New research providing hope for rangatahi

Yesterday a hui was held at Christchurch’s 298 Youth Health to launch the results of the youth-led study. Using a peer research model, six rangatahi were selected to interview other young people in their community about hope. 

For some, hope as a research concept may not initially be considered a tangible one.

However, the study’s researchers said it became clear there were a number of key similarities in participants' views on hope, both in the things that made them feel hopeless, and hopeful.

“We started out super vague, and as we went along with the interviewing process it was like, oh, there are definitely recurring themes that everybody’s saying,” said peer researcher Eliot Aster-Forrest.

“Housing, financial situations, poverty, family support, disability awareness, LGBTQ awareness… for us, these are things that we talk about all the time.”

The study’s lead researcher Sarah Wylie said the future focus was one of the strongest commonalities.

“[There was] this sense that it propels you forward, so there was an energy behind the word that seemed to come through from just about every young person that we talked to.”

Wylie said they were especially keen to hear from young people who don’t often get a voice. Over half of participants were Māori – others from the disability and LGBTQ communities. 

Peer researcher Ricky Reeves interviewed a number of people living with disabilities. He himself has impaired sight, so Wylie assisted as a scribe. She said watching the interviews was fascinating.

“I was quite blown away with the stuff from a number of young people with learning disabilities. [It] was just mind blowing in terms of that perspective, that awareness of the things that were getting in the way of hope for them.”

The process itself also revolved around hope in other unexpected ways. Peer researcher Peggy Tombs noted the conversations themselves instilled hope in the young people she interviewed, as well as with herself.

Wylie said this was an experience shared by all the young researchers. It tied into another main finding, that hope was generated through feeling connected.

The research is part of the work of the Collaborative Trust, and received funding from Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation.

Those involved hope their findings help inform and progress support for young people. 

Wylie said the knowledge would be used in workshops to educate those who interact with young people on a day-to-day basis such as teachers, doctors and counsellors.

“I’m also really hopeful, keen that they might pick it up and take it forwards too, even if it’s just a discussion in a youth group… hearing other young people talking about hope makes you reflect on your own sense of hope and where you get that from.”

The other peer researchers involved shared Wylie's aspirations. They believe these findings can provide real solutions to the country’s dire youth mental illness statistics. In other words, using the concept of hope to instil hope in New Zealand’s rangatahi.