Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness 2.5 (TYOH 2.5)

The idea for this study came from the research team's current study called Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness (TYOH) 2.0, which provides coaching and a leadership guide to youth transitioning out of homelessness. Based on feedback from youth and coaches involved in that study, the research team plans to make small changes to the leadership guide and see if it works better as an in-person, four-week leadership program.

All participants in this study will be invited to attend an in-person, four-week leadership program. There will be two programs running at the same time: one in St. Catharines and one in Toronto. The goal is to have 15 participants in each program.

The main purpose of the study is to learn what participants think of the program. The second purpose is to see if there are changes in identity capital (feeling a sense of purpose and confidence in achieving goals) and knowledge about things that are covered in the program, when the research team compares participants' answers at the beginning and at the end of the program.

This project builds on the research team's current community-based randomized clinical trial (Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness 2.0) utilizing coaching and a co-designed leadership guide to target identity capital (purpose, control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem) for youth transitioning out of homelessness (all participants are also receiving rent subsidies). Based on preliminary feedback from study youth and coaches involved in the intervention arm, the research team will modify the leadership guide and pilot it in the form of an in-person, four-week leadership program (vs. independent learning in the current study).

The overarching objective of this mixed methods pilot project is to co-develop and test a strengths-based leadership program targeting identity capital for youth (16-24 years of age) transitioning out of homelessness. Specifically, the objectives are to:

1. Modify the leadership guide being used in the research team's current study so it can be delivered as an in-person leadership program.
2. Co-develop and pilot a four-week, strengths-based leadership program for young people transitioning out of homelessness.
3. Determine the feasibility and acceptability of the leadership guide when delivered as a four-week, in-person program (as opposed to independent learning in the current study).
4. Examine whether self-reported measures of identity capital and knowledge of program material show improvement immediately post-program compared to baseline.
5. Explore whether there are differences in outcomes by sub-groups (e.g., gender, age, identification as 2SLGBTQ+, child welfare involvement) and/or program participation levels.

If this modified delivery of the leadership guide shows promise, the research team plans to incorporate it into a national scale-up alongside rent subsidies and coaching.

Eligibility Criteria:
Eligible young people aged 16-24 years who have transitioned out of homelessness (e.g., no longer living in a shelter or couch surfing), defined as 3 consecutive months within the past 12 months, will be identified by community partners (note: for the purpose of this study, youth living in foster care will be considered homeless).

This age mandate was chosen because this is the age group served by the community partners. The research team has chosen to target the first year of exiting homelessness because collective experience has shown that this can be a particularly precarious time for youth in terms of mental health challenges and risk of (re)experiencing homelessness (even if youth have attempted exits in the past).

Inclusion Criteria:

* Be able to provide free and informed consent.
* Be able to understand English (leadership program and data collection will be conducted in English).
* Have experienced homelessness (e.g., unstable housing arrangements including shelter stays, foster care, and couch surfing) for 3 consecutive months in the past 12 months.
* Be able to consistently attend the four-week leadership program.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Enrolled in a program or study with similar features to the TYOH 2.5 leadership program.