A young poet takes a tangential approach to the mysteries of life, love, bliss and tears, and from her perspective pens down the songs they sing. Life’s too short to not listen. Observe through a child’s wide-eyed lens as you drift through the ashes of broken empires, warm yourself near the embers of warmth and rebirth, climb mountains made of thoughts and wade through valleys of words.

This series reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the field and includes within its scope international law, anthropology, medicine, geopolitics, social psychology and economics.

Youth and Family Services (YFS) are part of residential and group homes, schools, social service organizations, hospitals, and family court systems. YFS include prevention, education, positive youth development, foster care, child welfare, and treatment. As YFS has evolved advances in research have brought forth a host of promising new ideas that both complement and expand on the original underpinnings of strengths-based practice. Thriving on the Front Lines represents an articulation of these advancements. Thriving on the Front Lines explores the use of strengths-based practices with those who are "in the trenches," Youth Care Worker (YCWs). Commonly referred to as resident counselors, youth counselors, psychiatric technicians (psych techs), caseworkers, case managers, and house parents or managers, YCWs are on the "front lines," often providing services 24 hours a day. Thriving on the Front Lines is an up-to-date treatise on the pivotal role of YCWs and those who work day in and day out with youth to improve their well-being, relationships, and overall quality of life. Unique aspects of the strengths-based framework provided in Thriving on the Front Lines include: Strengths-based principles informed by five decades of research; Discussion of the importance of using real-time feedback to improve service outcomes and "how to" implement an outcome-orientation; Exploration of Positive Youth Development; Two chapters devoted entirely to strengths-based interventions; An in-depth discussion of how to improve effectiveness through deliberate practice; and, How to develop a strengths-based organizational climate.

This book draws together insights on the past, present, and future of youth participatory action research (YPAR) through interviews with ten scholars whose work has been central to the field. In this critical moment, it allows readers to hear from scholars who have been foundational to the visioning and enacting of YPAR projects, as they reflect on the fundamental tenets and boundaries of their work. By engaging directly with leaders in the field, the book allows readers to explore many of the nuances, roots, and tensions of youth participatory action research. Throughout their conversations with scholars, Albright and Brion-Meisels pose three questions: What is the purpose of YPAR, and how does it get defined? What makes for authentic participation, both on the research team itself and in the process of the research? And how, if at all, does YPAR investigate and seek to dismantle existing power structures within schools and communities? In taking an intentionally dialectical approach, this volume builds on the centrality of dialogue in PAR/YPAR processes, both in terms of pedagogy/mode and in terms of content/matter. By sharing direct excerpts of conversations, readers can participate in the co-construction of knowledge, and gain more nuanced understandings of how purpose, participation, and power have shaped the foundations of YPAR, and how they might shape future collaborations. Elucidating the knowledge and perspective of leading YPAR practitioners, this timely book will be crucial reading on Research Methods and Education for Participatory Action Research programs and related courses.

OUR DEAR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN, we have great confidence in you. You are beloved sons and daughters of God and He is mindful of you. You have come to earth at a time of great opportunities and also of great challenges. The standards in this booklet will help you with the important choices you are making now and will yet make in the future. We promise that as you keep the covenants you have made and these standards, you will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, your faith and testimony will grow stronger, and you will enjoy increasing happiness.