Participatory research to understand peer programming with unhoused young people
How is peer support programming experienced by peers, young people, and what impact may it have on young people's wellbeing?
Using participatory research methods, this project partners with young people, peers, supervisors and administrators to understand peer programming with unhoused young people. The project utilizes interviews, journals, focus groups, and photovoice projects to understand different perspectives of peer programming. The most recent phase uses participatory methods to implement peer programming in a new partnering community - Dry Bones. Implications call on integrating peers intentionally into service systems as a way to disrupt deficit-based, agency-led, rigid services and instead prioritize youth-centered relationship-based support grounded in shared lived experiences.
