TELL IT LIKE YOU SEE IT: YOUTH PERCEPTIONS OF CHILD AND YOUTH CARE PRACTITIONER INTERVENTIONS AND OUTCOMES IN AN ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL SETTING

Abstract

Using a semi-structured interview format, students (n = 7) attending an alternative school program who were supported by child and youth care (CYC) practitioners described their view of the work these practitioners do and the effect it has on the students. We were interested in learning about how students perceived the strategies and interventions they experienced and how the said interventions affected student outcomes. Students described program strategies such as the use of a token economy and daily group sessions as well as practitioner strategies including presence, support, use of self, and the student as resources for information and assessment. Students accomplished a variety of academic and socio-emotional outcomes, and identified the relationship as the basis for effective work between themselves and the CYC practitioner. Students identified both passive and persistent engagement strategies in the relational context. Together, these two types of engagement seem to create a continuum of constant engagement. Through a comparison of the student perceptions to the CYC practice literature, we offer a beginning point for a dialogue between students and theorists and researchers about some of the accepted and common practice strategies in our field.