Working with Adolescents

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Working with Adolescents
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Issues in working with Adolescents(in general)

• Behavior as a reflection of needs
• - personal needs and distress

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Issues in working with Adolescents(in general)

• Behavior as a reflection of needs
• Teen attitude
• - expect this at times looks different for
  every teen

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Issues in working with Adolescents(in general)

• Behavior as a reflection of needs
• Teen attitude
• Normal developmental issues vs. mental health
  issues
• - needs to form an identity, develop social
  skills, determine values

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Issues in working with Adolescents(in general)

• Behavior as a reflection of needs
• Teen attitude
• Normal developmental issues vs. mental health
  issues
• Mistrust of adults
• - becomes intensified if youth has previous
  experiences of adults as undependable and
  manipulative

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Issues in working with Adolescents(in general)

• Behavior as a reflection of needs
• Teen attitude
• Normal developmental issues vs. mental health
  issues
• Mistrust of adults
• Respect has to be earned
• - cannot be compelled (speaks to mistrust of
  adults)

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Issues in working with Adolescents(in general)

• Behavior as a reflection of needs
• Teen attitude
• Normal developmental issues vs. mental health
  issues
• Mistrust of adults
• Respect has to be earned
• Peers opinions more important than adults
• - peers are also viewed as more important than
  the family

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Public Policy towards Adolescents

• American society is afraid of our youth
• American culture likes to say we value our
  children, but there is no action behind it
• Americans spend more money on their pets than
  they do on children

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• - have a history of multiple placements,
  multiple reunification and separation from
  siblings

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• - may appear to be indifferent, sense of
  hopelessness

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• Concept of Responsibility is different
• - have difficulty in creating following
  through with competent decisions may not be able
  to recognize the consequences to decisions
  impulsivity, usually to satisfy gratification

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• Concept of Responsibility is different
• Need a Sense of purpose
• - their sense of their own value has been
  minimized may verbalize feelings like Whats
  the point?, unless they have opportunities to be
  of value to others (youths long for a sense of
  importance)

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• Concept of Responsibility is different
• Need a Sense of purpose
• Academic achievement
• - may be lacking in basic numeracy and literacy
  skills due to failure of systems to catch early
  education difficulties

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• Concept of Responsibility is different
• Need a Sense of purpose
• Academic achievement
• In need of academic skills
• - difficulties in being able to attend to tasks,
  follow directions, etc.. as such, this
  predisposes youth to failure in school

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• Concept of Responsibility is different
• Need a Sense of purpose
• Academic achievement
• In need of academic skills
• Self-esteem and self-concept needs bolstering
• - experiences may have created a learned
  insecurity creates spiraling, self-fulfilling
  prophecy for the youth
• ex feeling of inadequacy reinforced by adult
  criticizing that youth cant do anything right

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Issues Associated with At-Risk Youth

• Past destructive relationships
• Tendency to have negative expectations
• Concept of Responsibility is different
• Need a Sense of purpose
• Academic achievement
• In need of academic skills
• Self-esteem and self-concept needs bolstering
• Coping skills with stress
• - uses evasive strategies, i.e., compulsive
  acting out, withdrawal, denial, OR succumb to
  anxiety and depression

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Forms of Resistance

• Silence / Monosyllables
• - defense mechanisms against the anxiety of the
  situation
• - way for the youth to feel some control in a
  perceived dangerous situation
• Emotional distancing
• - will not allow self to be vulnerable to you
  relationship remains on the surface

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Pitfalls for the Worker

• Professional Dishonesty
• The lie of adult morality workers paint a
  picture of themselves and their world as one
  where only high values and morals prevail which
  is contradictory to the teens experiences
• Therefore, concludes that adults can only be
  pretentious

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• Recognize that the youth you are dealing with
  may never be able to achieve the same level of
  life you have

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Recognize the youths impact on you

• Teens will challenge and attack ones value
  system
• Working with youth will raise ones own issues
  during adolescence
• Easy to lose impartiality
• Over-identifying with the youth results on loss
  of objectivity

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Your use of self is the most effective tool in
  working with teens

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Understand the significance of relationships to
  the youth
• - your ability to impact the youth is based on
  your ability to develop a positive relationship
  with the youth relationship is an action, not a
  feeling
• - relationship building is an endurance event

