detoxification centre at the time the interview took place. Two specific areas were pinpointed for exploration during the semi-structured interviews: (1) self-concept before entering the project and after having entered the project and been abstinent for at least 6 weeks, and (2) possible links between homelessness and substance use. Emerging themes were clustered in terms of polarities and existential dimensions. Four superordinate themes comprising of eight existential polarities were extrapolated: control-chaos; connectedness-disconnection; meaning-meaninglessness; responsibility-guilt. The data analysis revealed participants’ struggle to resolve the conflict between these polarities. Identity issues seemed to be crucial, as well as a sense of having lost touch with or possibly never developed an authentic self and a struggle to live and accept emotions in the present moment. Another aspect that emerged was difficulties in grieving losses as well as death anxiety. Connecting with others and caring about oneself seemed to be closely linked and conducive to wellbeing in participants’ experience of abstinence from substance use. On the basis of this study recommendations are made for professionals working therapeutically with this group of clients. These include taking an existential approach and using mindfulness techniques to support clients to accept the polarities we experience in life and to develop the capacity to embrace the contradictions of our existence.

Thesis (PhD.(Pastoral Family Therapy))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

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Masters in Research Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / Stories of home and homelessness: Young men’s experiences of Jo’burg city centre. This study paper aimed to explore phenomenon of homelessness through the narratives of young men living in Johannesburg. Current research focuses on 1) the prevalence of homelessness or 2) homelessness in relation to social problems. While the first focus serves to perpetuate the conceptualisation of homelessness as only about the absence of a house, the second focus identifies homeless people as the social problem and fails to recognise the social factors that cause and maintain this phenomenon. This study views home+less+ness as not just the lack of shelter but also as a state or experience that is not separate from the rest of the individual life. Seven young men were recruited on the basis of being currently or recently homeless, or living on the streets. The data were collected through narrative interviews and subjected to two forms’ of analysis, thematic analysis and a structural analysis that maps movement in space and time. Main themes identified were related to home as elsewhere; home (lessness) and belonging in past, present; and imagined future relationships and spaces. Mapping the life histories of the participants reveals trajectories of frequent movement, including that participants may journeys ‘home’ to their places of origin but always once again returning to the streets of Johannesburg. This suggests that the conventional ideas of home as a safe space of belonging and homelessness as a place of loss and hopelessness, are not binary, rather these are oscillating, intertwined experiences / GR2017

