Anna’s family moved a lot from city to city. She also experienced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her parents. Anna lived with her family until she was a teenager at which time she left home to escape the abuse. She had nowhere to go so she slept in the hospital emergency room every night until she was kicked out in the mornings. Anna then walked to school and spent as much time as she could at school until she was also kicked out of the building for the night. She then roamed the streets or went to a friend’s house or a drop in centre until she could slip unnoticed into the emergency room to sleep.

I asked Anna how she was able to go to school when she had no home, no food, no shower or clean clothes. Anna said her guidance counselor encouraged Anna to come to school despite being homeless. Every day Anna came to school the guidance counselor gave her grocery store gift cards to make sure she had something to eat. Anna spoke very fondly of her guidance counselor and said if it wasn’t for her encouragement and financial support Anna didn’t know where she would be now. Anna now lives semi-independently and was upgrading one of her grade 12 credits with the intention of pursuing a college degree.

So how is this resilience? Because Anna was able to make what was available to her in her community work for her; using school and the ER as places to get her basic needs met (shelter and food). With the experiences you have shared with us, we have learned that:

• Resilience depends on the environment. Anna’s home environment was not working for her, so when she felt she could no longer take the abuse and when she felt she could survive on her own on the streets, she left to better her situation.

• Resources must be relevant to youth. When Anna was homeless and just trying to meet her basic needs, school became important to her mainly because it kept her warm and dry and was a way to get food.

• Relationships with staff are important!!!!! Anna’s relationship with her guidance counsellor provided both financial and emotional support to Anna which helped her to succeed

We want to find out from youth like Anna what young people need and want from their communities and share this information with communities so that we may work towards change. We’re working on a few projects about resilience so keep checking back for updates!!

Until next time!!!

Janice

“I haven’t failed. I’ve identified 10,000 ways this doesn’t work. “ Thomas Edison

The Resilience Research Centre (RRC) is trying to meet with thousands of young people from Atlantic Canada to find out what YOU think about the services you have been receiving throughout your life. A lot of times adults forget, or just don’t ask you what you think and then create programs and services around what they THINK you need and want. We don’t want to be like that. We want to know what services and programs young people are actually using, what is helpful and what is not helpful about them. Too many people in your classes/programs? Too many rules that just don’t make sense? Or maybe you love the way the staff are always there for you or treat you? Or maybe there isn’t enough for you to do in your community? This is what we want to know!

We have already met with hundreds of young people, but we are still trying to meet with more to do the questionnaire. Over the next few months we are hoping to meet with some of you again for interviews where you will have the chance to tell your story to one of us! We are interested in knowing what you think in a non judgmental and confidential environment. Some of you may be thinking, “I have already done the questionnaire 2 or 3 times, where do I fit in?” Another one of our projects involves meeting with young people once a year for four years. We want to see how you change each year we meet with you. Are you using the same services or different ones? Are you happier now with the services now or before? Has your view on your community changed? Are the things you and your friends do the same or different?

You are probably wondering, who “we” are. We are the research associates of the RRC – based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. We have the privilege of meeting with you and hearing your stories through the questionnaire or the interview. Our role is to contact you to arrange a time to meet, help you get through the questionnaire, answer all your questions, and best of all listen to you! We also do a lot of office work behind the scenes to make sure everything runs smoothly. But, my favourite part of my job is learning new things from all of you. The things you have told me and hopefully continue to tell me, influence the way I see the world and reminds me how important it is to listen to your voices, take the things you say seriously and ideally make change!

Until next time!!!

Janice

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is what it also takes to sit down and listen.”
Sir Winston Churchill