Child and adolescent social work journal

Today, on-the-ground proponents of PYD are social workers and other individuals who advocate for policy change and funding for interventions and community-based services aimed at promoting healthy youth development.

In this sense, individuals and their respective social ecologies-peers, schools, families, and communities-are active contributors to the developmental process and promotion of well-being. Ultimately, PYD suggests that young people who have mutually beneficial relationships with other people and institutions will enter adulthood as positive and successful contributors. Thus, from a PYD perspective healthy development is not simply the absence of problem behavior but it also includes the cultivation of resources and strengths within a child and her or his particular context. PYD advocates assert that common risk-oriented prevention and intervention frameworks fail to consider the idea that preventing a problem from occurring does not guarantee that youth are developing and growing in a healthy manner. Put into practice, key PYD strategies include identifying youth strengths, engaging and motivating young people to support positive growth through these strengths, working with youth as collaborators, and harnessing resources that exist in a young personвЂ™s environment.

The underlying tenets of PYD suggest that healthy child and youth development is characterized by a sense of responsibility, connectedness, and positive values. PYD emphasizes the relationship between young peopleвЂ™s strengths and resources and their capacity to live healthy and productive lives. Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a framework used to design and guide programs and services for children and youth.

Child and adolescent social work journal