Rachel is a young girl who is seen to suffer from anxiety which is seen to affect her negatively. As she was five years old, she was involved a horrific experience where she was sexually abused by a gang of youths from her neighborhood. The experience traumatized her, and the family had to move to the Midwest area to start a fresh. It took place as she was seven years old, the area they moved to was not pleasing to Rachel it is only that they needed to move and start afresh. She is interested in sports and participates in sports activities that take place in school. Academically she is a smart girl with aspirations to become an engineer. Mathematically she is brilliant and is known to perform well according to her test results. As time passes by, Rachel joins a group of peers who influence her negatively (Paisley & McMahon, 2001).
Firstly, she begins to miss her sports practices and some classes. Other girls start calling her names due to her style of dressing and music. Such treatments make her vulnerable and therefore begins to take part in fights which result in detentions and suspensions. Suspensions are embarrassing, and therefore once she returns, she begins missing school to avoid embarrassment and harassment by the other girls. Her mother notices the changes in her behavior and attitude in life and starts confronting her (Paisley & McMahon, 2001). Confrontation becomes a culture between Rachel and the mother. The father is rarely around due to work, and therefore he is not around to provide support for both Rachel and the mother. Their relationship continues deteriorating and makes her lose hope in ever changing the situation (Paisley & McMahon, 2001).
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Psychologically, it is seen that Rachel is suffering from anxiety which is caused by lack of peace wherever she is. The school is no longer peaceful in fact; she would prefer missing school to avoid being in an embarrassing situation. Rachel would love to be in school and catch up on her academic life to manage to attend college and become an engineer. Her anxiety comes in because her dreams are now going down the drain while she watches due to lack of peace both at home and in school (Paisley & McMahon, 2001).
According to Rachel’s mother, there are several aspects of her behavior that are seen to be portrayed. Firstly, is that she is seen to be sassy, disrespectful and has a ‘don’t care’ attitude. She is perceived as disrespectful because she tends to hang out with a peer group that the mother forbid and she still went ahead spending time with them. Such behavior makes her mother find her disrespectful and does not care about her decisions (Paisley & McMahon, 2001). On the other hand, she changes her behavior and begins to participate in the party life which makes the mother find her sassy. The mother also finds her violent and not cooperative. Due to the fights that she is involved in, she is seen to possess rage that causes conflict. Her lack of cooperation is because she does not change her ways, in fact, she is seen repeating the same mistakes hence the many suspensions (Paisley & McMahon, 2001).
There are factors of family, societal expectations, gender and cultural norms that are seen to affect Rachel. Firstly a family where both parents are busy people with work trying to meet the needs and lifestyle of the household. It means that they spend less time with their children making it hard to understand what they are each experiencing. The fact that both are career oriented parents, they rarely pause to notice the psychological changes taking place in their children. It is seen that the father is rarely seen due to work making it hard for him to notice that Rachel is changing and it is affecting her relationship with the mother (Paisley & McMahon, 2001). Societal expectations is also an aspect that is in every society whereby, people expect certain things from each. In this case, the society expects Rachel to break down due to her experience in life. Her attitude and behavior do not come as news to the society, and therefore it is up to her to change her story. Rachel is of the female gender, and this is what made her vulnerable from the beginning. The fact that she is a girl exposed her to danger with the gang of youths that abused her sexually. It is a despicable act that is costing her as she grows up. Lastly is the cultural norms that are present in the society. Rachel’s community believes in treating people differently just because they dress or do certain things differently. In Rachel’s case, they treated her differently because her style of dressing and music was different. She was called names and even isolated from the rest of her school mates because of that aspect. It helped to push her into the current situation of anxiety and acting out. It has led her to join the peer group of children who felt isolated as she did at that moment (Paisley & McMahon, 2001).
There are a key risk and protective factors that are identified in Rachel’s case. The main risk she is exposed to is psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. Depression is because she feels isolated both in school and at home. She seems like no one understands her at all and therefore finds solace is becoming a loner and associating with those that relate to her feelings. There is the risk that due to her actions of drugs and missing school, she will not succeed career-wise making her give up on her dreams. Due to that she will feel disappointed in herself and becomes depressed. In most cases, those suffering from depression always have suicidal thoughts (Sue, 1990).
There is also the protective factor that is seen in Rachel’s case. Firstly, a protective factor is perceived when the family decides to move to Midwest after she experiences the horrific act. They are trying to protect her from that memory of the despicable act. Their intention is to start a fresh as a family and especially for Rachel. It was like a way to help in the healing process. Secondly, the fact that the mother realizes that the peer group is not the right company for her daughter. She is not impressed with their behavior and therefore tries to ask Rachel not to get involved with the group (Sue, 1990).