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / As DoenÃas Sexualmente TransmissÃveis (DST), especialmente a infecÃÃo pelo HIV, destacam-se na atualidade entre as enfermidades infecciosas, pela magnitude e extensÃo dos danos causados Ãs populaÃÃes. A epidemia da Aids representa um fenÃmeno global, dinÃmico e instÃvel, configurando-se como um dos problemas mais comuns da saÃde sexual e reprodutiva dos adolescentes. Esta pesquisa apresenta como objetivo geral compreender como as aÃÃes de EducaÃÃo em SaÃde, desenvolvidas pelo enfermeiro, a partir do CÃrculo de Cultura, podem auxiliar os adolescentes em situaÃÃo de rua na prevenÃÃo das DST/Aids. Trata-se de uma investigaÃÃo que propÃs realizar uma pesquisa-aÃÃo, realizada de janeiro a abril de 2011. Os sujeitos do estudo foram 19 adolescentes de 12 a 18 anos incompletos, de ambos os sexos, frequentadores do NÃcleo Albergue, instituiÃÃo vinculada à Secretaria do Trabalho e Desenvolvimento Social do Estado do CearÃ. Os instrumentos e as tÃcnicas utilizados para a coleta das informaÃÃes foram: entrevista, observaÃÃo participante, registro fotogrÃfico e anotaÃÃo em diÃrio de campo. Como mÃtodo e tÃcnica para promover a articulaÃÃo com a dimensÃo coletiva e interativa da investigaÃÃo proposta pela pesquisa-aÃÃo, utilizou-se o CÃrculo de Cultura. Realizaram-se neste estudo seis cÃrculos constituÃdos das etapas a seguir: descoberta do universo vocabular; seleÃÃo dos temas a serem desenvolvidos; criaÃÃo de situaÃÃes para problematizaÃÃo; utilizaÃÃo de tÃcnicas grupais para problematizar com fundamentaÃÃo teÃrica; reflexÃo teÃrico-prÃtica (desconstruÃÃo dos conceitos); (re) construÃÃo coletiva; sÃntese da vivÃncia e avaliaÃÃo. Neste sentido, os adolescentes discutiram sobre: o que à DST/Aids? Como posso me prevenir das DST/Aids? Na rua, como pego e como nÃo pego as DST/Aids? O que eu aprendi sobre DST/AIDS? O que eu preciso aprender para me prevenir das DST/Aids? Os achados frutos desta discussÃo foram os seguintes: no interagir inicial com o grupo, os adolescentes expressaram que a necessidade primordial do grupo naquele momento nÃo era a problemÃtica que envolvia as DST/Aids, mas a escuta atenciosa e a valorizaÃÃo do que eles estavam sentindo, acerca das perdas vivenciadas. O debate do grupo suscitou discussÃes sobre o uso de drogas como fator condicionante para as prÃticas sexuais desprotegidas, a rua como lugar de sexo fÃcil, a prostituiÃÃo como meio de disseminaÃÃo das doenÃas etc. Os adolescentes expressaram deter de conhecimento sobre o risco de uma relaÃÃo sexual desprotegida, todavia, quando estavam sob o efeito das drogas, relataram ser incapazes de assumir um comportamento sexual responsÃvel. Evidenciou-se, ainda, que a preocupaÃÃo com as DST/Aids à algo presente entre os adolescentes, porÃm, isto nÃo à suficiente para motivÃ-los a uma efetiva proteÃÃo. Ao final deste estudo, visualizou-se a metodologia freireana como uma estratÃgia de PromoÃÃo da SaÃde, pois possibilitou a identificaÃÃo do contexto cultural dos participantes do estudo, e, a partir deste, o planejamento de mÃtodos de intervenÃÃo que se adequasse ao cotidiano deles. O processo educativo despertou tambÃm nos adolescentes a necessidade de alertar os pares sobre a problemÃtica que envolve as DST/Aids, confirmando que o CÃrculo de Cultura possibilita a reflexÃo para promover a transformaÃÃo, nÃo somente do sujeito, mas tambÃm do meio em que vive.

Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observation and my experiences of working with young homeless people in refuges, in this thesis I develop an analysis which identifies some key spatial practices through which young people negotiate the field of homelessness in inner-city Sydney. The particular contribution of this work is to consider homelessness in terms of a theorised understanding of the broader role of place within homelessness, rather than in terms of the immediacy of cause or solution. While acknowledging the importance of the large body of work which has focused on the structural causes of homelessness and the need for a clear policy-oriented definition of homelessness, I develop an alternative agenda for a focus on young homeless people's struggles to feel 'in place' and 'at home'. These struggles throw into relief the need to understand young people???s homelessness in terms of a search, not just for a place to stay, but for a place to belong. Utilising the rich body of work which explores the important relation of place and subjectivity, I connect young people???s experiences of place within homelessness with the broader social and phenomenological concepts of ???displacement??? and ???implacement???. In particular, I focus on the spatial relations through which young people construct and organise their daily paths and begin to make sense of their often painful and chaotic lives and their fears about the future. I contextualise their fragile experiences of being somewhere in a broader spatial structure of constant movement and grief and feelings of alienation from the wider community. I consider the enduring role of past homes in their continuing struggle to piece together a way of ???being at home??? both in terms of drawing together a network of physical places of safety and in terms of experiencing a sense of acceptance, recognition and rootedness through place. I point to the critical need to include broader understandings of both home and homelessness in addressing the displacement which shapes the experience of homelessness for young people and impacts on the success of immediate measures developed to respond to it.