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Gisela Konopka
The
Konopka Institute is named after Gisela Konopka, D.S.W., recognized
for her landmark work with adolescents. Her principles of working with
youth and communities, articulated in a 1973 position paper,
form the foundation upon which this Institute is built and continue to
be consonant with the state and national agenda for promoting the health
and well being of young people.
Konopka Institute's mission is to promote the adoption and adaptation
of strategies, policies and systems that show the greatest promise
of supporting healthy youth development. The overarching goal of the Konopka
Institute is to improve the health and well being of all young people
in Minnesota through a strategy that frames a "healthy youth development"
approach to youth health-related issues, a strategy that incorporates
problem prevention, developmental support, community-based change,
and public policy.
Dr. Konopka, whose career spans more than 60 years, is a pioneer
in the study of adolescent female developmen, culminating in two
books: "Portrait of a Young Girl" and "The Adolescent Girl
in Conflict." She is the author of at least one dozen books and over
300 journal articles.
Dr. Konopka has been the moving force behind numerous innovative methods in
practice and research in social work and youth services. She has been
a leader in making scholarly knowledge about youth available to those
who need it most - the practitioners. It has been her unerring devotion
to making human services humane that has characterized her outstanding
career.
In the early 1970's Dr. Konopka was asked by the U.S. Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare to write a paper articulating
the fundamental requirements for healthy adolescent development. They
remain relevant today and form the foundation from which the Konopka Institute operates.
Youth need to:
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Participate as citizens, as members of a household, as workers, as responsible members of society
- Gain experience in decision making
- Interact with peers, and acquire a sense of belonging
- Reflect on self, in relation to others, and discover
self by looking outward as well as inward
- Discuss conflicting values and formulate one's own value system
- Experiment with one's own identity, with relationships to other people, with ideas; try out various roles without having to commit oneself irrevocably
- Develop a feeling of accountability in the context of a relationship among equals
- Cultivate a capacity to enjoy life
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