The Infinite Pleasure of Reading

Irene Vallejo11 has perfectly demonstrated the accuracy of Nuccio Ordine’s thesis on the usefulness of the useless. In a screenobsessed world that often destroys our serenity and the pleasure to be found in slowness, this wonderful author has found a direct line to the relevance of the ancient world and, by extension, to the world of books and many of the things they do to make life worth living. Kant distinguished between what has a price – and what has dignity.

He Waka Eke Noa at Korowai Manaaki: A Process Evaluation of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-informed skills programme for young people in a secure youth justice residence

<p>Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) aims to help people live a life worth living. It has increasingly been developed and adapted to address a range of mental health symptoms across different ages, cognitive abilities and environmental contexts; however, its popularity in implementation has outpaced empirical research. The current study was a Process Evaluation which assessed professionals’ perspectives about a DBT-informed skills group called He Waka Eke Noa operating at Korowai Manaaki – a youth justice secure residence in New Zealand (NZ). The study involved 11 interviews with professionals across two organisations involved in facilitating He Waka Eke Noa and/or supporting the young people who participated. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews and three overarching themes were identified. The first theme, ‘Factors influencing practical effectiveness’, explored areas which professionals highlighted as having a significant impact on how He Waka Eke Noa worked and had three subthemes: ‘Generalisability’, ‘Cultural Responsivity’, and ‘Criminal Justice Environment’. The second theme, ‘Theoretical application of DBT to young people in NZ’ investigated the compatibility of DBT with young people in secure youth justice residences in NZ. The final theme, ‘Motivation’, considered the role that motivation played in engagement and continuation of treatment for people involved in He Waka Eke Noa. The findings from this study shed light on how the group was operating and highlighted the importance of the relationship between facilitators and young people. It identified the challenges He Waka Eke Noa faced including the difficulty of balancing a risk-reduction approach with creating a therapeutic environment. Further developments are considered that would assist He Waka Eke Noa in maximising its effectiveness through increasing resources and ensuring diversity amongst the clinicians (e.g., increasing cultural diversity). The thesis concludes with recommendations for the future direction of operation, for example, rolling out DBT-informed skills groups in other residences and the community; and potential research avenues.</p>

He Waka Eke Noa at Korowai Manaaki: A Process Evaluation of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-informed skills programme for young people in a secure youth justice residence

<p>Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) aims to help people live a life worth living. It has increasingly been developed and adapted to address a range of mental health symptoms across different ages, cognitive abilities and environmental contexts; however, its popularity in implementation has outpaced empirical research. The current study was a Process Evaluation which assessed professionals’ perspectives about a DBT-informed skills group called He Waka Eke Noa operating at Korowai Manaaki – a youth justice secure residence in New Zealand (NZ). The study involved 11 interviews with professionals across two organisations involved in facilitating He Waka Eke Noa and/or supporting the young people who participated. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews and three overarching themes were identified. The first theme, ‘Factors influencing practical effectiveness’, explored areas which professionals highlighted as having a significant impact on how He Waka Eke Noa worked and had three subthemes: ‘Generalisability’, ‘Cultural Responsivity’, and ‘Criminal Justice Environment’. The second theme, ‘Theoretical application of DBT to young people in NZ’ investigated the compatibility of DBT with young people in secure youth justice residences in NZ. The final theme, ‘Motivation’, considered the role that motivation played in engagement and continuation of treatment for people involved in He Waka Eke Noa. The findings from this study shed light on how the group was operating and highlighted the importance of the relationship between facilitators and young people. It identified the challenges He Waka Eke Noa faced including the difficulty of balancing a risk-reduction approach with creating a therapeutic environment. Further developments are considered that would assist He Waka Eke Noa in maximising its effectiveness through increasing resources and ensuring diversity amongst the clinicians (e.g., increasing cultural diversity). The thesis concludes with recommendations for the future direction of operation, for example, rolling out DBT-informed skills groups in other residences and the community; and potential research avenues.</p>

