In youth drug treatment, and other sectors, there is growing reference to the language and practices of ‘strengths-based approaches’. These are thought to offer an alternative to biomedical models of care because they signal a shift away from deficit-based biomedical approaches, giving attention to the social conditions of young people’s lives. Yet, the utility of ‘strengths-based approaches’ really depends on how ‘strengths’ are understood and, to date, this has received little critical attention. In this paper we critically review how marginalized young people’s ‘strengths’ are understood in the research literature, so to better understand the logics on which ‘strengths-based approaches’ are built and, relatedly, how such approaches can be made more relevant to the experiences and social conditions of marginalized young people in drug treatment.
The analysis reveals a range of assumptions. ‘Strengths’ were commonly articulated as individual traits (cognitions, attitudes, skills) that can be drawn on to improve one’s health and social condition, but also learned and moderated through the social environment, which itself was understood in terms of the interpersonal (peer, family and community bonds). This framing reveals a view of the youth subject as rational and self-managing, compelled to draw on their strengths to practice personal transformation despite seemingly overwhelming marginalisation. Thus, while ‘strengths-based approaches’ may offer disruption to entrenched biomedical models, their common articulation in research remains aligned with biomedical logics of self-management. However, strengths as conceived in terms of collective identities and practices for living well may offer more opportunity for reshaping youth drug treatment approaches.