Working With Troubled Children And Teenagers

Working with Troubled Children and Teenagers is an easy to understand guide packed with wisdom for anyone working with or caring for troubled children and teens. Author Jonny Matthew has decades of experience of working with young people, and offers simple but hard-won advice about how to earn the trust and respect of even the most challenging young people. It all starts with you, the adult, adopting a position of respect and patience. It's only then that children and young people will start to respond. From this starting point, Jonny provides a wealth of practical advice across a wide range of challenging topics - from the use of touch and understanding boundaries through to repairing relationships when things break down. Jonny uses case examples and stories throughout to bring his advice to life. This inspiring book is essential reading for any adult invested in improving the lives of troubled children, including youth workers, social workers, foster carers and child counsellors.

eBookRecognize trouble and deal with it before it's too lateThe lives of young people with behavioral problems tend to be among the least satisfying. Their families are likely to suffer, their teachers are often disappointed and their peers constantly wonder what's the matter with them. James Kauffman, professor emeritus of education at the University of Virginia, says it doesn't have to be that way.

In Massachusetts, a 12-year-old girl delivering newspapers is killed when a car strikes her bicycle. In Los Angeles, a 14-year-old boy repeatedly falls asleep in class, exhausted from his evening job. Although children and adolescents may benefit from working, there may also be negative social effects and sometimes danger in their jobs. Protecting Youth at Work looks at what is known about work done by children and adolescents and the effects of that work on their physical and emotional health and social functioning. The committee recommends specific initiatives for legislators, regulators, researchers, and employers. This book provides historical perspective on working children and adolescents in America and explores the framework of child labor laws that govern that work. The committee presents a wide range of data and analysis on the scope of youth employment, factors that put children and adolescents at risk in the workplace, and the positive and negative effects of employment, including data on educational attainment and lifestyle choices. Protecting Youth at Work also includes discussions of special issues for minority and disadvantaged youth, young workers in agriculture, and children who work in family-owned businesses.

This best-selling collection is filled with creative assessment and treatment interventions to help clients identify feelings, learn coping strategies, enhance social skills, and elevate self-esteem. A wealth of innovative tools for practitioners working with children in individual, group, and family counselling. Aimed at 4 to 16 year olds.

A Road Map for Parenting in the Troubled Years It is never too late for parents to reach their teenager or young adult. Licensed counselor Connie Rae draws from professional and personal experience to provide insight, encouragement, and advice. Offering wise counsel and a reassuring tone, she helps parents better understand their child's temperament, their own parenting style, and the developmental process their child is going through. She also discusses the world in which their teenager is growing up, which is very different than many parents realize. Each chapter ends with a list of practical steps and a prayer, giving parents wise advice but also offering hope through the process.

In Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families: An Internal Family Systems Model for Healing, Dr. Mones presents the first comprehensive application of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy model for work with youngsters and their families. This model centers diagnosis and treatment around the concept of the Functional Hypothesis, which views symptoms as adaptive and survival­based when viewed in multiple contexts. The book provides a map to help clinicians understand a child’s problems amidst the reactivity of parents and siblings, and to formulate effective treatment strategies that flow directly from this understanding. This is a nonpathologizing systems and contextual approach that brings forward the natural healing capacity within clients. Dr. Mones also shows how a therapist can open the emotional system of a family so that parents can let go of their agendas with their children and interact in a loving, healthy, Self-led way. This integrative MetaModel combines wisdom from Psychodynamic, Structural, Bowenian, Strategic, Sensorimotor, and Solution-Focused models interwoven with IFS Therapy. A glossary of terms is provided to help readers with concepts unique to IFS. Unique to this approach is the emphasis on shifting back and forth between intrapsychic and relational levels of experience. Therapy vignettes are explored to help therapists address issues such as trauma, anxiety, depression, somatization, oppositional and self-destructive behavior in children, along with undercurrents of attachment injury. Two detailed cases are followed over a full course of treatment. A section on Frequently Asked Questions explores work with families of separation and divorce, resistance, the trajectory of treatment, dealing with anger, linking to twelve-step programs, and much more. This is an ideal book for any therapist in quest of understanding the essence of healing and seeking therapeutic strategies applied within a compassionate framework.

