Mindfulness Training as an Intervention for Substance User Incarcerated Adolescents: A Pilot Grounded Theory Study
Substance Use & Misuse March 11, 2014 Sam Himelstein, Stephen Saul, Albert Garcia‐romeu et al. 28 citations
Teaching mindfulness to incarcerated adolescent substance users requires adapting instruction to their developmental stage, trauma histories, and restricted environment. Over one year, interviews with ten adolescents in an urban California detention facility revealed that effective teaching involves building trust, using concrete language, keeping sessions short, and integrating movement. The initial grounded theory emphasizes relationship, relevance, and repetition as core components. The findings suggest that standard mindfulness curricula need modification for this population, and that even within constraints, adolescents can engage with mindfulness practices.