Adolescents tend to experience various problems due to certain factors that include family, cultural, societal and environmental factors. According to Rachel’s case, she is seen to experience various problems. Firstly is an emotional change where she begins to change her attitude towards the things she loves. She is in the process of growing up and therefore self-awareness is taking place. As other students start calling her names makes her uncomfortable and lose her self-esteem (Sue, 1990). They call her names because her style does not correspond to that of the culture in school and therefore she is considered weird. Due to this aspect, she is isolated and becomes unmotivated to participate in activities in school both co-curriculum and academically. Secondly is behavior change where Rachel is seen to change her attendance in school both academically and socially. She begins to stop attending sports practices and is seen to skip classes. Her performance is seen to drop due to lack of concentration (Sue, 1990).
Behavior change is a problem seen in adolescents because they tend to start experiencing some freedom. They often do not possess knowledge on how to make some decisions and therefore tend to become rebellious when advised. Rachel is seen to join a peer group that is influencing her negatively. She is pushed to such a position due to family factors. The fact that she is also not comfortable at home makes her try to find a place where she will fit. Her parents are always busy and therefore do not have the time to watch out for her behavior or help her get in the right direction (Sue, 1990).
Lastly is educational challenges where the adolescent begins to deteriorate academically. Rachel, in this case, is seen to undergo such a problem where her academic results start to fail. Her concentration is tampered with because of lack of peace. The school environment is not conducive for her to manage to grasp what her teachers teach. Other girls calling her names and isolating her gives her anxiety and is seen to build up rage leading to fights in school (Sue, 1990).
There are evidence-based plans of intervention or prevention that may be used in helping deal with teenage problems. Firstly in the issue of emotional change, where Rachel is seen to have a different attitude with the things she enjoyed doing. To intervene such a problem, it is advisable to try to understand the reasons as to why the specific negative emotions are coming up. In most cases, this change in emotion is triggered by other factors such as family and society in general. Rachel’s emotional change is brought about by the lack of peace both at home and in school yet this are the places she spends most of her time (Sue, 1990). To prevent such a situation, it is advisable parents become involved in their adolescent’s emotional growth. Rachel’s mother should have given a listening ear to Rachel to understand her more. She should have increased the time she spends with her to notice the various aspects of her life that are changing. It would help ensure that there is peace for her at home. Such a platform would have helped her deal with the bullying in school by others. Her self-esteem would be boosted by her parents, and therefore she would not be offended by the names her peers called her in school for she would be proud of the person she became (Sue, 1990).
Behavior change is another problem seen among adolescents. They tend to change their way of doing things due to the great freedom they begin to experience. Behavior change is perceived in Rachel where she stops attending sports practice and academic classes. She is disrespectful to her mother in that she does not take heed of the advice to keep away from the peer group. Her academic performance is discouraging, and all these changes are due to family and environmental factors. Rachel states that she is not comfortable with her life at home and therefore she is in constant stress. The school is also not peaceful and therefore she is constantly stressed. Due to stress, she lacks concentration of what is important and therefore her performance is weak academically. To intervene or prevent such the problem is to change the situation of the factors surrounding the adolescent. Firstly, the parents should first realize that it is a passing phase. It will help them avoid taking it subjectively but should see it objectively. Gaining the child’s trust is also critical for they will always feel safe telling their parents of the issues they face (Myrick, 1987). Rachel, in this case, does not believe her parents for they do not have time to learn her. It is also critical to intervene as a parent where one sees their child making poor decisions. As they intervene, it is paramount to remember that adolescents do not like criticism, and therefore the intervention should be done strategically without hurting their ego (Myrick, 1987).
Lastly is the educational challenge which is seen among adolescents. Rachel is seen to have experienced the problem once they moved to the Midwest area. She is failing because she lacks concentration in class which is caused by the environmental factors. For an adolescent to concentrate on a certain thing, they require a peaceful environment (Myrick, 1987). If only her school and home environment were friendly, she would not have experienced such a problem. It will act as a prevention method. Intervention can be done through encouraging Rachel to remember her dreams of becoming an engineer. Parents and teachers should work together to ensure that the child’s environment is peaceful enough to help with concentration (Myrick, 1987).
Individual and small group counselling can be done as a form of intervention needed by an adolescent. In Rachel’s school, it is best that counselling sessions are organized for her both individually and in small groups. Individually is to help with her issues back at home. It will give her a platform to speak out of the problems she is experiencing back home. In most cases, adolescents do not like speaking of their problems out loud especially those dealing with family. The small group come in when it comes to issues experienced in the school environment. It will give Rachel a platform to listen to other people’s problems, therefore, helping in boosting her self-esteem and motivation to stand up for herself (Myrick, 1987).
To help with Rachel’s school based issues, it is advisable that she builds her self-esteem back. It can be done through counselling where she will manage to build her courage and learn how to be strong enough no matter what is said to her. The advice will enable her to see herself better than what is said about her by others. An intervention for the family issues could be an increase of parent-child bonding time (Myrick, 1987). Rachel is having issues with her mother because she feels misunderstood by the mother. It takes place because the mother is always working and only gives a little time to Rachel. The probability of understanding Rachel’s behavior, emotional and education change is difficult. To intervene the situation, it is advised that they spend more time to help in building their relationship (Myrick, 1987).
