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Youth of Color in the United States are often leaders in movements for social justice. Evidence suggests that organizing has a positive macro-therapeutic effect on the mental health of young organizers; however, they can also experience strain and become targets of the very systems they are trying to change. In a community-based participatory action research study, three organizations that train youth of Color in organizing in Brooklyn, New York City held focus groups with youth and adult staff. The focus groups examined the strains experienced by youth organizers and the strategies adult partners use to prepare organizers to maintain hope and well-being. Findings suggest four key emergent strategies: (a) provide an emotional homespace to process the rub between worlds, (b) actively shape the long view on systems change, (c) increase self-care skills and emotional preparation for organizing, and (d) promote healing by building leader(full) communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth of Color, especially those in households with low income, experience multiple stressors and trauma that affect their well-being. Few studies examine the impact of youth engagement in leadership and organizing to address systemic inequity on their mental health and well-being. In a community-based participatory action research design, three organizations which train youth of Color in organizing in Brooklyn, New York, held four focus groups (n = 43, ages 14-24 years) to examine the impact of organizing on youth mental health and well-being. Key emergent themes of youth organizing include (a) storytelling as therapeutic; (b) group leadership as strengthening personal and collective power, hopefulness, and a sense of protection; and (c) the strain of navigating their hopes and current reality. This study has important implications for actions programs can take who seek to engage youth of Color in organizing in communities and institutions impacted by historical trauma and current day systemic inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School-based sports and physical education play an important role in the development of youth (Jones, Edwards, et al., 2017), but participation in athletics is unequal for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth compared to their straight/cisgender peers [Greenspan, S. B., Griffith, C., & Murtagh, E. F. (2017). LGBTQ youths' school athletic experiences: A 40-year content analysis in nine flagship journals. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 11(3), 190–200]. Sport cultures, generally, recreate dynamics of exclusion for marginalized youth. However, there are opportunities to transform these spaces into more inclusive and positive environments to support positive growth for all young people [Newman, T., Alvarez, A., & Kim, M. (2017). An experiential approach to sport-based positive youth development. Journal of Experiential Education, 40(3), 308–322]. Our study uses a data set of adolescents, collected as part of a community-based participatory action research project led by high school students in southeast Michigan, USA. Respondents reported their sexual and gender identities, as well as experiences in youth sport, as well as safety using sex-segregated facilities (i.e., bathrooms and locker-rooms). Using mediation models based on linear regression, we found evidence that LGBQ high school students play sports at a significantly lower rate compared to straight students, and among those who play sports, LGBTQ respondents felt significantly less safe compared to straight and cisgender students. Opposite to the LGBQ and trans youth in this study, straight/cisgender youth also reported feeling safer using all facilities. The mediation models suggest that these inequalities help to explain disparities in rates of sports participation and feelings of safety while participating. These findings have important implications for policy, practice, and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Due to the focus of micro-practice interventions on clinical outcomes and macro-practice interventions on structural outcomes, limited research exists on the clinical benefits resulting from clients’ involvement in macro therapeutic interventions (i.e. structural interventions that target community, organizational, systems, and/or policy-level change and which also have clinical benefits to clients or consumers). In response to this knowledge gap, the authors present four case studies of macro therapeutic interventions in the areas of social enterprise creation, community-based participatory research, transformative organizing, and community-based partnerships. Findings Collectively, these interventions draw from community, economic, and social development theory, empowerment theory, feminist theory, and critical theory. The authors synthesize the key intervention components across case studies that contribute to clinical and collective empowerment outcomes. Applications The authors then offer recommendations to the social work profession for developing, implementing, and evaluating macro therapeutic interventions within clinical practice settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]