Dynamic Pathways to Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder

Alcohol use disorder is by far the most prevalent substance use disorder in the general population and is a major contributor to disease worldwide. Recovery from the disorder is a dynamic process of change, and individuals take many different routes to resolve their alcohol problems and seek to achieve a life worth living. Total abstention is not the only solution and robust recovery involves more than changing drinking practices. This volume brings together multidisciplinary research on recovery processes, contexts, and outcomes as well as new ideas about the multiple pathways involved. Experts chart the individual, social, contextual, community, economic, regulatory, policy, and structural influences that are vital to understanding alcohol use disorder and recovery. The book recommends new approaches to conceptualizing and assessing recovery alongside new avenues for research, community engagement, and policy that constitute a major shift in the practice and policy landscape.

A Place to Call My Own: Navigating Life in the Margins

<p>This thesis explores the lives of people who are, or have recently been, living on the streets in Wellington City. It examines what it means to ‘be and belong’ while living on the streets, the ways in which Streeties become existentially and discursively ‘homeless’, what it means to feel ‘at home’ in the world, and the ways Streeties attempt to make a life worth living on the margins. It does this by exploring the way Streeties carve out new spaces for living in the city, how they construct their sense of self, and the ways in which they hope for a better life. Many of these Streeties had been rejected from the traditional channels which distribute socially legitimate forms of personhood and meaning, while others had actively rejected these channels for impinging on their ability to live a dignified life. Consequently, they have had to carve out new ways of relating to themselves and asserting their autonomy. None of them, however, wanted their autonomy to come at the expense of others. In fact, their struggles for autonomy were also simultaneously struggles for belonging - their autonomy was never isolated or bounded, but was always related to a respect for their position as individuals within wider systems of relations that contained relatives, other Streeties, members of the public, special places, worldviews or spiritual beliefs. The thesis is part ethnographic film, and part written thesis. The film is included on a USB accompanying this thesis.</p>

A Place to Call My Own: Navigating Life in the Margins

<p>This thesis explores the lives of people who are, or have recently been, living on the streets in Wellington City. It examines what it means to ‘be and belong’ while living on the streets, the ways in which Streeties become existentially and discursively ‘homeless’, what it means to feel ‘at home’ in the world, and the ways Streeties attempt to make a life worth living on the margins. It does this by exploring the way Streeties carve out new spaces for living in the city, how they construct their sense of self, and the ways in which they hope for a better life. Many of these Streeties had been rejected from the traditional channels which distribute socially legitimate forms of personhood and meaning, while others had actively rejected these channels for impinging on their ability to live a dignified life. Consequently, they have had to carve out new ways of relating to themselves and asserting their autonomy. None of them, however, wanted their autonomy to come at the expense of others. In fact, their struggles for autonomy were also simultaneously struggles for belonging - their autonomy was never isolated or bounded, but was always related to a respect for their position as individuals within wider systems of relations that contained relatives, other Streeties, members of the public, special places, worldviews or spiritual beliefs. The thesis is part ethnographic film, and part written thesis. The film is included on a USB accompanying this thesis.</p>

April 27, 2005—Holding On

The main subject of this dialogue is facing, accepting, and yielding to death. Nell is managing physical decline and finding meaning in mortal time, recurrent themes in our conversations. She succinctly describes her plan for making sense of death, but she recognizes that her self-prescription is not easy to fulfill. Facing death requires detaching from activities that give meaning and link Nell to the broader world. On most days, she lacks the energy to engage the outside world; she is housebound. In his autobiography, Dr. Paul Kalanithi presents an example of yielding as he describes his slow decline due to lung cancer. Nell is facing death directly like Dr. Kalanithi, with grace, until the very end, literally editing from her deathbed. Nell addresses a central question throughout these dialogues: What makes life worth living when death is imminent? We discuss security objects and Nell tells me about parish priest Fr. Jay, who gives her a ceramic angel when he administers the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. She finds comfort in consoling iconography and holding on to her rosary, a crucifix, angels, and the Buddha.