STORYTELLING & RESILIENCE: A NARRATIVE STUDY OF YOUTH IN CARE STORYTELLING & RESILIENCE: A NARRATIVE STUDY OF YOUTH IN CARE By

ii Resilience research fonns the basis of this study examining first person accounts of youth in and alumni youth from care. Resilience opportunities are strengthened when the various systems supporting children and youth work in interconnected and cross-buttressed ways to promote positive coping and healthy development post adversity. It can be challenging to cull meaningful child welfare interventions from the literature 's complexity that are not overly simplified or reductionist. This study is predicated on the idea that making adjustments to an existing practice of compiling life books for children and youth in care could be a forum for translating the complexities of resilience research into a therapeutic storytelling intervention. A narrative approach is taken to examine, explore, listen to and learn from a collection of resilience themed stories produced by Youth in Care Canada. Analysis includes an examination of the personal and political implications of identity fonnation; the empowern1ent and emotional healing potential in storytelling; and the power of the stories to alter social discourses. The study finds that a storytelling process has the potential to palliate healing in identities that transfonn from victim