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School Counselling: Collaboratively Responding to adolescent fallout from complex family relationship issues
- 1. Collaboratively Responding to Adolescent Fallout from Complex Family Relationship Issues CatholicCare Wollongong School, Student & Family Program
- 2. Family Relationships is the number one presenting issue in school counselling. True or False Quiz
- 3. 1 in 3 young people live in a household experiencing financial stress. True or False Quiz
- 4. The average teenager spends the equivalent of 1 school day online. True or False Quiz
- 5. Adolescents today are having their first drink at a younger age. True or False Quiz
- 6. Adolescents today are having their first drink at a younger age. True or False The age at which 14-24 year olds first tried alcohol increased since 1998 from 14.4 to 15.7 years in 2013. Quiz
- 7. 1 Australian teen dies each month from alcohol related causes. True or False Quiz
- 8. Parents are spending 4 hours a week less with their children than they did a generation ago. True or False Quiz
- 9. The majority of students accessing counselling in high school are female True or False Quiz
- 10. Adolescents prefer online counselling over face-to-face counselling. True or False Quiz
- 11. Most students prefer a female counsellor. True or False Quiz
- 12. Most students prefer a female counsellor. True or False Boys: 24% prefer a female, 15% prefer a male counsellor, 68% don’t mind. Girls: 67% prefer a female, 3% prefer a male, 30% don’t mind. Quiz
- 13. Students are more reluctant for their parents to know that they are in counselling than for their peers to know. True or False Quiz
- 14. • Financial pressures • Time poor • Technology & social media • Family breakdown • Family violence • Substance use Family Context & Impact on Adolescents
- 15. Mental Health Issues • 14% of Australian children and adolescents aged 14-17 have mental health or behavioural problems • Only 1 in 4 young people with mental health problems receive professional help • How can we be more innovative, creative and proactive in reaching the most vulnerable? Family Context & Impact on Adolescents
- 16. • Family and school connectedness is a protective factor • Identify the reasons for school disengagement • Early intervention is key • Listen rather than lecture • Student-centred approach School Connectedness
- 17. • ‘What is spoken in the counselling appointment should be kept confidential, this is one of the main things that I would worry about if I were to see a counsellor’. • ‘The counsellor is seen as a last resort. I would promote it a bit more. If that image was to change it would help the school community’. • ‘Walking into the office and having people see you can be embarrassing even though it’s nothing to be embarrassed about’. • ‘Encourage students to encourage each other to see a counsellor if they need to and education that mental illness should not be something to be ashamed of’. Help Seeking
- 18. • We haven’t seen an increase in help- seeking behaviour • Strong preference for informal supports • Barriers: • Stigma • Confidentiality • Accessibility • Solve their own problems • As distress increases help-seeking decreases Help Seeking
- 19. How can we promote help seeking in adolescents? • Sensitivity in sharing information • Psychoeducation for adolescents (friends helping friends) • Embracing technology, online support & apps How can we promote help seeking in families? • Outreach to families • Consider cost & transport Help Seeking
- 20. • No one service can meet the needs of a family with complex needs • Enormous potential for greater collaboration between schools and family and relationship service providers • Who can you partner with? Collaboration
- 21. Collaboration Improved Family Functioning Improved Community Wellbeing Improved Adult Functioning Improved Sense of Hope and Dignity Improved Child Health and Wellbeing Physical Health Parental Engagement Learning Mental Health Community Safety Sense of Family & Community Social and Emotional Wellbeing Belonging Emotional Security Access to Services Positive Parenting Styles Early Intervention Essential Life Skills Resilience Participation Goal Attainment
- 22. • Adolescents and their parents face significant challenges in 2015 and into the future • Families are not well-equipped to deal with these complex issues especially vulnerable families • We need to equip families to know when and how to seek help • There is enormous potential for increased collaboration between DSS funded family and community programs and schools • How can we improve connectedness, encourage help seeking and engage our most vulnerable youth and families? In conclusion...
