Case Study on "Beh"

Case Study 7 pages (2193 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Beth's Case Study

The case of Beth, an eleven-year-old attending the sixth grade at a local elementary school within her community, involves many of the symptoms common in cases where a child is simply within the wrong environment. The case starts with a referral to a child counsellor, by the school guidance counsellor. The referral arises from the counsellor's opinion of Beth's relatively low disposition and related self-esteem issues.

Information regarding Beth's entrance into the school and current social stratification are obtained by the child counsellor and is thusly informed of Beth's commencement in the fourth grade and of 'difficulty' in establishing friendships. The counsellor further finds that Beth did have a close friend and shared a tight friendship with her close friend. This friend, Sally, had since left the school as her family relocated away from the area. Now relatively alone, it is reported that Beth's peers view her as an attention-seeker and have initiated bullying sessions.

The reports indicate the bullying sessions have been 'attended to', and Beth does not make a commitment to connect with her peers. Beth appears distrustful of others and so remains withdrawn however, she has no difficulty in connecting on her feelings with her school guidance counsellor. In these discussions with her counsellor, Beth has made statements that are consistent with a young adolescent that is misunderstood by the actors involved with interacting in her environment.

Beth has stated to her school counsellor that she feels alien, she hates herself, and that no-one likes her. Additionally, she is adjectively described as warm and gentle with a fragile disposition as well as self-reliant whilst the reputation of being a perfectionist in her meticulous work detail and in maintaining her physical appearance. Quite honestly, she sounds cute. Beth's academic performance is an additional indicator of her rather meticulous nature, but after all, how else will she get good grades and have the ability to gain entrance into a better school to finally be rid of these idiots. However, Beth is not receiving such advice and is not receiving proper supervision or mentorship, which is detrimental to her overall psychological health.

Beth's home life is a reflection of her personal self-worth. Her parents divorced three years earlier while at the age of eight. She sees her father, Robert every fortnight weekend. Jane, her mother, is an attorney and works hours associated with that of working within a legal environment. Beth therefore has early morning school care and after school care each day. Robert owns his business, which forces him to travel quite regularly.

Both parents have not yet re-partnered or remarried however, Beth still resides hope that her parents will 'get back together'. Beth is involved in school activities yet her parents are too busy to recognize and participate in the encouragement of these activities. Robert and Jane are aware of the school counselling their daughter is receiving and are aware of the specific school concerns. Robert and Jane are willing and supportive of the counselling support Beth is receiving.

Key Themes

The environment. Beth is currently immersed within is not conducive to the growth and development of what ostensibly is a rather special child. The description of Beth's interaction within the school is at best, contradicting and conflicting. Beth is claimed to be withdrawn and distrustful yet, her peers view her to be an attention-seeker. Children from divorcees often are emotionally starved and project the personality of an attention-seeker, however, it is unclear as to whether Beth is seeking attention from the teachers or from the student body.

The students. Beth is a high achieving student that is meticulous about her academic studies and about her appearance. Often times, students are jealous and hateful of students that demonstrate uniqueness or a sense of pretention. Students with these traits yet possessing a strong personality often "rise" to the societal equivalent of alpha female or alpha male, given the case. Beth's personality is rather meek yet she has the traits of an alpha female.

School Counsellor. The counsellor's at the school are not capable of providing the assistance Beth needs due to inherently lacking the capability to recognize Beth's emotional and psychological needs. The counsellor's view Beth as emotionally and psychologically deficient and renders her social inequities as a function of her causing. Their inability to properly diagnose and resolve Beth's situation is a sign that Beth is simply at the wrong type of school and perhaps in the wrong school district.

Therapeutic Process

To evoke a successful initial assessment the child counsellor must engage Beth holistically in the Therapeutic Process. This process is highly volatile and very critical to Beth's development throughout her adolescent and teenage years including her ability to conduct her activities as an adult.

Therapy for Beth is to begin by recognizing her relative difference from her peers. In her eyes, no longer is Beth viewed as being 'different' or 'alien'. The therapeutic process involves a thorough analysis of Beth physical and emotional state as a function of how she can develop into a global individual. Primary in the process, is the Counsellor's focus on conveying to Beth that her identity is of global concern and not of local concern.

Beth operates on a level that is above the rather mediocre interpretation received from her current peer set. Beth however, does not fully understand that she is very different from her classmates and therefore is highly unlikely to befriend her peers while in their adolescence. The counsellor must convey to Beth that her life may be somewhat lonely at the moment, but her social development with children of her ilk is the most important area within the assessment.

Robert and Jane must agree to enhance Beth's social experience by involving her in activities where a peer group of her ilk will be available. For example, enrolling Beth into a community based adolescent softball or field hockey league is an excellent method for her to be introduced to other female adolescents that are driven. Sports do teach teamwork and a sense of pride and accomplishment, which are good characteristics for Beth to develop to increase her self-esteem.

Enrolment into a music or summer camp activities program are additional examples of innovative ways to increase Beth's social interaction in an environment more conducive to the growth of her self-esteem. As Beth increases her friendship with other's through these activities, her parents can initiate looking at other potential schools to enrol her into as she approaches high school.

With her excellent grades, she will be able to transfer into any school of their choosing and transition into an environment where she has a much better chance to excel as she will fit in with friends from her outside activities. Beth will understand that her environment was not appropriate for a young student such as herself. She will also recognize that when the apple does not match the contents in the barrel, you do not force the apple, you remove the apple and replace in a suitable environment.

Theories

According to Armstrong & Boothroyd (2008), "This article examines the degree to which various demographic characteristics, personality traits, and environmental factors are associated with overall emotional well-being of 125 adolescent girls whose mothers were involved in welfare reform. Daughters participated in a 4-year, mixed method study and annually completed a structured interview protocol and a sub-group also completed a qualitative interview. The quantitative findings from the study suggest that daughters having an internal locus of control, experiencing fewer negative life events, and reporting stronger parental and teacher social support had enhanced emotional well-being over the 4-year study compared to daughters without these factors. The findings were further elaborated with examples from qualitative interviews conducted with the daughters. The findings were used to propose prevention activities used a tertiary mental health preventative intervention framework." (Armstrong, Boothroyd, 2008)

According to Zambon, Lemma, Borraccino, Dalmasso, Cavallo, (2006), "The quality of social relations in adolescence is possibly one of the major determinants of habits that can influence the health of young people, and it may also be one of the mediators of the effect of social position on health. The Italian data of the HBSC survey 2001-2002 indicates the following. The quality of relations with adults seems to decrease consistently from age 11 through age 15, while the relation with peers improves. The relation with the father seems positively correlated with economic well-being. Difficult relations with adults are associated with higher probability of smoking, drinking alcohol and using cannabis; difficult relations with peers are associated with lower physical activity and lower probability of having used cannabis. Conclusions: Even if the relations with adults become less important in adolescence, they are still associated with health behaviours." (Borraccino, Dalmasso, Cavallo, 2006)

According to Bearman, Moody (2004), "Socially isolated females were more likely to have suicidal thoughts, as were females whose friends were not friends with each other. Among adolescents thinking about suicide, suicide attempts appear largely stochastic, with few consistent risk factors between boys… READ MORE

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