Talk Description
Finding the Path Forward Adolescent Group is a program developed for young people engaging in relational violence in the home and school environments. This program is an initiative developed alongside therapeutic programs run across the state of Victoria providing specialist outreach support for young people and their families with relationship violence occurring. The group program aims to provide an early intervention with at-risk young people to provide them with a space to develop their emotional and physical regulation skills, explore the concept of safety and boundaries, and explore their roles and engagement in important relationships in their lives. The group program has been successfully run across several metropolitan and regional school settings, in collaboration with school well-being teams. Key outcomes after completing the group program for these young people included a greater understanding of emotions and body awareness; capacity to track and identify dysregulation; an improved sense of safety within the group and in relationships with each other and extended family members; a felt sense of boundaries and the impact of breaching or having these boundaries breached and increased connection, attendance and participation in school. The positive outcomes of this group speak to the overwhelming need this cohort of young people have for a space in which they can develop key skills such as communication, safety in relationships and emotion regulation. The hope is that continued early intervention and participation in this therapeutic group helps prevent at-risk behaviours for these young people and keeps them engaged in the school system and with key protective relationships in their world.