Interview: Intimate Partner Abuse Prevention for Runaway & Homeless Youth

We recently talked with Dr. Brandi Beck from Children's Hospital in Los Angeles about an intimate partner abuse prevention curriculum created specifically for runaway and homeless youth. One unique aspect of this curriculum is that it was developed in collaboration with the homeless youth it is designed to serve. As Dr. Beck says, "We adapted some of the topics and activities from existing curricula; we pilot tested each session and integrated feedback from the co-facilitators and the youth themselves. What we've come up with is the fruit of listening to the stories of these youth and really paying attention to their needs and strengths."

What makes your program about Teen IPA prevention unique?

Our program is unique because we've catered the curriculum to meet the needs of a very transient population. Each session of our curriculum is designed to stand alone, since the likelihood is that many youth won't be able to come to a second session. At the same time, each session can be attended again and again by the same youth without it becoming redundant or boring.

In adapting existing curricula to meet the needs of runaway and homeless youth, what specific challenges did you face?

Most existing activities that we found focused on youth who are able to attend to an activity for a substantial period of time, which is not always the case with homeless and runaway youth. Our activities do not have a time guideline, which means that the facilitator is required to shorten or lengthen the activity in the moment. Initially it's a rather daunting challenge but with time, each of our facilitators has grown to appreciate the creativity this inspires.

We had another challenge when it came to creating a safe group setting. When youth are living on the streets, their sense of rules changes. There is a street justice that exists but it doesn't always appear as understandable rules to an outsider. With that in mind, we've invited each group to create their own group rules in the moment. In the two years we've been doing this, this works out great.

What have you learned from the youth you’ve been working with? What surprises have you had?

First, we've learned to introduce an activity and then let the youth teach us. We've learned to invite challenges instead of dread them because this population is courageous enough to challenge everything. We've learned to expect more from the youth than we initially thought. More specifically, we've learned that this population longs to be heard and to have a voice. If we give them an opportunity to speak, our activities are transformed.

Our biggest surprise had to do with the cycle of violence. At first we felt that we could not present an IPA curriculum without telling the youth about the cycle of violence. However, they struggled more with this concept than anything else.

After many discussions with the youth, we discovered that the struggle had to do with a sense of time. We were describing the cycle of violence as a cycle, meaning that one moved from one stage to the next. We found out that homeless and runaway youth threw out a sense of time when they entered the streets. The idea of stages was confusing to them. Once we opened up the idea to be something more fluid, the youth began to connect. They pointed out that often they could simultaneously exist in the Honeymoon and Abusive stages of the cycle.

What impact has this program made in the lives of those who’ve been part of these workshops this past year?

The largest impact has been with providing the homeless and runaway youth of Hollywood with the language to talk about IPA. IPA has become part of their language, when before they would ignore the symptoms and signs of IPA. While they would report abuse, they had few tools to deal with it. There was confusion about the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

A 20-year-old homeless youth from the East coast had traveled across country with his high school girlfriend of five years. By the end of the first session, it was apparent to the facilitators that he was being abused by his girlfriend.It was also apparent that this had never been acknowledged or addressed. At the beginning of the next session they attended, the facilitators announced that many IPA relationships can be hidden from the partners in the relationship. We then opened the discussion to how and why this is possible. During this group exploration, the 20-year-old began to see his relationship for what it was. He stayed alone after the session and asked for help in protecting himself against her. Luckily for him, he had the choice of going home and we were able to assist him in immediately returning home.In addition, we were able to encourage her to continue with the groups, which she did.

During one session, a known abuser came into the group. As the group came up with their group rules, one member indirectly challenged this specific youth for attending this group. The facilitators helped the group explore this and the decision was to ask this youth to leave until he was committed to changing his behavior. We explored how this made the other members feel once that youth left and all agreed that they felt empowered. The youth explained that they couldn't necessarily intervene with this youth on the streets because he is so aggressive. But it felt good to be able to challenge, confront and set limits with him in this setting.

Through stories like these and the evaluation forms that youth completed after each session, we have learned that curriculum resonates with these youth and meets an important need in the runaway and homeless youth community.

Hints for Peer Providers:

How to work with Runaway or Homeless Youth from the youth themselves:

• Before you work with homeless and runaway youth, it's a good idea to visit a homeless/runaway drop-in centers. Sometimes people have biases about us. This could help dispel those misconceptions.
• A Peer Provider could be a big help to youth struggling with IPA, especially if you've been through something similar. You'd need to be non-judgmental but firm.

For more information about this program, contact Brandi Beck at drbeck@earthlink.net or Arlene Schneir at aschneir@chla.usc.edu.