A Refresher on Developmental Theory and Youth Work in The Salvation Army

Yesterday in our Youth Work Leadership class at Railton School for Youth Worker Training, Dr. Dennis VanderWheele was teaching through Erikson's stages of development. I have walked through Developmental theory a hundred and one times, but yesterday, Denny helped me to link this theory to youth work in a way that I had never thought of previously. His insight was brilliant and got me thinking on a train of thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head. For my own sanity, I have recorded it on my blog. I hope this helps others who are interested in this area of study.

In Erikson's stages of development, the logical progression of psychosocial development would transition through these crises:

• Trust
• Autonomy
• Initiative
• Industry
• Identity
• Intimacy

[There's a lot more to Erikson's developmental model, but for the purposes of this post, I will just be dealing with these elements].

To clarify, Erikson, along with other 'ages and stages' theorists would seek to tack on specific ages to chronicle psychosocial development with physical and chronological development. Denny had an important clarification that the development of identity/identities (which is not limited to one moment in life, but is an ongoing process throughout all of life) is largely built upon the foundations of trust, autonomy, initiative and industry.

In a normative environment, traditional microsystems such as parent, sibling, teacher would help a child/teen navigate through these stages of development. In less normative environments - youth who would come from 'communities at-risk'* might not have the psychosocial support systems to help meet these needs through traditional means. What happens to these children and youth? (*note on communities at-risk: this does not necessarily have to be defined geographically or even economically. See the Search Institute's Forty Developmental Assets to explore this in greater depth).

Larry Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg and Steve Van Bockern wrote a wonderful book called Reclaiming Youth At-Risk in which they introduce a wonderful model called the 'Circle of Courage.' In this model, they identify that youth have a significant need for:

• Belonging
• Independence
• Mastery
• Generosity

These needs (or 'assets') might be [a] unfulfilled, [b] negatively fulfilled, or [c] positively fulfilled. Each possibility normally results in a series of emotional and behavioral outcomes - some positive, others negative. A major question which they ask is 'how can we reclaim kids who have a unfulfilled or negatively fulfilled need and create an positive environment which can facilitate a transition towards a positive fulfillment of these needs? Much of the work of the Reclaiming Youth Network has sought to identify strategies to do so.

However, Denny's class yesterday helped me to link the work described above with Erikson's model of psychosocial development.

For example, a young man who is living in an inner-city neighborhood might find a sense of identity in a gang. A gang cultivates trust. It fosters autonomy. Even initiative and industry are a part of this world. So when it comes to identity formation, a gang provides all of the psychosocial scaffolding needed to fulfill 'the needs' of youth at-risk. The problem is that, like in the Circle of Courage model, these needs are being fulfilled in a negative, antisocial way.

In describing this scenario to Denny, I asked him, "How then is it possible for a youth worker to penetrate the microsystem of the gang, help the gang member recognize that the identity embraced places them at-risk and help that person construct an alternative, more positively-fulfilled identity?"

Dr. VanderWheele paused for a moment and then said, it requires that we move to the next stage, intimacy - by cultivating deep, genuine relationships, intimacy helps to provide a bridge to a second, alternative possible world in which trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity can be cultivated. Mentoring and the creation of positive peer cultures are critical to reclaiming children and youth.

Often people bifurcate program and relationship - suggesting that this is an either/or choice. However, both are absolutely necessary to help cultivate a positive, psychosocial support system. Programs create a context in which intimate relationships can be cultivated, trust can be built, agency can be initiated, where industry can create purpose and ultimately where alternative, positive identities can be forged. Such programs help to constuct an alternative, positive environment or culture which can serve as another possible world to negative influences such as gangs. However, there needs to be an intentionality behind these programs that requires creativity, commitment and continuous assessment. Such programs need to continually evaluate whether they are aiding the the positive psychosocial development of youth. [For more on this, I would recommend reading Milbrey McLaughlin's brilliant report and strategy outlined in Commuity Counts.]

So how does this apply to Salvation Army youth work?

Youth work has always been (and always will be) a top priority in the overarching mission of The Salvation Army. [For more on this, see my history of Salvation Army youth work timeline.] From our earliest of days, The Salvation Army has focused on the best strategies to holistically reclaim children and youth for Christ. This can be seen in everything from Corps-based ministries like Junior Soldiers and Corps Cadets; to life-skills programs like Boys Adventure Corps, Sunbeams; to after-school programs, orphanages, schools; to addressing child labor issues, human sex trafficking, etc. While some of the earliest literature in modern psychology was being written, The Salvation Army was working with the last, the lost and the least children and youth. As a result, we have been interested in salvation - being the eternal and temporal well-being of children and youth.

While the ministry of The Salvation Army begins with psychosocial- and moral- development, it also emphasizes the spiritual development of youth. Both are critical parts of our holistic mission. We are called to meet human need as motivated by gospel conviction. Yet ultimately, our desire is to expand temporal redemption to eternal redemption as can be fully realized in the life-transforming grace to be found in relationship with Jesus Christ. Not only do we want to construct an alternative identity which saves youth from prison, economic hardship, abuse, etc. - but we also want to construct the identity which comes from becoming a 'new creation in Christ.' When a relationship with Christ is embraced, this cultivates trust, autonomy, initiative, inspiration and most certainly identity.

With such a large, overarching mission, I would argue that all of the programs that are available through Salvation Army ministries provide some of the most profound opportunities to create these alternative, positive environments that can help to truly reclaim children and youth. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we do our utmost to, as our slogan says, "do the most good" when it comes to these initiatives. I think that Erikson's framework provides an essential evaluative tool that can aid us in our attempt to achieve that goal.

So, a simple class on a classic developmental theory sent me on a journey to explore youth work through a whole new lens. This is something that I will remember for a long time.

Thank you, Denny for being willing to sacrifice time and energy to train our students.