The first "adolescent primer" on the market Destructive trends among today's youth are growing, making life very different from when their parents were growing up. The primary four self-destructive behaviors in adolescence today are excessive alcohol and substance abuse, promiscuity, self mutilation (ie: cutting and burning), and eating disorders. These will be covered in detail, along with other issues like Internet addiction and suicide. These problems are not only detrimental to teens' mental and physical health, but the legal consequences for injurious behavior have also changed. Identification and prevention are the most important aspects in stopping teenage self-destructive behavior. This book offers a comprehensive look at teens self destructive behavior and gives parents solutions for dealing with it. Helping Your Troubled Teen instructs parents on how to identify an at-risk adolescent and discuss warning signs of injurious behavior, before the problem(s) become severe enough that a child is in crisis and/or legal actions are taken against them. Personal anecdotes and testimonials from both parents and their teenagers who have been confronted with and have engaged in self-destructive behavior are also included. McLean Hospital is the largest psychiatric teaching facility of Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1811 as the original psychiatric department of the MGH, it moved to Belmont in 1895. McLean Hospital operates the largest psychiatric neuroscience research program of any Harvard University-affiliated facility and of any private psychiatric hospital in the country. The Child and Adolescent Program at McLean Hospital is one of the foremost clinical programs for helping young people and their families cope with psychiatric illness and the challenges it often brings. There are extensive ties with community services, and each therapeutic program of children and adolescents in inpatient, residential and outpatient services is tailored to the specific needs of the child and family.

This book on evidence-based practice with children and adolescents focuses on best evidence regarding assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of children and adolescents with a range of emotional problems including ADHD; Bi-Polar Disorder; anxiety and depression; eating disorders; Autism; Asperger’s Syndrome; substance abuse; loneliness and social isolation; school related problems including underachievement; sexual acting out; Oppositional Defiant and Conduct Disorders; Childhood Schizophrenia; gender issues; prolonged grief; school violence; cyber bullying; gang involvement, and a number of other problems experienced by children and adolescents. The psychosocial interventions discussed in the book provide practitioners and educators with a range of effective treatments that serve as an alternative to the use of unproven medications with unknown but potentially harmful side effects. Interesting case studies demonstrating the use of evidence-based practice with a number of common childhood disorders and integrative questions at the end of each chapter make this book uniquely helpful to graduate and undergraduate courses in social work, counseling, psychology, guidance, behavioral classroom teaching, and psychiatric nursing. Fully covers assessment, diagnosis & treatment of children and adolescents, focusing on evidence-based practices Offers detailed how-to explanation of practical evidence-based treatment techniques Cites numerous case studies and provides integrative questions at the end of each chapter Material related to diversity (including race, ethnicity, gender and social class) integrated into each chapter

Working with Children and Youth with Complex Needs provides a detailed description of techniques and rich stories of how social workers, psychologists, counselors, and child and youth care workers can help young people become more resilient. With ample case studies and fascinating explanations of research, Dr. Ungar shows why we need to work just as hard changing the environments that surround children as we do changing children themselves. Building on lessons learned from clinical, community and residential settings, Dr. Ungar discusses 20 skills that can enhance the effectiveness of frontline mental health services. Along with descriptions of the skills necessary to talk with clients about the factors that put their mental health at risk, Working with Children and Youth with Complex Needs also presents systemic practices clinicians can use in their everyday work. Engaging with children’s extended family, addressing issues of community violence, racism and homophobia, and helping parents and teachers understand children’s maladaptive coping strategies as sometimes necessary are among the many practical strategies that are discussed which clinicians can use to enhance and sustain the therapeutic value of their work.

The overarching goal of this project is the compilation of a resource for those who have chosen to work with troubled youth. . Most workers in the field have a bachelor's degree or less, and even those with a solid education may find themselves ill-prepared for the practical challenges of working with this difficult group. For that reason, it was necessary to create a resource increasing the practical knowledge base of workers in the field. Within this text, I have compiled and reviewed literature concerning practical interventions with at-risk adolescents, combined it with professional experience, and provided a guidebook which is informative, easy to read, and, above all, useful in a practical manner. Included are sections on understanding the population, outlining useful interventions that have proven effective with this group, and reviewing the dangers of burnout, followed by preventive measures to avoid this pit fall. The end result is a manual designed to increase the productivity, effectiveness, and job satisfaction of those who have dedicating themselves to helping troubled children.