• Youth Voice: Youth voice refers to the ideas, opinions, attitudes, experiences, and actions of youth as a whole. Youth voice combines many perspectives and experiences of youth from diverse backgrounds, identities, and cultures. Youth voice is an important aspect of Youth development.
• Youth Development: Youth development is a process that supports youth voice and youth empowerment. This process allows youth to develop the skills and abilities to navigate their lives in areas such as social, emotional, and leadership skills.
• Youth Empowerment: Youth empowerment reflects the attitudes, structures, processes whereby young people gain the skills, abilities, and agency to make decisions and create change within their own lives and the lives of their peers. Youth empowerment occurs at home, in schools, in youth groups and throughout the community.
• Adultism: Adultism refers to the power that adults have over youth and children. The principles of youth guided care help to combat adultism so that youth and adults can work together rather than against one another.
• Peer Support: Peer support is a framework in which young adults who have lived through involvement in the mental health, juvenile justice, foster care, and/or special education system(s) work with youth involved in the same systems to support recovery, and youth development, and to empower youth to be involved in taking control of their own lives.
