Improving Learning and Working Impacts through Evidence-Based Psychological Resilience-Building: A Trauma-Informed Approach To Go Beyond Social Emotional Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Conflict, higher education, and socio-emotional learning

Proposal

Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, has experienced increased conflict and instability, exacerbated by challenging economic conditions, mistrust in government and wider geopolitical conflict. Families that experience higher levels of stress also experience higher levels of family violence and higher levels of negative coping (e.g. substance abuse, self-harm behaviors, poor decision-making). This reality has meant that whether through economic insecurity, experiences of family or community violence, and/or through use of violent behavior towards others, youth in these settings can benefit from learning evidence-based resiliency and coping skills to help them manage the full range of adverse situations. Youth who have poorer coping skills are more likely to turn to substance use, individual and community-level violence, and/or self-harm behaviors (including suicide) to cope with the overwhelming levels of negative emotion they experience. Youth who have better coping skills are more likely to know how to calm themselves in healthy ways, know how to reach out to adults for support and how to problem solve in ways that help them best reach their goals, and are more likely to develop healthy community advocacy opportunities.

Unfortunately, due to high stigma toward mental health issues and a lack of referral options, many areas of crisis and conflict avoid addressing issues of mental health and resiliency needs of youth. This session will explore how inclusion of a new resiliency module within life skills education/workforce development curriculum has led to increased positive impacts for vulnerable youth.

Utilizing a holistic, evidenced-based approach to support peace and stability in conflict and crisis settings the USAID Mindanao Youth for Development (MYDev) project implements a range of activities, including the provision of soft and technical skills training to out-of-school youth (OSY) and the establishment of Out-of-School Youth Development Alliances (OSYDA) to inform the program design, training programs and post training pathways.

Impact evaluation data suggest that participation in the resiliency module activities for MYDev youth beneficiaries may affect youth’s success in employment, civic engagement or resisting engagement with violent extremist groups, more successfully.

Thus, in this presentation, MYDev will share key elements of the Resiliency curriculum module, including the evidence which informed its development. The process of development and testing of the module and video feedback from the youth will be shared. Examples of other ways such interventions can be included within larger education or workforce development projects will be discussed, as will approximate costs and resources needed to ensure these interventions are evidence-based, culturally-appropriate, and ethically delivered, especially in resource-poor and referral-poor environments where stigma toward mental health approaches is often high.

This session would be relevant for implementers and donors working in conflict and crisis settings or those who seek to understand how culturally-appropriate mental health and resiliency building interventions can be interwoven into larger education projects.

Authors

• Heidi Kar, Education Development Center (EDC)

• Miriam Pahm, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Maria Mokamad, EDC