Community Strengths That Support Rural Alaska Native Youth: “They’re There for One Another”

This paper describes Alaska Native youth-identified community strengths that support young people’s well-being. Youth from three rural Alaska communities were engaged by the research team in digital storytelling and photovoice to explore their perspectives on what their communities were already undertaking to support youth. Each youth participant was then invited to complete an interview, which was then transcribed, coded, and qualitatively analyzed by the research team leads. The community strengths described by young people align with several community-level protective factors identified in a parent study as associated with reduced risk of youth suicide. Findings illustrate that protective communities help young people build and maintain supportive relationships with community members, family, and peers, and promote their connection to their culture, including by providing opportunities to learn their language, history, and culture; to be out on the land hunting and fishing; and to practice traditional ceremonies and spirituality. Communities implementing initiatives that support these factors may protect young people from youth suicide.