Journal of Traumatic Stress· 2026Q1
Safety, stability, and connection: Facilitator perspectives from a youth peer support group for immigrant survivors of trauma and trafficking in Baltimore
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Peer support groups for immigrant youth survivors of trauma and trafficking create stabilizing environments where vulnerability, trust, and protective strategies are revisited and reshaped, enabling youth to expand their capacity to hold multiple emotional states.
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Key points
- Peer support groups for immigrant youth survivors of trauma and trafficking foster stabilizing environments.
- Youth participants revisited and reshaped vulnerability, trust, and protective strategies over time.
- Facilitators observed youth expanding their capacity to hold multiple emotional states in shared space.
- Skill-building activities supported emotional regulation and collective meaning-making.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Immigrant youth who have survived trauma and trafficking face ongoing structural and relational stressors that shape recovery. This qualitative study examined facilitator perspectives of psychosocial support groups within Steps to Success (S2S), a culturally responsive, trauma-informed peer support program serving Spanish-speaking immigrant youth and young adults (ages 15-25) in Baltimore. Guided by trauma-informed care principles and group process theory, facilitator summaries (N = 30) were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: (a) layered emotional experiences, (b) connection as a dynamic process, and (c) skill-building as a support for regulation and collective meaning-making. Peer groups functioned as stabilizing environments where vulnerability, trust, and protective strategies were revisited and reshaped over time. Facilitators described youth expanding their capacity to hold multiple emotional states in shared space through cycles of tension, rupture, and repair, with skill-building activities that engaged sensory, emotional, cognitive, and relational dimensions of healing. The findings underscore recovery as nonlinear, marked by fluctuations in emotional safety, guardedness, relational strain, and renewed engagement rather than sequential improvement.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Clinical Psychology
Clinical PsychologyPsychology