Participation, Engagement and Change: A Study of the Experiences of Service Users of the Unified Adolescent Team

Abstract

This paper outlines the findings from an English research study using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis methodology with service users of the Unified Adolescent Team (UAT) that was carried out in 2009. The UAT worked with adolescents between the ages of twelve and twenty and who had complex needs which led them to be identified as a ‘hard to reach group’. The research identifies three super-ordinate themes that reflect the their experiences of receiving services from the UAT: in crisis and out of control, new helping relationships and building new lives. This paper discusses these findings and contextualises the work of the UAT within the existing literature on positive engagement with this client group.

adolescents, change, creative, participation, phenomenology, relationship