Other school staff and professionals may be required in the intervention and prevention process. Teachers are paramount in the process for they understand the children most in the school set up. They will help in creating the conducive environment for change in an adolescent’s life (Paisley & Borders, 1995). Teenagers tend to have a high metabolism and therefore eat a lot. The cooks should ensure that they consume a balanced diet to avoid nutritious diseases. School nurses help in ensuring that the children are in healthy to avoid sicknesses that may affect the child’s academic performance.
Creating healthy relationships between children and parents is a prevention strategy that would help deal with the risk factors. Children tend to look up to their parents for a shoulder to lean on and are considered the safe place. As a parent, creating a healthy relationship with one’s children will help build trust. Trust will contribute to ensuring that they open up about the issues they face in life. It will make it easier for a parent to offer counsel to an adolescent of which they will heed the advice. All this assist in ensuring that there is peace at home and therefore the child is always motivated (Paisley & Borders, 1995).
Education is a critical aspect of every society. Both family and adolescent may benefit greatly from education which will, therefore, help prevent risk factors. Once they are educated, it means that they reason differently. The family will be able to identify the fact that it is all a phase that passes with time and therefore help in ensuring the process does not affect the adolescent’s life negatively. The adolescent should also be educated about it helps in ensuring that despite the various changes taking place, the adolescent can maintain their self-esteem and make the right decisions (Paisley & Borders, 1995).
In counselling of adolescents, some factors are critical and will help with intervention and prevention of the teen’s issues. Firstly is to ensure that there is a proper understanding of the counselling theories, strategies and models that will help come up with intervention and prevention plans. A counsellor should make sure that they understand the various strategies, design and theories of counselling because they are the foundation of advice (Bradley & Fiorini, 1999). It will assist the counsel to assess every case that is presented to them objectively and come up with a solution on how to solve it. Secondly, a counsellor should manage to have influence in the institution through coming up with systematic, intrapersonal and interpersonal barriers that may prevent learning and grasping of higher education opportunities. The purpose of attending school is to gain knowledge and manage to build a career that will require higher education. A counsellor that can ensure students have focused academically and are inspired to pursue higher education is paramount in school.
It is possible for the criteria to work for both the adolescent and family. Firstly the theories, strategies and models will help manage to communicate to both the family and adolescent. Rachel could use a counsellor that knows to strategically communicate with her and building trust in a way that she can open up and advice given is effective (Myrick, 1987). Managing of influence is the second criteria that are suggested and will help the growing focus on their career. A better understanding of the intrapersonal and interpersonal barriers will assist the counsellor to identify the best strategy to tackle a particular obstacle. It will assist in the type of counsel given to an adolescent that will help them focus academically and maintain the motivation to pursue higher education.
There are strengths depicted through completion of the course that would be effective while working with adolescents, children and families. Becoming a good listener is critical. Anyone undergoing counselling always requires a listening ear and therefore becoming quiet and letting them talk is part of therapy (Paisley & Borders, 1995). It will ease the process of counselling for there will be some form of trust build. Patience is also another strength where the counsellor requires to be patient. Adolescents and children tend to lose concentration, and their process of counselling may take longer as compared to an adult, and therefore patience is required.
There are areas of development that may be useful for a school counsellor. Firstly is the ability to identify and use avocation, occupation, career, education, information systems and labor market information to give practical counsel on matters to do with adolescents and families (Sue, 1990). Secondly is the various approaches that would assist in assessing conditions and environment of a client and their experiences. Understanding the customer is critical before providing the required counsel that will be precise and helpful.
In conclusion, children and adolescents are vulnerable individuals in the society. They constantly need guidance as they grow up and experience the different phases of growth (Paisley & McMahon, 2001). There are cases where the children lack enough guidance and love, and therefore their reaction during the phases become exaggerated. To ease the process, institutions tend to embrace having a counsellor in school. The counsellor is to provide insight on the psychological situation of every child and adolescents. Some cases may require the family to undergo counselling to witness useful results. School counsellors have an obligation to be patient and good listeners to ensure adequate results.
References
Bradley, C., & Fiorini, J. (1999). Evaluation of counseling practicum: National study of programs accredited by CACREP. Counselor Education and Supervision , 39 (2), 110-119.
Myrick, R. D. (1987). Developmental guidance and counseling: A practical approach . Educational Media Corporation, PO Box 21311, Minneapolis, MN 55421.
Paisley, P. O., & Borders, L. D. (1995). School counseling: An evolving specialty. Journal of Counseling and Development: JCD , 74 (2), 150.
Paisley, P. O., & McMahon, G. (2001). School counseling for the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities. Professional School Counseling , 5 (2), 106-116.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (1990). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice.
