Psychosocial support circles for adolescents on the US-Mexico border

Highlights

In 2021-2022 UNICEF adapted the Adolescent Kit’s guides, tools and activities to create a package of programme guidance and activities for in an arts-based psychosocial support programme for migrant adolescents in the United States. It was designed primarily for use by staff working with and for unaccompanied adolescents at emergency reception sites on the United States’ border with Mexico. 

The package supports a programme designed to support adolescents in coping with stressful circumstances, building healthy relationships, learning new skills, and engaging positively with those around them. It consists of a structured sequence of activities that groups of adolescents (ages 10-18) can move through together (in “circles”) in a safe space, and on a regular basis. The “circles” can be carried out as a stand alone programme, or integrated with existing programmes and activities.

The package includes:

• A programme guide, which provides an overview of the programme, together with guidance and tools for programme coordinators and facilitators to work directly with adolescents through the Adolescent Kit’s “Adolescent Circles” approach
• An activity pack of 38 in-depth activities to conduct in Adolescent Circles, together with 20 energizers. Each activity was selected specifically for the US-Mexico border context.
• A “COVID-adapted activity pack,” with guidance and adapted activities from the Adolescent Kit’s self-guided learning resources, that can be carried out when groups of adolescents are unable to come together (due to public health restrictions or for other reasons related to their safety). Activities are designed to be carried out via an array of adapted methods of delivery for virtual and physical spaces for individual adolescents, in family units, small groups, and an array of other modalities adaptable to restrictions and safety protocols.