How can we provide the most appropriate care for the most vulnerable young people? That question is the guiding principle behind Nijhof's research project. To find the answer, she is investigating various factors. One of these is the role of (chronic) stress, both in these young people and their parents and in the professionals who support them.
“Problem behaviour often stems from pain, feelings of insecurity or stress and has an important physical component that is still too often not recognised or acknowledged. In my research, I therefore assign an important role to the effect of body-oriented interventions,” explains Nijhof. “In addition, stress in the workplace among professionals receives little attention, even though it can have an impact on their actions. This chair gives me the opportunity to increase knowledge in both areas and contribute to recovery, resilience and growth.”
Transformation
The way youth care is currently organised can perpetuate stress and thus hinder recovery. Nijhof's research therefore also focuses on what is needed to create youth care in which peace, safety and connection are central. She advocates a transformation: 'To achieve real change in specialist youth care, a fundamental cultural and systemic change is needed. A change that will only come about if we see youth care as a people-oriented, relational system. Pluryn sees this as an important social task, which in recent years has translated into, for example, more small-scale residential youth care. That is a step in the right direction.'
Person-centred care
As a major national player in youth care, Pluryn wants to continue to develop in the coming years as a specialist provider of person-centred care to vulnerable young people and families. The special professorship underlines that ambition, according to Mirjam van den Nieuwenhuijzen, director at Pluryn. ‘The chair offers us the opportunity to develop knowledge, research and education that we can apply to improve the quality of care for young people and families, to support professionals in their work and to stimulate a learning culture within and between organisations. In doing so, we make a difference for our employees, clients and their families and position ourselves to work with others to achieve a nationwide care landscape.’
About Karin Nijhof
Karin Nijhof (Apeldoorn, 1982) studied Educational Sciences at Radboud University (2000-2004). She then conducted research into youth crime at the Gelderland police force. In 2012, she obtained her PhD from Radboud University with a thesis on Youth Care Plus. As a senior researcher at Pluryn, she conducted research into the physiological aspects and recovery from chronic stress in young people in residential youth care and the effectiveness of body-oriented interventions, including through the use of technology.
Over the years, her work has expanded to include the impact of stress on – and support for – professionals in residential youth care and how the organisation of youth care can contribute to the growth and recovery of young people. Nijhof is the author of the book “Girls in care: Identification, prevention and treatment” (2014). Since 2020, she has also been working as a senior researcher at the Academic Workplace for At-Risk Youth. In that position, she was project leader for the development of the national StroomOP Monitor and is one of the initiators of the Consortium for Small-Scale Youth Care. She is also a board member of the Dutch Association for Youth Forensic Behavioural Experts (EFCAP-NL).