Question

Swan is a 14-year-old student at the Sea-Cow School for the Performing Arts. Her goal in life is to be a world-acclaimed ballet dancer. She has been dancing ever since she was 4 years old, when her parents enrolled her in a Ballet for Tots program. Swan’s parents have always encouraged her to pursue her dream of dancing professionally. As a young girl, Swan had the perfect body for a ballet dancer, slim and flexible. Within the last year, Swan has become concerned that she is gaining weight. She heard from friends that smoking cigarettes could help her stay thin, although she didn’t exactly know why. Swan became desperate to control her weight and started borrowing cigarettes from friends. Eventually, she was smoking almost a pack of cigarettes a day and felt edgy and irritable if she went without smoking for more than a few hours. She thought about trying diet pills or even barbiturates to avoid the smell of the cigarette smoke.

Swan’s parents have approached you, the school counselor, because they found rolling papers in her room. Although Swan denies using any other drugs, her parents are convinced that she has been smoking marijuana. How would you approach this case? Do you think Swan is at risk for addiction? What questions would you ask Swan and/or her parents? What recommendations would you make?

Answer 1

In order to approach this as a counselor, there are certain pieces of information the counselor should gather(from the parents) before setting up a meeting with the client(Swan)

A) Was the client willing to go under counseling or has she been coerced into doing so?

B) What kind of changes did the parents notice, other than rolled papers in her room, - - behaviorally, how has the mood and attitude has changed compared to the time when she didn't have such problems?

C) How social is she in her community, school, college etc?

Such basic questions would help me get a glimpse of Swan's background through the lens of her parents.

Teenagers have the tendency to do impulsive things as they go through a lot, as their body develops, there's a rush of adrenaline, etc, all of which doesn't help them make the best decisions. This is not to say that all teenagers are impulsive and make hasty decisions. People react to change. And being a teenager, adapting to change doesn't come easy.

In this case, Swan knows that she's really good at ballet dancing and has high aspirations with her skill. However, the sudden change in her body weight makes her feel that she may not be able to achieve her dreams.

In terms of developing a counseling environment for her, here are the things I would do:

- I would use a non-directive(where the counselee plays a more key role than the counselor) form of counseling in order to create an environment where Swan feels comfortable in. Since Swan is a teen with a goal in her mind, it would be easy for me to pave the way where she could achieve her goals and desires.

- To establish rapport, which is crucial in such counseling, I would encourage a conversation where she is open to share whatever she wants; be it about her problems, worries, her accomplishments, etc;without prying too much.

- After a first few sessions of rapport building, I would ask her about her thoughts and feelings about the session, does she feel comfortable about coming to counseling etc

-When we have reached a state where she's open to suggestions, I would ask her about the things she has done to reduce her weight.

- Assuming she has admitted to her growing cigarette and marijuana addiction, one should not start preaching that such habits are bad etcetera. Instead, ask her if this feels as the right approach in order to get what she wants?

Making her realize what her mistakes are rather than pointing it out to her will be more helpful as it would create the sense of self realization and an understanding of what's right and wrong.

Also, providing her alternative ways to achieve her immediate goal (i.e.to lose weight) will help her divert from the other practices she had embarked upon.

- Secondly, I'll let Swan know how her parents are there to protect and guide you, and if you are open to them about the things that trouble you, you would never need counseling again.

The ultimate goal of all the above points I mentioned above is to boost self confidence and grit, which is a trait many teenagers lack due to the many distractions present around. Realizing one's self worth is key to boost confidence and with proper guidance, this can be achieved.  

As you probably would know, counseling process takes a lot of time and patience. However, I have tried to provide a gist as to what can be done to deal with such a problem. Hope u found this helpful.

P.s. If her addiction is really at an extreme level, convincing her for additional therapy is also mandatory.