Digital Commons Network^™

Native American Young People In The Transition To Adulthood: Perceptions Of Challenges And Supports, Terry L. Cross, Pauline Jivanjee, Abby Bandurraga, Barbara J. Friesen, L. Kris Gowen, Cori Matthew

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on native American youth and how work with this population can be improved by following the Relational World View as a theoretical framework. Discusses practice-based evidence findings and development of the NAYA Assessment Tool, and the Finding Our Way study methods. Findings of the study explore young people's perceptions of challenges, needs and supports. Finally, the presenters discuss expansion of the assessment tool to address transition domains.

The African Immigrant And Refugee Community In Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, Ann Curry-Stevens, Coalition Of Communities Of Color

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since 1975, African immigrants, refugees and secondary migrants have been relocating to Multnomah County and now represent the fourth largest immigrant community after Latino, Asian, and Slavic immigrants. The African community here is incredibly diverse in its make-up, with over 28 different African countries and numerous ethnic groups represented. Estimates from 2003 suggest that African immigrants make up 2% of the foreign-born population in the Portland Metro (tri-county) area. Nearly half (45%) of the tri-county area’s African foreign-born population is from eastern Africa, including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Other countries of origin include Sudan, Sierra …

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support In Wraparound, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth And Family Training Institute

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief provides an example of how one state has implemented and supported the Peer Support Specialist role for youth with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes a series of challenges and solutions.

“I Bloomed Here”: A Guide For Conducting Photovoice With Youth Receiving Culturally- And Community-Based Services, Abby Bandurraga, L. Kris Gowen, Finding Our Way Team

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Photovoice (PV) is a way to get young people engaged in their communities and be featured as “experts on their own lives” (Wang, et al., 2004). The process involves giving youth cameras they can use to document the realities of their day-to-day experiences and highlight the strengths and challenges within their communities. The photographs they take and the stories that emerge from small group discussions around the pictures are used to engage in important discussions with policymakers, community leaders, and power brokers within the community in order to promote positive change.

In this guide we have provided helpful strategies based …

Tips On Core Competencies For Transition Service Providers, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Claudia Sellmaier, Pathways Transition Training Collaborative

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This document describes ten competencies that transition service providers working with young people with mental health difficulties should develop in order to be effective.

Strengthening Family Support For Young People With Mental Health Needs In The Transition To Adulthood: A Tip Sheet For Service Providers, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Claudia Sellmaier, Pathways Transition Training Collaborative

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This document instructs service providers in strategies for engaging families supporting young people with the transition to adulthood.

The Latino Community In Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, Ann Curry-Stevens, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Coalition Of Communities Of Color

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our report, "The Latino Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile" uncovers an array of racial inequities across the systems of income, employment, education, juvenile justice, corrections, child welfare, philanthropic giving, housing, immigration, research practices (particularly population measurement), wealth, health, health insurance coverage, racial harassment, public service and voter registration. These systems maintain our second-class status and serve to limit our current well being and the prospects for a bright future for our children.

Strategic Sharing Workbook: Youth Voice In Advocacy, Eric Lulow

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This workbook is for individuals who have experienced traumatic life experiences and are interested in sharing their stories in an effort to promote change. Training in Strategic Sharing is an important part of advocacy – we encourage anyone who has experienced traumatic life events and wishes to share those experiences in an effort to promote positive changes for yourself and/or others, to do so with the help of this guide.

As you will see mentioned several times in this workbook, it is really important that you take the time to take care of yourself. This training was not developed to …

The Politics Of Data: Uncovering Whiteness In Conventional Social Policy And Social Work Research, Ann Curry-Stevens, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Nichole Maher, Julia Meier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The implementation of a robust community based participatory research (CBPR) study in Multnomah County, Oregon, has detailed broad and deep racial disparities across 27 institutions and systems. The process of this research has led to the identification of numerous practices that misrepresent and negate the experiences and very identity of communities of color. The research draws from engagement with numerous databases from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and various administrative databases. The core issues at hand are population undercounts, understudy of the unique characteristics of these communities, inaccuracies in …

Innovation In Collaboration: The Summer Institute On Youth Mentoring As A University-Community Partnership, Kevin R. Jones, Thomas E. Keller, Marc E. Wheeler

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article explores the utility and flexibility of one of the more comprehensive partnership frameworks by using it to a university-based summer institute designed to foster the exchange of knowledge between practitioners and researchers in the field of youth mentoring. It states that youth mentoring is a well-known and prevalent mode of intervention with youth and children across the U.S. The Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring at Portland State University was developed to provide a new and distinctive educational chance for experienced youth and mentoring experts. Portland State University became known as a pioneer in facilitating collaboration between youth mentoring …

The Native American Community In Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, Ann Curry-Stevens, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Coalition Of Communities Of Color

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report is the result of three years of work of true partnership between the Native American community, the Coalition of Communities of Color and Portland State University. The Portland Indian Leaders’ Roundtable, an alliance of 28 local Native American organizations, tribal organizations and Native focused programs within larger institutions, took a lead role in the implementation of the Native American research. Elders of the community reviewed the work and provided invaluable knowledge and historical context.

