Working With Youths with Traumatic Experiences within Assisted Living as a Type of Residential Care

Assisted Living in out of home care for adolescents has developed as an apt alternative to round the clock care especially for youths who either have experienced abuse or long term neglect through their families and therefor show a rejectionist attitude. Those youths very often are not ready or capable of living by the stricter rules necessary in a group setting and constant supervision by youth workers, because as a result of their traumatization they show avoidance of relationship and (auto)aggressive behavior which can be multiplied by the dynamics within a larger group.

The deinstitutionalized approach of Assisted Living provides for these young people a highly individualized setting and the possibility of experiencing self-empowerment while still offering support. Carers are able to get into a working relationship with youths who before rejected any kind of pedagogical intervention because they also give them a choice about the intensity.

But we are also confronted with a series of challenges, like providing a safe space while living in a private residential area with little means of restricting access or sometimes very limited time resources.

Yet one of the biggest challenges for the professionals working in this setting is the need of constantly balancing the (legal) responsibility for a minor with sometimes high risk behavior and unfitting coping strategies like drug abuse and in a setting with only a small modicum of supervision of those teenagers.

I would like to discuss our current approach to these challenges and talk about alternatives.