African Americans are a complex cultural group. Although considered to be one culture, many cultural differences exist within this group. That same statement could be applied to any culture, but it is African Americans who have one of the most historically oppressive pasts and who continue to face numerous microaggressions along
Tag: Children & Adolescents
Children & Adolescents
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity now affects 17 percent of U.S. children and adolescents, which adds up to roughly 12.5 million kids. Since 1980, obesity prevalence among this group has almost tripled. Among children and adolescents ages 2 to 19, being overweight translates to a body-mass
Working directly with parents can be either terribly frustrating or exceptionally gratifying. Many counselors initially feel both fear and frustration at the prospect of counseling parents. That was certainly the case for me. I not only felt intimidated, but I also held several negative beliefs about parents that adversely affected
As practicing counselors, we all have clients who are “easier” than others. The easy clients are motivated toward change, take action on established goals and internalize feedback readily. The other side of that coin is that we also have clients who are more difficult. They are not motivated toward change, do
Author’s note: Although this article is written mainly for school counselors, its basic concept and the strategies it contains are easily adaptable to other counseling fields. When the paperwork begins to mount and the phone calls never seem to stop, school counselors often wonder, “When am I going to get
Kara Carnes-Holt’s daughter had one wish on her fifth birthday. “I wish that this mommy and daddy keep me forever,” the little girl said as she blew out the candles on her cake. Hearing her wish, Carnes-Holt and her husband assured their daughter they were going to keep her forever.
A new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics has declared that children who are exposed to “toxic stress” between conception and early childhood could have lifelong problems. As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reports: “Toxic stress might arise from parental abuse of alcohol or drugs. It could
One of the largest-ever national surveys of school counselors suggests that these counselors are ready to be more proactive in students’ lives, while also helping them to bridge the gap between college and career readiness. The National Survey of School Counselors, released Nov. 15 at collegeboard.org and civicenterprises.net, was a
Picture the following scenario. You are a counselor with less than one year of experience. Recently, an employment opportunity opened up at a school to work with adolescents who have a variety of behavioral issues, including excessive anger. An interview is scheduled, a job offer extended. You eagerly accept. The
It’s a good thing Jodi Mullen didn’t become a counselor exclusively for the compliments. Mullen, an associate professor and coordinator of the mental health counseling program at the State University of New York at Oswego, recalls working with a 12-year-old European American girl from a middle-class family whose presenting problem,