December Lunchtime Talk
Wednesday 10th of November
December Lunchtime Talk – “It started at home”: Prevention of Youth Homelessness, An Exploration of Mediation in Networks of Care and Place Attachment
Date: Wednesday 15th of December
Time: 1pm
“It all started at home… arguing didn’t stop, I didn’t know how it was going to end” (Young Person, 2021). This presentation draws upon preliminary findings from participatory research undertaken in the case study country of Wales. It focuses upon in-depth biographical interviews and network activities, undertaken with young people at risk of homelessness, who have experienced family mediation. Semi-structured interviews undertaken with mediation workers and key informants are also drawn upon. Peer researchers are involved throughout the research from fieldwork to conclusions. Focusing upon the themes of conflict, care, networks, home and place-attachment, this paper offers a rare critique of the merging homelessness prevention paradigm – challenging the conceptualisation of prevention by considering the importance of the extent to which interventions enable ontological security and the feeling of ‘home’.
Speaker:
Nia Ffion Rees, Cardiff University.
Nia Rees’ areas of interest broadly lie within housing insecurity, homelessness, youth studies and inequality. Her PhD examines the dominant responses to tackling youth homelessness – mediation, aiming to offer a rare critique of this intervention mechanism. Nia has undertaken research at a global level, including exploring the housing pathways of young people, Peru; informal trade and child labour, Tanzania. As Research Consultant for The Wallich and Policy and Research Manager for Llamau, Nia has undertaken research which has impacted on service provision for homelessness young people in Wales. Nia appreciates the contributions of service users and peer researchers and aims to ensure their voices are heard through participatory research.