Editor's Notes
- Timing: (5mins) 3:30-3:35 Assume 5 minute delay (10mins) 3:35- 3:45 Introduction & quiz (10mins) 3:45- 3:55 Family context (sharing?) (10mins) 3:55-4:05 School connectedness & help seeking (interactive/sharing?) (10mins) 4:05-4:15 Collaboration, conclusion & sharing/questions Elise Introduce R & E We manage the School, Student and Family Program, which is funded by the Catholic Education Office to provide school counselling support to 8 secondary schools and 29 primary schools. Each year, our staff support approximately 1500 students via school counselling and an additional 4000 students via early intervention group work. By contracting school counselling to CatholicCare, the Catholic Education Office benefit from the wrap-around support that a multi-service agency such as CatholicCare can provide. They also receive assurance regarding adequate supervision, training and policies to support counsellors undertaking difficult work. Today we will be discussing the issues facing families today and into the future and the impact these issues have upon adolescents. We will highlight the importance of school connectedness and explore the barriers that prevent adolescents and their families from accessing support. We will share our data and survey results which give insight into the preferences of young people regarding support services and discuss the importance of outreach and collaboration. Firstly, however, we have a short quiz to get us thinking about these topics. We will ask a true or false question. If your answer is true place your hands on your head. If your answer is false place your hands behind your back. If you get the question incorrect please sit down. Last person standing/to sit down- wins. Please stand
- False- anxiety is number one and family relationships is number 2. (our data) Elise ask question Roseanne provide answer
- True. Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. “Young Australians: their health and wellbeing 2011.”
- False, they spend the equivalent of more than 3 school days online. Source: www.nielson.com.au
- False, younger people are continuing to delay starting drinking, the age at which 14-24 year olds first tried alcohol increased since 1998 from 14.4 to 15.7 years in 2013. Source: National Drug Household Survey 2013 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)
- False, younger people are continuing to delay starting drinking, the age at which 14-24 year olds first tried alcohol increased since 1998 from 14.4 to 15.7 years in 2013. Source: National Drug Household Survey 2013 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)
- False, 1 Australian teen dies each WEEK from alcohol related causes. Source: www.druginfo.adf.org.au
- True.
- True, approximately 2/3 female, 1/3 male (opposite in primary school). Elise The final four questions are based on our research- a survey of 2700 secondary school students.
- False, only 14% preferred online (our data).
- True Survey of 2700 students Boys: 24% prefer a female, 15% prefer a male counsellor, 68% don’t mind. Girls: 67% prefer a female, 3% prefer a male, 30% don’t mind.
- True Survey of 2700 students Boys: 24% prefer a female, 15% prefer a male counsellor, 68% don’t mind. Girls: 67% prefer a female, 3% prefer a male, 30% don’t mind.
- False. Roseanne We would like to get a sense of the work you do via a show of hands. - work with families - work closely with adolescents - work in a school setting refer to or interact with schools/ school counsellors management/leadership role rather than practitioner
- Roseanne Before we go on to explore how to collaboratively respond to adolescent fallout from complex family relationship issues we need to take a moment to examine the landscape. Families raising adolescents are grappling with a range of issues which impact the mental health and wellbeing of young people. Financial pressures With the increased cost of living, mortgage prices etc there are significent financial pressures placed on families, need two incomes to survive. - As mentioned in the quiz 1 in 3 young people live in a household experiencing financial stress, and 1 in 10 young people live in jobless households. Time poor - In many cases the financial pressures on families and (perhaps) the desire to provide a comfortable lifestyle requires both parents to undertake paid work. - Compared with peers whose parents are often absent throughout the day, teens whose parents are present when they go to bed, wake up, and come home from school are less likely to experience emotional distress. Impact of technology and social media -There are many benefits to technology and social media with 82% of 14 -17 year olds rating the internet as very important in their lives. - However, problems arise when there is: - excessive internet use, - sexualisation of children and young people, - cyber-bullying, - interference with sleep (1 in 10 unable to get enough sleep, and 1 in 20 affected by interrupted sleep) - self-esteem issues (e.g. distorted body image) - Parents may not be aware of the dangers and often are not equipped to monitor or set limits on adolescents use of the internet and social media. Family breakdown - Students are often referred to school counselling for support with family relationship issues or family breakdown. - Nevertheless, the proportion of one parent families with dependent children has increased from 6.4% in 1976 to 10.6% in 2011. - There is a higher prevalence of child and adolescent mental health problems among those living in step, blended and one-parent families (correlation data not causation). Family violence - Over the last 3 years the number of students reporting family violence to the school counsellor has risen sharply. - More than 1 million Australian children are affected by DV. The rate of DV related homicides is increasing (one women per week, approaching 2). - Substance use In relation to substance use, we are starting to see the positive benefits of education and prevention programs with more young people abstaining or delaying the onset of drinking. Nevertheless, drug and alcohol related issues are a serious problem for a small proportion of families and adolescents. Alcohol contributes to the 3 major causes of teen death – injury, homicide and suicide In conclusion… - While there are many challenges for families and adolescents to navigate, these statistics don’t necessarily paint the picture of a worsening situation in Australia for our current generation of young people. However, they do highlight that there are pockets of significant need. The issues facing the most vulnerable people in our community are becoming more complex. Our data indicates that the number of students presenting to school counselling with complex needs is increasing each year. This is evidenced by a sharp increase in the number of ROSH reports.
