Collaboratively Responding to Adolescent Fallout from Complex

Family Relationship Issues

CatholicCare WollongongSchool, Student & Family

Program

Family Relationships is the number one presenting

issue in school counselling.

True or False

Quiz

1 in 3 young people live in a household experiencing

financial stress.

True or False

Quiz

The average teenager spends the equivalent of 1

school day online.

True or False

Quiz

Adolescents today are having their first drink at

a younger age.

True or False

Quiz

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

1 Australian teen dies each month from alcohol

related causes.

True or False

Quiz

Parents are spending 4 hours a week less with their children than they did a generation ago.

True or False

Quiz

The majority of students accessing counselling in high school are female

True or False

Quiz

Adolescents prefer online counselling over face-to-

face counselling. True or False

Quiz

Most students prefer a female counsellor.

True or False

Quiz

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

Students are more reluctant for their parents to know that they are in

counselling than for their peers to know.True or False

Quiz

• Financial pressures• Time poor• Technology & social media• Family breakdown• Family violence• Substance use

Family Context & Impact on Adolescents

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

• 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

• ‘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

• 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

How can we promote help seeking in adolescents?• Sensitivity in sharing information• Psychoeducation for adolescents (friends

helping friends)• Embracing technology, online support &

appsHow can we promote help seeking in families?• Outreach to families• Consider cost & transport

Help Seeking

• 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

Collaboration

Improved Family

Functioning

Improved Community Wellbeing

Improved Adult

Functioning

Improved Sense of Hope and Dignity

Improved Child Health

and Wellbeing

Physical Health Parental EngagementLearning Mental HealthCommunity Safety Sense of Family & Community Social and Emotional Wellbeing BelongingEmotional Security Access to ServicesPositive Parenting Styles Early InterventionEssential Life Skills ResilienceParticipation Goal Attainment

• 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...