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Listen
• - youths feel understood if they know you are
  paying attention to what is being said
• - avoid the technique of parroting things back

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Avoid moralizing
• - avoid remarks or comments that the youth would
  have heard from his/her parents or adults

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Be aware of the context of the teens family

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Validate feelings

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Be real
• teens sense a workers insecurity by excessive
  professionalism or pomposity
• - level of directness that requires sharing what
  the worker is feeling

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Be honest
• - if youre not truthful, how can you expect the
  teen to be

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Be available
• - allows worker to deal with incidents while
  its still fresh in the youths experience,
  instead of waiting for the scheduled
  appointment.

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Find ways to empower the youth
• - guidance vs. fixing it for them
• - engage the youth in activities / exercises
  that build self-esteem, self-confidence
• - identify and build on the youths strengths

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Keep a sense of humor

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Ways to effectively work with Teens

• Clarify the limits

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An encouraged teenager has the courage to
cooperate, try new things, and be responsible.
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Working with Gay Lesbian Youth

• Mallon,G.P. (2001) Lesbian and gay youth issues.
  Washington DC CWLA Press

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Why do we need to understand the issues
associated with gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender youth (GLBT)?
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• This is a largely misunderstood and underserved
  population
• Of gay lesbian youth in child welfare settings,
  70 reported being victims of physical violence
  because of their sexual orientation 90
  reported verbal harassment
• They are at risk to experience verbal harassment
  or physical violence within schools, families,
  and communities

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Why do we need to understand the issues
associated with gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender youth (GLBT)?

• GLBT youth tend be viewed by society as
  disposable individuals
• The stress GLBT youth experience can manifest
  symptoms such as depression, anxiety, suicidal
  behavior, somatic disorders as well as create
  risk for substance use
• The problems encountered by GLBT and their
  families are frequently ignored and largely
  unrecognized

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Defining GLBT Dispelling Myths(gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender)

• Can someone be GLBT without ever having a
  homosexual experience or relationship?
• Yes. Sexual orientation has more to do with
  internal feelings ones sense of fit rather
  than actual sexual experience

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Defining GLBT Dispelling Myths(gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender)

• Can someone have homosexual feelings and not be
  GLBT?
• Yes. Human sexuality is very complex and not
  easily separated into rigid categories. It is
  normal for a gay or lesbian person to be
  attracted to someone of the opposite gender just
  as it is perfectly normal for a heterosexual
  person to have strong feelings for a person of
  the same gender.

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Defining GLBT Dispelling Myths(gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender)

• Can a person become GLBT?
• No. No more than a person can become
  heterosexual. Since sexual identity comes from an
  internal sense of fit, most GLBT persons become
  aware of these feelings as they grow.

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Defining GLBT Dispelling Myths(gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender)

• Heterocentrism
• Refers to the result of heterosexual privilege
  and is analogous to racism, sexism and other
  ideologies of oppression (Pharr, 1988). Describes
  the systemic display of discrimination against
  gay lesbian people in major social institutions

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Strength-based Approaches to Working with GLBT
Youths and Their Families

• Assessment
• - understand that gay or lesbian identity does
  not equate with pathology
• - recognize the effects of societal
  heterocentrism
• - recognize that sexual orientation is one of
  many attributes and does not assume sexual
  orientation is necessarily relevant to the
  clients problems
• - recognize the unique concerns of gay/lesbian
  youth of color
• - recognize issues relating to sexuality, sexual
  identity, or gender identity

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Intervention

• Use understanding of homophobia to guide therapy
• Recognize effects of ones own sexual
  orientation, attitudes, or lack of knowledge
• Do not engage in strategies to change sexual
  orientation

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Identity

• Assist the youth in developing a positive
  gay/lesbian identity
• Be inclusive of the clients strengths related to
  his or her identity

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Relationships

• Understand and validate the diversity of
  relationships
• Recognize the importance of extended families and
  families of origin
• Recognize the effects of prejudice and
  discrimination on relationships and parenting
• Recognize that the family of origin may need
  education and support

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Expertise and Training

• Know needs and treatment issues
• Use appropriate resources
• Educate colleagues and actively counter
  misunderstanding and discrimination