Our main priority is to advocate for policy decisions that improve outcomes for the Native American community. We hold institutional reform and the formation …

Infusing Culture Into Practice: Developing And Implementing Evidence-Based Mental Health Services For African American Foster Youth, Harold E. Briggs, Bowen Mcbeath

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The lack of culturally appropriate health and mental health care has contributed to the large number of African American youth and families involved in the child welfare system. This article reviews the consequences of the insufficient access to culturally sensitive, evidence-supported interventions for African American foster youth. The authors describe a framework for the development of culturally appropriate mental health interventions responsive to the needs of African Americans.

Children/Youth With Disabilities: Their Parents Are Your Employees Training Manual And Workbook, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch, Eileen M. Brennan, Kathryn L. Mills, Lisa Maureen Stewart

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The training manual and workbook, including the survey, were originally designed as supplemental materials to a workshop delivered to human resource professionals by the Work-Life Integration Project. Once the materials were compiled and reviewed, we decided to make the document available as a printed resource for a more general audience. While the materials were initially developed for use with human resource professionals, they are readily adaptable for use with other groups of employees, such as supervisors, managers, or teams of co-workers. The manual is also suitable to be used by members of family support organizations and other individuals interested in …

Mapping The Participatory Process, Barbara J. Friesen, L. Kris Gowen, Pauline Jivanjee, Abby Bandurraga

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation explores the use of Practice-Based Evidence methodologies to support social work with Native American youth. It is based on a five-year collaborative effort between the Native American Youth and Family Center, National Indian Child Welfare Association, and the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health. The researchers aims were to develop strategies for documenting the effectiveness of services, and to develop a process for conducting evaluations based on known outcomes of community based programs.

The 2009 Portland National Youth Summit Report, Rebecca Strachan, L. Kris Gowen, Janet S. Walker

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The following report outlines the planning process, the agenda, and the outcomes of the 2009 Portland National Youth Summit. The purpose of the Youth Summit was to invite systems-experienced youth (e.g., those who have been involved with the services such as mental health, child welfare, and/or juvenile justice systems) together to create a “Call to Action” that outlines positive solutions to improve the mental health services they receive. This Summit took place in conjunction with the Research and Training Center’s (RTC) Building on Family Strengths Conference, Monday, June 22, 2009. A Youth Summit Advisory Board comprised of four young members …

Executive Summary: Midwest Evaluation Of The Adult Functioning Of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes At Age 21, Mark E. Courtney, Amy Lynn Dworsky, Gretchen Ruth Cusick, Judy Havlicek, Alfred Perez, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (Midwest Study) is a longitudinal study that has been following a sample of young people from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois as they transition out of foster care into adulthood. It is a collaborative effort involving Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; the University of Wisconsin Survey Center; and the public child welfare agencies in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. This executive summary report concentrates on the outcomes of 21 year old youth as they "age out" of the child welfare system and transition to adulthood.

Determinants Of Substance Abuse Among Incarcerated Adolescents: Implications For Brief Treatment And Crisis Intervention, Stephen J. Tripodi, David W. Springer, Kevin Corcoran

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study assessed the determinants of substance abuse among incarcerated youth. Because substance abuse is a predictor of incarceration and conduct disorder is known to increase the chances of youth abusing substances, the purpose of this study was to determine what seminal symptoms of conduct disorder seem to be the risk factors for substance abusers among incarcerated youth. Data were collected on 83 youth in southern Oregon, 74 males and 9 females. Logistic regression found the overall model containing 6 symptoms of conduct disorder to be significantly related to substance abuse (p , .001). When looking at the 6 symptoms …

What Makes Mentoring Effective? How Research Can Guide You In Selecting A Program, Julia M. Pryce, Michael Stokely Kelly, Thomas E. Keller

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article focuses on how mentoring can be made more effective through research which would allow a better means for evaluating various mentoring programs

The Oregon Mental Health Referral Checklists: Concept Mapping The Mental Health Needs Of Youth In The Juvenile Justice System, Kevin Corcoran

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article summarizes the development of checklists to identify the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system. With concept mapping as its base, a 31-item checklist was developed in three parallel forms and assessed on three samples: youth in a locked correctional facility and parents and juvenile justice professionals of adjudicate youth who were sentenced to community service. The instruments appear to have acceptable to very good internal consistency and moderate to strong coefficients of equivalence. Total symptoms were associated with internal and external problems for youth, suggestions from a trusted friend that one might have a …

In Thought, Word, And Deed: Suicidal Behaviors Of Adjudicated Youth, Kevin Corcoran, Thomas Crofoot Graham

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines suicide ideation, plans, and attempts by youth in two juvenile justice settings: incarcerated youth (n=83) and youth with community service sentences (n=144). The incarcerated sample reported 51% suicide ideation while the community sample reported 22%. For both samples, suicide contemplators were quite likely (60-70%) to have a suicide plan, while about 35% reported a suicide attempt in the past 12 months. Contemplators were distinguishable from noncontemplators on scores for external problems of delinquency and aggression, internal problems of anxiety, depression, withdrawal and somatic complaints, general depression, and general health status. The results have implications for assessment, triage, …