Reference no: EM133264727

Task

• Jaden is 16 years old and was referred to your crisis counselling agency called Community Help Line Services. The referral was provided by Jaden's high school social worker.
• Jaden has written a letter (outlined below) to your agency's online counselling forum program. This forum supports community members to write in and receive a written response back from one of their counsellors.
• Your task for this assignment is to read the case carefully and complete a written online response (online counselling) to Jaden following the guidelines listed below.
• Your written response to their concerns will hopefully lead Jaden to continue to correspond with you and may lead to them accessing in-person counselling with your agency or another agency.
• Note, this could be the only opportunity to connect with Jaden. So, considering this could be your only correspondence, make sure you say everything you may need to

Your written response should integrate the following:

• GREW (genuineness, respect, empathy, and warmth).
• Best practices in online counselling 
• Identify the key issues facing the client bringing an Anti-Oppressive perspective 
• Integrate a strengths-based approach in your response.
• Sensitive to the trauma and oppression they have experienced.
• Understand trauma responses from a Trauma-Informed framework 
• Explore risk and protective factors in their story.
• Explore their coping strategies and possibilities for managing their symptoms so that they can sleep better and function better at school.
• Explore and reinforce the importance of a support system.
• Consider the steps in Crisis Intervention and integrate a Biological Psychological Socio-Cultural and Spiritual (BPSS) framework (review from Helping Process) in planning your supportive response.
• Provide 2 real agency referrals, supporting a seamless transfer of trust for the client.
• Consider how you address the client, start, and close the response.
• Demonstrate a professional SSW approach

Dear Community Help Line,

I don't know what to do and really need help. I've tried talking to my school social worker and they said I should write to you or call you. I'm not comfortable calling the crisis line or coming in for counselling, so I hope this is okay. I can't sleep, I haven't been eating, and I haven't been going to my classes. I just want to hang out in my room and never leave.

I guess I should give some backstory. I was labelled a boy when I was born but since I was 7, I knew things weren't really right. I liked to borrow from my sister's closet and loved dressing up. My parents tried to make me play sports and wear typical 'boy' clothes, but I preferred art - like painting, writing stories, and making up plays to act out. Kids made fun of me all the time. Last year I decided to come out and tell people that I don't identify as 'male'. I prefer 'they'/'them' pronouns and don't want to be boxed into a category. I feel like part of me connects as a woman, but I also feel like I'm many things. It's hard to put into words. When people refer to me as 'he' it really hurts. But when I dress more 'girly' and people assume I'm a girl, that hurts too. Neither feels right.

Last year I joined an online group that I thought might be helpful. I guess I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere. Other people seem to get confused about me or think I'm confused. I'm not confused, I know who I am. They just don't seem to accept me or want to know me. They get so uncomfortable around me, and never know how to refer to me. I don't find it that hard, but for some reason, they don't get it or are just weirded out.

So, when I joined this online forum, I started to make some friends, and we shared all kinds of stuff. I decided to share my gender identity with them, hoping they would understand and support me. But once I did, I started receiving horrible messages. Some people called me "she-man" and other hurtful things. A lot of people said I was confused and kept trying to force labels on me. They tried to tell me whether I was gay or straight, and transgender or cisgender. Some thought I was just pretending, to feel special. Then they started asking really personal questions, like if I was going to have a 'sex change', and how stuff like that works. It was so upsetting. I took a break from it, but some of the people had my email address and phone number, so I'm still getting horrible emails and texts too. I don't know how to make it stop.

I'm from a large Spanish family and no one else in my family identifies like me. My parents have no clue what's going on. I'm not ready to tell them. They think I'm gay but don't want to bring it up. They're hoping it just goes away.

There's other stuff too. People stare at me a lot because I have a large birthmark on my cheek. When I was a kid, I was called all kinds of names about my mark. Sometimes I wish I could just make it go away so people would stop looking at me. I feel like they're just disgusted when they look at me and wonder what I am.

I feel so alone. I hate the way I look, and I hate the way other people make me feel. No one understands me or even tries to understand. They think I'm confused or just weird. I'm just me, and I wish people would accept me for who I am. Sometimes when I feel really alone, I cut myself. I know I shouldn't, but I don't cut deep and it really helps me feel better. I don't know what else to do, nothing else helps. No one knows that I do it, I always cover my arms with long sleeves. I don't need more judgment.

Sometimes I just wish I could go somewhere else, a place where I could be understood and accepted or maybe just not be around anymore. Please help me.

From,

Misunderstood