Assistant Professor, Human Development and Family Studies
While Philadelphia has been in the spotlight for having the highest overdose death rate of any major U.S. city, the impacts of the opioid and overdose crisis on young people, particularly in regard to parental loss, foster care, and young carers (youth taking care of adults), have been receiving much less attention and fewer resources.
This project addresses this gap in knowledge and services by focusing on Philadelphia youth, using an arts-based, trauma-informed youth participatory action research framework and curriculum. The goals of the research are to advance understanding of the complex resilience, risks, and challenges experienced by young people in Philadelphia from their perspective as well as to engage Penn State students as emerging engaged scholars and practitioners, who may have also impacted by the opioid crisis.
Kristen Goessling, Ph.D., was accepted as a 2019 Community Fellow by the Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse and the Social Science Research Institute to develop this project further.
Awarded: 2018–2019