Young people’s accounts of homelessness: A case study analysis of psychological well-being and identity.

With the aim of informing counselling psychology practice with young homeless people, this paper reports a qualitative study of psychological well-being and identity among four young people, recruited in the English Midlands, who had experienced homelessness between the ages of 16 and 25. All participants were interviewed; interview transcripts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis, with analyses presented on a case-by-case basis. In physical terms, participants associated homelessness with a lack of permanent housing or a secure place for physical possessions. In psychological terms, homelessness was associated with feeling isolated, rejected or alienated, lacking an emotional attachment to or identification with a place and lacking a safe space for psychological ‘belongings’. Participants also referred to a loss of identity and person-hood whilst homeless. Identity threat had been dealt with through intrapsychic and intergroup coping strategies. Suggestions are offered for counselling psychology practice with this population.