Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents
I’m studying and need help with a Psychology question to help me learn.
Respond to two of your colleague’s postings in one or more of the following ways: Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents
Ask a probing question.
Share an insight gained from having read your colleague’s posting.
Offer and support an opinion.
Make a suggestion.
Expand on your colleague’s posting.
Be sure to use reference.
DB1
Sara—
Post a brief description of the population and one child or adolescent issue (i.e., social, emotional, behavioral) with which you might be interested in working and explain why.
The population I choose to work with currently are children in the foster care system with behavioral issues. This population is one that I feel doesn’t get a lot of attention and tends to age out of the system then rejoin the system through a different avenue such as homelessness or incarceration. In working with the children and their caregivers simultaneously, I can address the concerns at the moment and provide the tools that the client and caregiver can continue to utilize when I am not in session. The children/adolescents in foster care tend to be looked at as broken children or as the victim when in reality the client wants to be seen as just a child or adolescent instead of someone who has gone through trauma. We must recognize that they are still children/adolescents and give them the ability to still be that age but just with some additional tools in their tool chest to help them overcome some obstacles that they will face in life. I also believe that this is an important population to work with as if we can work with client’s from the beginning and be as proactive as possible, then maybe we can decrease the population of homeless young adults or even the amount of people who utilize substances as a way to get through life and to cope with their traumas.
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Then, describe one professional strength that may contribute to your effectiveness in working with this population.
Currently, I work as a Therapeutic Behavioral Coach which allows me to work with this population in a variety of settings such as their homes, schools, and community. The professional strength that I believe has helped me to succeed in this role is the ability to meet the client where they are at during each moment of the session. Trauma is not linear so a client may be having a positive and constructive moment then the next they are having difficulty either coping with a situation or being able to properly communicate their needs. It’s also important to recognize that the individual may have stopped developing in a particular area either socially or emotionally during the age at which the trauma occurred. Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents This means that socially they may still be functioning at a three-year-old level which is when the trauma occurred but chronologically they are five-years-old. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Milestone Checklist, a typical three-year-old should be taking turns in games and may get upset when there is a change in routine. Now if we look at a typical five-year-old, the child should be showing independence and should be cooperative at times. We may be working with a client who is five but is still having difficulty in taking turns and is having an increase in behaviors due to changes in their daily routine all because the trauma occurred at the age of three.
Finally, explain why it is important for you to assess your strengths and limitations as a clinician working with children and adolescents before working with this population. Be specific and use examples to illustrate your points.
I believe that every worker brings their own unique set of strengths and limitations due to their own lives and upbringings. For example, since I was adopted, I have found that my agency utilizes me more heavily in cases that involve the child being adopted or having recently become adopted as they understand I can relate to the child and I can utilize self-reporting to engage with the client and build a strong level of rapport and trust. I also think in understanding our strengths such as being someone who thinks outside the box when it comes to creating and utilizing a variety of coping skills, then we can work with a larger population of people as we can manipulate coping skills to address the client’s individual needs and their individual strengths. It’s also important to understand our limitations as service providers as this allows for us to understand where we need to educate ourselves on more and where we may need to ask for help from a supervisor or colleague more. Limitations do not define us as service providers nor do our client’s limitations define them as individuals so if we can model that for our client’s maybe we can help them to see that limitation are just bumps in the road that we can overcome with the right tools such as asking for help, coping strategies or engaging in additional research. Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Milestone checklists. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/checklists…
DB 2
Tyler—
Brief description of the population and one child or adolescent issue
The population that I am passionate about working with are children/adolescents who have a mental health diagnosis, such as depression, ADHD, or anxiety. I have mental health diagnoses myself and I feel like the experiences I have gone through can be used to help others. Growing up, therapy was not something my parents saw as important or beneficial, and that you only go to therapy if you are “crazy.” I am passionate about helping children reap the benefits of therapy and improve their quality of life.
Describe one professional strength that may contribute to your effectiveness in working with this population
According to Clark (2017), the relationship between the client and a therapist can drastically improve or decrease the effectiveness of treatment. I feel like one of my strengths when working with this age group is that I am able to build strong relationships with my clients. I do this by identifying common ground, incorporating things they enjoy into sessions, and through using empathy, encouragement, and support. For example, Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents
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Explain why it is important for you to assess your strengths and limitations as a clinician working with children and adolescents before working with this population
One of the most important things a clinician working with children and adolescents can do to improve their practice is to notice their own strengths and limitations. This is because competence is an essential aspect of providing effective therapeutic techniques that are appropriate to each client (NASW, 2017). Understanding strengths in working with children and adolescents can help a social worker tailor their practice by using their experience to their advantage. It can also help the social worker understand what techniques have been effective and what they are strong in using. For example, when I was working during my internship, my supervisor was well educated in DBT and CBT therapy, so those were the main interventions she used. This worked to her advantage because she was effective in delivering the interventions. Understanding weaknesses can help the clinician realize places where they need to improve on and motivate them to increase their knowledge on the subject. During my internship my supervisor was not strong in working with clients with ADHD because she also has ADHD and was not able to focus during sessions. Because of this, she would refer those clients to other therapists at the agency, or would use fidget toys and her and the client would both draw together while talking.
References
Clark, C. (2013). Irreducibly human encounters: Therapeutic alliance and treatment outcome in child and adolescent psychotherapy. Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 12, 228-243.
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of ethics. Retrieved from https://naswor.socialworkers.org/Membership/Resour…
Anxiety Disorders in Children & Adolescents
