Listening for the Voices of Resilience: A Group of Adolescents’ Experiences With a Suicide Prevention Education Program

Abstract

Adolescents' experiences in a grassroots, school-based suicide prevention education group in British Columbia, Canada, were investigated in response to anecdotal observations of the group's strong positive impact. In the Alive group, at-risk high school students, 15 to 18 years of age, learned to support each other, became literate in mental health issues, and created and performed presentations on suicide prevention to peers. The authors employed the qualitative method of the Listening Guide to explore the participants' experiences of this program. Participant narratives reveal voices of vulnerability (including voices of not knowing, disconnection, and silence -primarily in reference to past experiences of suicidality and depression), and of resiliency (including voices of knowing, connection, altruism, and protection). Through their experience of the Alive group, the participants developed and strengthened inner and interpersonal resources of resilience and knowledge of themselves and others. Motivated by their own healing, they articulated a desire to help and impact others with what they had learned.

The Core Connectors Initiative: Development of a Youth Mental Health Program

“…The analysis shows that CCI contributes to enhanced help-seeking attitudes and knowledge, as well as perceived positive connections and skill-building. The study is in line with research that shows that peer leadership GKT can be beneficial for those who are involved as youth leaders (Ohlmann et al, 2014;Walker et al, 2009;Wasserman et al, 2012;Wyman et al, 2010). Uniquely, this study demonstrated the potential benefit of utilizing a critical pedagogical approach to youth mental health literacy and promotion and may have implications for other programs.…”

“…Furthermore, there are potential limitations to adult gatekeepers, as youth are more likely to confide in their peers about distressing issues and typically seek help from their peers (Gilchrist & Sullivan, 2006;Smith et al, 2019). (Walker et al, 2009), Sources of Strength (Wyman et al, 2010), Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) Awareness program (Wasserman et al, 2012), and, in Canada, the Alive group (also known as Youth as Gatekeepers; Ohlmann et al, 2014;Wicker, 2012). These peer GKT programs show positive benefits for the youth peer leaders who are involved in them, including "a significant increase in knowledge and positive attitudes towards suicide prevention, and also self-esteem" (Walker et al, 2009, p. 335), enhanced knowledge about mental health (Wasserman et al, 2012), increased positive coping and connection to adults (Wyman et al, 2010), and perceived interpersonal resilience (Ohlmann et al, 2014).…”

I poems: Evoking self.

“…It is not always clear why the I poems have been omitted in the write-up. Occasionally researchers note that I poems were constructed during analysis, but not included in the write-up that was eventually published (e.g., Kayser, Watson, & Andrade, 2007; Ohlmann, Kwee, & Lees, 2014). In instances when the I poems have not been constructed at all, however, the “opportunity to attend to just the sounds, rhythms, and shifts in [the participant’s] usages of ‘I’ in his or her narrative” (Gilligan et al, 2003) has been lost.…”

On Neoliberal Thirst, Audit Hunger, and Sustaining Strengths-Based Research in Community and Academy

“…Arts-in-health research, however, requires unique interdisciplinary research teams, methodology and project evaluation (Artreach Toronto, 2018;Broderick, 2011;Daykin, Attwood, & Willis, 2013;Fancourt & Joss, 2014;Guetzkow, 2002;Marcuse et al, 2016). Games-based interventions using improvisation encourage participants to express emotions and share personal stories, fostering relationships, resilience and hope (Andersson & Ledogar, 2008;Ohlmann, Kwee, & Lees, 2014). In short, research outlines the ways in which arts-based and participatory methods are effective methods.…”