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Communication, Mentoring and Counselling Skills for Youth

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Communication, Mentoring and counselling skills for Youth and Community Work

 

 Introduction:

 

Communication is a multifaceted process, which is deep-rooted in every aspect of living as part of a well-established social structure. “Communication is defined as the process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analysing, and evaluating” (State of Washington, 2009). 

 

This paper analyses the idea of utilising effective communication skills for efficient youth and community work.  The objective is carried out through a case study of a 16 year old boy, George, who was referred to the school Youth centre Counsellor John Plower as he was exhibiting violent behaviour at various situations. 

 

The second part of the study consists of a selection of important methodologies and theories that focus on the complexities involved in communicating with the youth in community work. Furthermore, personal experience in the case study will be reflected upon – particularly communication skill used in a practical setting and lessons learnt from the experience are summarised.

 

Finally, the paper highlights the learning outcomes from this study, summing up the ideas presented in the assignment and the key learning outcomes.

 

A Comprehensive Summary of the Case Study:

 

Case: George

Age: 16 years old

Grade: 11th grade

Problem: Violent Behaviour

 

 Case Background:

 

George, a 16 year old student, is reported to have been displaying violent behaviour in a number of occasions in school. The school security was called for and when interrogated, he said that he was bullied and was resorting to violence to protect him. It has been reported that in recent times there has been an increase in violence in the communities in and around the school. George was referred to the nearby youth and community centre to meet their counsellor John Plower for help.

 

Mr. John Plower has worked in the community centre for many years, he met the boy in the centre, and I was permitted to observe and participate in the interaction.  George was accompanied by his mother who was keen to offer any information she could and support her son in the given circumstance. Young people involved in violent behaviour are assigned to a dedicated youth worker.  Johns Plower’s initial priority was gaining the confidence of George, so that he felt comfortable with the interaction. Then gradually he started to address the issues and the circumstances that had caused George to behave violently in a number of occasions.

 

From the interaction, we understood that George was doing fairly well in school. He had a close relationship with his family and friends. His father had a fulltime job with a very moderate income. It was identified that there has been a number of incidences involving physical violence and in some cases firearms were used in their neighbourhood.

 

However apart from the physical violence, George was not reported to carry any firearms and his past records did not show any involvement with local gangs. George was later suspended by the school, and while in suspension he was asked to attend a life skill program at a nearby youth centre. He was also instructed to meet a counsellor every other week for a period of time.

 

Case Assessment:

 

In order to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the case, we can look at various dimensions that might have influenced George’s behaviour. Factors I considered in order to assess the case are the individual’s personality, family circumstance, neighbourhood, school and economic situation.

 

Individual:

George had a stable relationship with his family. He also had a supportive group of friends in the school and did not seem to be isolated. In spite of being too quiet in the beginning of the session, he warmed up gradually and displayed good social skills, however he had to work on controlling his anger from time to time.

 

Family:

George’s family was very supportive and interested in his wellbeing. Even though they had to manage with a low income, there was no history of abuse or neglect. George’s mother tried to take good care of her three children with the limited income.

 

Neighbourhood:

The neighbourhood seemed to pose the highest threat to the boy’s well-being. There has been increasing reports of violence around the neighbourhood, and bullying local kids was also reported to be common.

 

Economic situation:

The low income that the whole family was dependent on was also a cause for concern. It was apparent that the family could not consider moving to a different locality because of the financial limitations.

 

After a consideration of the above factors, I assessed that the boy needed guidance as he was dealing with anger issues and found it hard being bullied in the neighbourhood. Behavioural counselling and a program on how to handle and manage anger would help him mend his ways. It was clear that George was not involved in any sort of crime or gangs. Nevertheless, influence of peers and violent circumstances might instigate him in the future to exhibit recklessness, unless he is mentored and encouraged to take right choices.

 

In order to assess the case, I have used a number of skills learnt from past studies. As I was an observer of the whole session I was an active listener throughout the interaction. This helped both George and his mother get comfortable enough to share their thoughts in my presence. I took extra care in validating the person’s point of view by expressing that I understood their problem and that I was concerned. This, I primarily did, through nonverbal communication (gestures, facial expressions, body language etc.) except in certain occasions when I asked George some questions about his friends and studies, which I observed he was more comfortable talking about. Observing the reactions and response of other members in the session was also very helpful in comprehending the dynamics of the situation. Further I spoke to him about his life and what he would like to do in the future. This helped me get a broader idea about his life and his personality, other than the dominant issue at hand. More importantly, this offered George to open up and feel more comfortable to offer further information.

 

When asked about his neighbourhood, George’s response was more aggressive than when he was talking about his friends and family. His mom’s face looked concerned and anxious through most of the session, and she repeatedly offered to do her best to help her son. This helped me understand that George had a supportive family. The response of the counsellor was more subtle and reassuring; he expressed his thoughts about George’s anger behaviour without sounding judgemental or critical. This help the mother and the son relax and open up with more information about the problem.

