Research ArticleAnalysing risk and resilience in the first sand tray of youth at a rural school

•Individual; social; and institutional structures are important influences of risk and resilience in the lives of rural youth.•Risk in rural school youth include violence and a need for protection; unmet needs; and gender inequality and conflict.•Resilience in rural school youth as revealed in the analysisinclude spirituality; fulfilled needs; and a sense of belonging.•There is value in the use of the first sand tray as qualitative assessment tool of risk and resilience in rural schools.

This article outlines how an analysis of a first sand tray of youth at a rural school can be used to identify indicators of risk and resilience. An instrumental case-study design was used to identify risk and resilience in the first sand trays of 25 young people at a rural school in Mpumalanga. The youth were between the ages of 13 and 19 years. Data were gathered in the form of visual data (photographs), client narratives and the reflections of Academic Service Learning students. The findings identified several themes important in risk and resilience. The themes indicated that individual, social and institutional structures are important influences of risk and resilience in the lives of rural school youth. The important themes of risk relate to violence and a need for protection, unmet needs, and gender inequality and conflict. Themes of resilience include spirituality, fulfilled needs and a sense of belonging. These findings contribute to the use of the first sand tray as a qualitative assessment tool for determining risk and resilience in both psychological practice and research.