Psychological help-seeking and homeless adolescents.

Homeless young people in the U.K are a particularly vulnerable group: their levels of psychopathology, physical ill health and violent victimisation exceed that of their housed counterparts. This qualitative study aimed to examine what these young people think and feel about seeking psychological help for their problems. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 16 homeless young people at an emergency homeless hostel. The principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1995, 1997) were used to guide the interviews and analyse the data. The principal themes were grouped into four domains: "Why I need help", "Why I would seek help", "Why I wouldn't seek help" and "The kind of help I want". Participants discussed their needs from practical, emotional and social perspectives. A sense of hurt and anger at the perceived betrayal by their families and society made participants reluctant to seek help and to trust help offered by others. They felt they would, however, seek help from those they perceived to be genuine, caring, trustworthy, empathic and capable of hearing their distress. The findings have implications for the provision of clinical services for this underserved population