 

I felt that the boy understood and accepted his mistake and felt that violence wasn’t a great solution to his problems. At the same time, he was not clear about how to handle bullying and other such situations that came up so often in the neighbourhood. It was a positive reinforcement to see his mother being very understanding about the issue. “Antisocial behaviour in childhood and adolescence is a problem for young people and their families” (Helen Roberts, Kristin Liabo, Patricia Lucas, David DuBois, Trevor A Sheldon (2004) “One approach is through mentoring schemes” Apart from the behavioural counselling and anger management program advice by the counsellor, I believe that the George needed a mentor.

 

Angela M.Taylor  (2003) states that one cannot expect a youth worker to have the ability to singlehandedly manage all the problems faced by adolescents. However, they can still help the teenagers by giving a warm ad secure feeling to the person where he feels cared for, respected and still has his freedom”.  During the session, I understood this sense of respect and independence is what George needed the most.  Patrick Tolan and Nancy Guerra (1994) stress highly that increase in adolescent violence is a national concern.  Considering the seriousness of Georges’ circumstances (unstable neighbourhood and low family income), I would have allotted a youth worker to mentor him so that he can work on building a trust based relationship with the boy. This would have helped him reach out to a supportive and trusted adult when he found himself in such situations in the future.

 

Through this module I have learnt the significant areas of effective communication in youth and community work especially, the practical effectiveness of active listening and non-verbal communications. I have also demonstrated communication skills and qualities with young people as mentioned in the above case study. Further, this has helped me obtain a conceptual understanding of various theories and concepts and apply them to form a better rapport with both young people and colleagues.

 

 

 

 

Communication Skills and Methodologies:

 

The purpose of this study is to emphasise the importance of utilising communication skills and qualities for best practice within a youth and community setting. Some of the steps involved in the case and the relevant communication approach used are listed below.

 

 

STEPS

 

Communication Approaches

 

 

Adopt the right attitude

 

  • Being friendly and helpful
  • Exhibit understanding
  • Avoid judgment or criticism

 

 

Build trusted relationship

 

  • Know the person better
  • Encourage him to talk about his interests

 

 

Active Listening

 

 

  • Display reinforcing  Non –verbal  signals
  • Verbal acknowledgment
  • Positive body language

 

Offer Support

 
  • Constructive suggestions to overcome the problem
  • Set Reasonable expectations

 

 

Youth workers are in a place to offer a holistic approach to the problem faced by the young person. For the purpose of this study, a qualitative theory based approach is used.  The diagram below shows the various possible theoretical approaches in counselling.

 In the case study, we can identify two important factors that need to be addressed. Firstly, the main reason for George’s violent behaviour was his anger outbursts. Secondly, it was evaluated during the session that he behaved violently due to bullying which was the main external stimulation in this case. Anger is defined as a strong reaction which can arouse when is one is exposed to stimulating situations such as frustration, disappointment, threat etc. A person might also exhibit bouts of anger due to emotional factors such as overt aggression, verbal attack or restraint (Chaplin, 1985) . Since anger is an emotion that leads to violent behaviour affecting both self and others, it is essential that the issue is addressed through behavioural approaches and methodologies.  

 

According to Dobson and Dozois (2001), behavioural changes can be influenced by changes in the way someone thinks (Cognitive). This serves as the basis of the various approaches predominant in cognitive-behavioural therapy. In accordance to this John R. Charlesworth (2008) iterates that the two major behavioural approaches used to deal with anger are Rational Emotional Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). John R. Charlesworth (2008) adds that “The major intervention common to both approaches is to help clients determine whether these cognitions (thoughts) are rational or irrational and replace irrational thoughts with more accurate thoughts.”

 

The relevant communication theory chosen for this case study is the Rational Emotional Behaviour Theory (REBT).  According to Albert Ellis (1975), REBT is based on the understanding that anytime we become angry or upset, it is not due to the external events happening in our environment rather it is our beliefs that makes us depressed, anxious, enraged, angry etc. This theory holds the key to our particular case. As it is not possible for the youth worker to change the neighbourhood George lives in or increase his family income, it is a viable choice to understand the person’s thoughts and work on eliminating irrational fears and doubts that lead to violent outbursts.

 

Don Pazara (2000) agrees with this approach stating “Blaming, condemning, or demanding attitudes are the basis for maladaptive emotional and behavioural pattern”. However not all researches adhere to this point of view and they debate about the rationality of this method. Corey (2005) highlights that REBT theory is not relevant to everyone, it is specifically irrelevant to people with limited Intelligence (Eg: learning disabilities). This argument is supported by Dr. Thomas Brown Ph.D. (2005) and Schoen, Alexis Ann (2003) as they point out that even though behavioural therapy has revealed improvement in children and adolescents’ behaviour with various behavioural problems, it did not consider youth and children having various clinical disorders as ADD or Autism.