- Elise Mental health issues - All of the issues that we have just mentioned are risk factors for the development of mental health issues in young people. For example, adolescents are more likely to have a mental health disorder if: their family has a low income, parents and carers have low levels of education, or parents and carers are unemployed. It is extremely concerning that only 1 in 4 young people with mental health problems receive professional help. Even among young people with the most severe mental health problems, only 50% receive professional help. We have many more students being case managed whereby it is necessary to engage a range of stakeholders to support a student and their family. - Our data shows an increase in the number of students presenting with trauma or at risk of suicide. Our concern is that those students who are most in need are flying under the radar of schools.
- Elise - Now that we have examined the landscape for families and young people we want to move on to exploring how can we be more innovative, creative and proactive in reaching the most vulnerable people in our communities? - This is an issue that we investigated via our survey of secondary school students. Our aim was to determine the barriers to accessing help and listen to the voices and preferences of students to inform how we deliver our service. - Thus, many of our ideas and suggestions arise from a school context however they can translate to anyone working with adolescents and their families. Family and school connectedness is a protective factor for young people. Students are more likely to engage in healthy behaviours and succeed academically when they feel connected to school. A student is connected to their school when they believe that adults in the school care about their learning and about them as individuals, and when they belong to a positive peer group. When working with families, exploring the extent to which the young person feels connected to school is essential. When an adolescent starts to disengage from school or their peers, this can be an alarm bell for parents and/or practitioners, alerting them to the need for additional support. Students may become disengaged from school for a number of reasons including: learning difficulties, bullying or peer issues, anxiety, significant family issues or a negative view of education within their family. Once an adolescent has started to refuse to attend school it is very difficult to re-engage them. Families should not hesitate to contact the year advisor if they believe their child is at risk of becoming disengaged. Some parents may be reluctant to act as they may interpret their child’s behaviour as attention seeking or laziness. When parents are feeling overwhelmed the tendency may be to lecture their child rather than listen. Taking a disciplinary approach can further alienate the young person. This can mean that connectedness to school and family is compromised at the time when young people most need it. A student-centred approach which involves young people in the interventions/solutions is fundamental. Roseanne An extreme for of disconnection: Radicalisation An extreme form of disengagement from school and community can place a young person at risk of radicalisation. There is no conclusive evidence that any one cultural or socio-economic group is at greater risk than another. Yet there is evidence that people who are disaffected and disengaged from stable and supportive family and social networks are at risk. We are only just beginning to understand and formulate strategies to counteract this problem. There have been some recent announcements regarding funding and it is an area that we will need to give particular attention to in the future. Investing additional resources to enhance school connectedness, belonging and inclusion has great value in counteracting radicalisation and promoting wellbeing. Don’t click to next slide until after Roseanne has introduced help seeking topic & quotes
- Roseanne - In addition to promoting school connectedness, increasing the accessibility of services to vulnerable adolescents and families is a strategic priority for our school counselling program. - Before we discuss the barriers to help seeking, please take a moment to read what adolescents have told us. There was a great deal of consistency and overlap in the feedback we received. What is the message that you take away from reading this? Consider whether your clients, be they adolescents or adults, feel the same way? Welcome feedback/impressions from the audience.
