Counselling Adolescents: Case Studies

Adolescence is a time of major cognitive and affective developments, huge changes to the individual’s body and way of doing relationship, and a radically evolving sense of identity. All of those factors make counselling adolescents challenging enough, yet many teenagers must also deal with risk factors such as cultural adaptation, poverty, circumstances of abuse or neglect, and even homelessness: a complex and fast-changing dynamic of both vulnerability and striving for independence. It is little wonder, then, that many counsellors are uncomfortable to take on clients from this segment of the population. This companion course to the course Counselling Adolescents: The Basics demonstrates how theoretical notions about counselling adolescents may manifest in actual clients. Alana is an 18 year old who has just begun medical studies at the university; her parents are from another country and have firmly fixed ideas about how she should be in life and in relationship with them. Amaroo’s story is one of awesome effort to break through the effects of a painfully difficult start to life. Their counsellors relate their stories with some attention to the therapeutic approaches, processes, and techniques utilised. The Basics course must be completed before attempting this one so that the discussion and assessment will make sense. Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to: Assess how deeply the experience of having immigrant parents may affect an adolescent’s striving for independence and autonomy; Observe which developmental stages are most affected by being an adolescent with emergent values different to (and in conflict with) those of the parents; Examine the profound effects of neglectful or abusive parenting on an adolescent; Witness the effect that enhanced developmental assets may have on the capacity for gaining hope and a vision of a preferred life; Evaluate the effectiveness of the various therapeutic approaches used in each case study.