A Best Practices Analysis of Youth Safe House Development For a Rural Community

Abstract

Youth safe houses provide for the basic needs of youth in crisis; food, shelter, an accepting environment and safety. This paper examines the need for the delivery of youth safe house services for a rural community in British Columbia and will include a literature review and analysis of best practices in youth safe house service. It is intended that this document will serve as the foundation for a proposal for service development. In order to address the question of whether safe house services for youth would be beneficial to this community, an extensive review of literature was undertaken. It is essential to look in detail at the population a safe house is intended to serve, and compare it to the community in question. An examination of risk factors for youth as well as typical adolescent development will be explored in order to show how a safe house for youth could be beneficial as a support in this community. The provision of safety for youth is the goal; therefore it is important to maximize protective factors by building on youth‘s strengths, and by fostering relationships and positive experiences. Eating, sleeping, being educated, working well, having good interpersonal relationships and mastering age- and ability-appropriate tasks are all behavioural indicators of wellness (Cowen, 1994); research supporting the effectiveness of bolstering youth‘s protective factors and resiliency will be examined.