- Roseanne In our research we discovered that despite the promotion of mental health and increased availability of services in the last 10 years we haven’t seen an increase in help-seeking in young people. (One paper reports that of 26.4% of young people reported experiencing a diagnosable mental disorder in the previous 12 months, only 13.2% of males and 31.2% of females accessed a clinical service, Slade et al., 2009) Our survey of secondary school students indicated that young people have a strong preference for seeking help from informal supports such as family and peers. Young people identified a number of reasons prevent them from seeking professional help: 1) Stigma Not wanting to be viewed by others has having ‘problems’ 2) Confidentiality Students did not want their peers to know they are in counselling. Concerns regarding parents or school staff knowing what they are discussing in counselling were also raised to a lesser extent. And the location of the counselling room was an issue barrier. Some students pointed out that it was located in a high traffic area of the school. 3) Accessibility A significant number of students were unsure of the referral process and therefore receiving counselling support was dependent on school staff identifying that there was a problem. Also, long wait-lists to access school counselling can be problematic. 4) Finally, there was a common perception among students that they should be able to solve their own problems. As distress increases a young person is less likely to seek help either from informal or formal avenues. As students become more unwell they may not realise that they need help. Young people who continue to deteriorate without receiving support may be at risk of suicide. On a positive note we discovered that students have a positive view of counselling and think it is helpful. However, they are far more likely to encourage a friend to attend counselling than they are to seek counselling for themselves.
- Elise So, knowing all this, how can we promote help seeking in the most vulnerable adolescents? This is not an easy question to answer Whilst we are mindful that keeping students safe often requires sharing information with school staff and parents, the personal information of students should be treated in a sensitive way, which respects their dignity. This was one of the strongest themes identified by students in our survey. The survey has shown us that efforts to promote help-seeking in young people should focus on teaching adolescents how to recognise when their friends are in need of help and where help can be found. We want to avoid young people becoming a pseudo-counsellor or being alone in caring for their friends who are at risk. How can we promote help seeking in the most vulnerable families? School counsellors often refer parents for individual, couple or family counselling, however, the uptake is very low. Research has indicated to us that parents tend to underestimate the distress of their children (for example, the prevalence of depression was far higher when rated by young people compared to their parents) (Second Australian child and adolescent survey of mental health and wellbeing 2013-2014) Barriers for parents seeking help for their adolescent include: Resistance from the child Cost and accessibility (e.g. transport, limited out of hours appointments) Emotional burden and stressful role of caring or an adolescent takes a toll on the parents own mental health wellbeing (end of their tether). Reluctance to label kids (diagnosis) In endeavouring to make our services more accessible, perhaps we could consider outreach to families- in their homes or their child’s school is an option On the surface outreach into homes sounds like a great solution. In practice we recognise that it can be very difficult to implement due to issues around risk management, staff safety. It is also resource intensive and time consuming. This requires commitment and leadership from the top.
- Roseanne An increasing complexity of issues often means that no one service can meet the needs of an adolescent or family. As managers of a school counselling service, we believe that schools can be an effective avenue for adolescents to access support. However, schools are very busy places, school staff are time poor and their main priority is to educate students. Majority of school staff are not experts in mental health and the resources of school counsellors are finite. Yet there is significant pressure for schools to be part of the solution. Therefore, there is enormous potential for greater collaboration between schools and family & relationship services providers.
- Elise A final word on collaboration. Collaboration is possible across all programs, services and organisations that aim to enhance the social and emotional health and wellbeing of families, regardless, of the funding stream or governing body. One area where we can further collaborate is in measuring outcomes. A branch of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA), our peak body, have developed an outcomes framework that calls us to create and maintain a community with an ‘Improved Sense of Hope and Dignity’. This slide shows 4 key outcome domains and, below, 25 indicators of child and family wellbeing that our school counselling program and DSS funded programs strive to achieve. We are sure that your programs are also working towards very similar outcomes. Perhaps, as we move into the future, there is value in finding ways to collaborate by pooling our outcomes data to demonstrate the effectiveness of our interventions.
- Roseanne - Adolescents and their parents face significant challenges in 2015 and into the future. - Often, families are not well-equipped to deal with these complex issues, especially vulnerable families - These issues are not easily resolved, therefore we need to equip families to know when and how to seek help - There is enormous potential for increased collaboration between DSS funded family and community programs and schools - We have now come to the end of our presentation and we have a few minutes left where we would like to ask you for your insights on: How can we improve connectedness, encourage help seeking and engage our most vulnerable youth and families? What stood out for you?