Author(s)

Gen Nakao

Department of Management, Otemon Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan.

This paper presents an autoethnographic case study in order to discuss interpersonal psychotherapy and work conducted with high-risk adolescents in an urban school setting. The author discusses how the sense-of-the-other developed by counseling sessions possibly fosters a sense of connection for students, and the sense of belonging to a school. This paper argues that counselors often encounter students’ resistance and/or hesitance to mental health counseling because of a lack of awareness of such services within the wider community. Such cultural barriers should be taken into account in order to understand better the lived-experiences of a community. Group sessions, or the facets of the interactions at school that successfully facilitated self-expression, could function as a safe refuge for students and ultimately develop a sense of community. Such an educational context possibly constitutes a link between marginalized individuals and a school in a community.

Sense of Community, Community Building, Autoethnography, Community-Based Participatory Research, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Group Counseling, Urban Education, Counselor Education, New York City

Nakao, G. (2021) Cultivating the Sense-of-the-Other/Sense of Community: An Autoethnographic Case Study of Psychotherapy with High-Risk, Urban Adolescents. Current Urban Studies, 9, 196-205. doi: 10.4236/cus.2021.92012.