child and adolescent social work journal

Findings provide implications for professionals working with newcomer youth and reflect the importance of addressing structural barriers and racism. Youth discussed resilience strategies such as maintaining a connection with home culture and religion, reframing thinking to be positive, receiving emotional support, accessing community support at newcomer agencies, and building language proficiency.

Findings demonstrated youths’ resilience, coping skills, and strategies to lead meaningful lives. Youth described hardships that make moving to a new country difficult including lack of belonging due to racism and bullying, insufficient orientation to new systems, language barriers, and high levels of stress. Through thematic analysis, five overarching themes were found across groups: (1) moving to a new country is hard, (2) maintain a healthy mindset, (3) take an active role in the adjustment process, (4) stay true to who you are, (5) and you are not alone. Participants ranged from 14 to 22 in age and identified mostly as female refugees from the Middle East. Thirty-seven newcomer youth from two medium-sized cities in Ontario participated in focus groups. To address this gap, this qualitative research explored newcomer youths’ experiences and advice for other newcomer youth who have recently arrived in Canada. As the population of newcomer youth in Canada continues to grow, it is imperative that attention is devoted not only to challenges they experience, but also to resilience factors they perceive to support their adjustment and well-being. AbstractResearch infrequently includes the perspectives of vulnerable and marginalized youth.

Child and adolescent social work journal