‘It is important for us to see the mentors as persons’ – participant experiences of a rehabilitation group

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine what was beneficial and what was challenging in a group intervention for young adults based on RENEW principles in a municipal employment centre. RENEW (Rehabilitation for Empowerment, Natural support, Education, and Work) is an education-oriented support model for young people.

Method: The eight young adults who participated in the group and three mentors who led the group were interviewed about their experiences with the group, and a workshop was held for staff to validate the themes found in the study.

Results: Three themes emerged, one denoted the importance of helpful personal relationships, both between the mentors and the young adults and among the young adults; another denoted how an authentic attitude from the mentors made group exercises inconspicuous as the group members experienced activities in the group as originating from spontaneous, genuine interest rather than the manual-based exercises they were. The last theme conveyed how the group process was challenged by the institutionally regulated compulsory attendance and the mentors’ lack of teamwork resources.

Conclusions: The study suggests that meeting young adults authentically and flexibly combining a certain element of self-disclosure with a manual-based group intervention such as RENEW can strengthen relatedness and convey hope, thereby supporting educational rehabilitation.

KEYWORDS:

• Recovery
• therapeutic alliance
• educational support
• youth
• mentoring
• coaching
• community intervention
• group therapy
• authenticity
• empowerment

Acknowledgments

We sincerely wish to thank the group participants and mentors who participated in the study for their hospitality and willingness to share their time and thoughts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Josephine Andreasen

Josephine Andreasen is engaged in clinical work as a psychologist working with adolescents and young adults. She has a special interest in individual and group therapy for young adults and narrative therapy.

Stig Poulsen

Stig Poulsen, PhD, is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and coordinator of the Centre for Psychotherapy Research at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He was President of the European Chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research from 2016 to 2018. His research interests cover both quantitative and qualitative approaches and he has conducted and supervised clinical trials as well as several studies of client experience of psychotherapy.

Michaela Hoej

Michaela Hoej, MSc, PhD, has worked scientifically with processes of recovery from mental health difficulties and the challenges people with mental health difficulties face. She has a particular interest in stigmatisation, young people, and the connections between the occupational sector and the mental health service sectors.

Sidse Arnfred

Sidse M. Arnfred, MD, PhD, DMsc, is a specialist in psychiatry and in family medicine. In her first ten years of research, she investigated neurocognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia, but, inspired by her education within gestalt psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy, for the last eight years she has been devoted to qualitative and quantitative investigations of psychotherapy, communication and psychiatric training.