Reconstructing Adolescent Identity within the Context of Family Violence

Abstract

This article qualitatively explores a psycho-educational strategy, using a visual creative medium as a method for reconstructing adolescent identity within the context of family violence. The psycho-educational strategy was applied with 12 adolescent participants over five sessions with the intention to bring about awareness of the configuration process of identity. Through identifying and naming the different parts of identity, a reconstructed identity can be formed. The findings of the study revealed that through the psycho-educational strategy, adolescents’ heightened awareness led to healthier contact-making with the self and therefore facilitated a healthier configuration process of identity. The findings further show that the adolescents became more self-empowered and resilient to change and to redefine who they were within this family violence triad, and had more control in how they foresaw their future.