 

In the above model Ellis (1962) illustrates “he is affected by his perceptions, attitudes or irrationalised sentences about outside things and events”. This was proved true when a study of depressed individuals who has recovered identified that major depression associated with validation of irrational beliefs (Soloman, Haaga, Brody, Kirk, & Friedman, 1998). Conversely, Christof Eschenroeder (1982) declares that REBT “is insufficient because of its lack of formal structure, its confirmatory bias, and its neglect of the influence of environmental factors on human functioning”

 While Timpothy W. Smith, Timothy L. Boaz and Douglas R. Denney (1984) maintain that the outcomes of a considerable number of research findings support the rational-emotive model, a number of academics and researcher question the influence of irrational beliefs to a person’s behavioural outcomes in a given situation. Timothy W. Smith (1982) openly criticises the idea of using irrational beliefs for the treatment of behavioural and emotional distress.  Assumptor Mukangi.  (2010), argues that the idea of irrational thoughts influencing behaviour such as anger seems acceptable in some cases, it is not accountable for all behavioural and emotional issues, and therefore they point out that the theory must have either acknowledged the constraint or applied the theory to be accountable for other underlying factors. Other common debates surrounding the behavioural theory are the uncertainty of the long term effects of the method.

 

Windy Dryden (1995) responded to the above critiques saying that we would just be wasting our time if we stuck to conventional, inefficient and traditional psychological assessment methods. He adds that catharsis only helped the person with behavioural problem to feel better for the time being but apart from that they usually got worse than before and that is why he invented REBT to deal with this issue in the existing theories. In addition to this, he further stated that that psychoanalysis made the clients much worse than he was before Ellis (1982).

 

In spite of the criticisms, REBT practitioners have vouched on the efficiency of the method. Moller and  Botha (1996) emphasise on the effectiveness of the REBT model as their study proved that REBT had a significant influence in reducing Type A behavioural problems, they also added that the positive outcomes of the method was apparent in a reasonable period of time. In another comprehensive study which compared the level of stress faced by nurses who expected to be perfect in their profession, it was identified that stress thoughts and behaviour had a direct correlation with each other. Consequently the researcher identified by employing the concepts of REBT, the nurses were able to neutralise their irrational beliefs that lead to negative behavioural patterns thereby effecting there  professional performance (Balevre, 2001). 

 

When Albert Ellis formed REBT in 1950's he faced a lot of criticisms and resistance from a number of professionals and researchers in the field of mental health.  However today the method is one of the most predominantly used therapies all through the world (REBT network, 2012).

 

Personal Analysis:

 

This case study is the ideal setting to determine whether the communication was successful and resulted in a positive outcome in the lives of the people or person involved. I was able to determine the outcomes of my communication method (which was primarily active listening, Verbal and non-verbal communication) by the positive response from George and his mother.  Even though, he appeared quiet in the initial part of the session, gradually as I asked him a few questions about his studies and friends. George’s mom said she felt a lot more hopeful after the interaction and George was inclined to attend the behavioural program suggested by the youth counsellor. This is a significant step taken towards understanding his situation and managing anger.

Through this experience I have understood that the single most important technique for effective communication in listening. I learnt that I was a good listener as I realised that I was able to fully understand the person’s situation and validate what they were saying. Listening carefully for what is said and what is not said are both equally important for establishing a trusting relationship. Forming trusting relationships are a major part of counselling or mentoring the youth. Communication skills used in this case study can also be used in any other situation which requires establishing a trusting relationship such as mentoring, counselling, therapy etc.  

On reflection of the case, I would want to pay more attention to the tone of my voice and body language. Although I think that I did a good job in being affirmative and understanding, I observed that George and his mom were more sensitive to our body language. I learnt that most communication is done non-verbally and I should pay more attention to this aspect for improving effectiveness and creating a positive outcome.

 

Conclusion:

 

Youth workers are in an ideal position to help young people understand their situation and get in touch with available options to overcome their problem. They are also able to comprehend   young people’s lives on a holistic level and consequently can offer more specialist and informed suggestions. Communication skills of the youth worker can be influenced by the theoretical model chosen by the practitioner. For example, a counsellor who is ‘person centred’ might not talk much at all through the session, as he keeps encouraging the young person to continue to explore, whereas a REBT counsellor will be asking more direct questions related to the problem at hand. In this paper different views regarding the chosen theory are discussed using empirical evidence.

 

Further, a case study is presented through which the use of communication skills in a specific case of youth and community service are analysed. In addition to the conceptual and theoretical analysis, a practical perspective of the experience is also examined through personal evaluation of the exhibited skills and possible improvement in the future. This case study serves as an excellent example of how effective communication can have a significant impact of the lives on young people. Moreover communication skills and qualities are significant tools to interact with the young person while trying to counsel or mentor them.

 

  

 

References:

 

 

  1. State of Washington (2009), Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Last viewed on 25 April 2012 

 

  1. Helen Roberts, Kristin Liabo, Patricia Lucas, David DuBois, Trevor A Sheldon (2004), “Education and debate: Mentoring to reduce antisocial behaviour in childhood”, BMJ Vol. 328, pp. 512-514.

 

  1. Angela M.Taylor  (2003), “Responding to Adolescents”, Russell House Publishing Ltd.

 

4.    “Counselling theory – key thinkers” slide.

 

  1. Chaplin J. P (1985), “Dictionary of psychology”, Dell Publishing, New York.

 

  1. Dobson K. & Dozois D (2001), “Historical and philosophical basis of cognitive behavioral therapy”, Handbook of cognitive-behavioral therapies pp. 3–39.

 

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