January 22, 2014
Prepared to be Humbled ~ The Shift in Working with Younger Students
Almost seven years ago today, I sat in the in-service room at Second Nature Blue Ridge as a senior field staff participating in a training to work with middle school aged boys and girls. The new program, we were told, was called “Footsteps” and it was created because there was a need for developmentally appropriate therapeutic programing for younger students. I remember being there because I was drawn to the challenge of working with a new age group and a developing program. I expected the challenge, but what I didn’t anticipate was how humbling yet rewarding the experience would be for me. The first few rotations that I worked in Footsteps are still imprinted in my mind today. Truthfully, it was a shift to working with students who were more concrete in their nature, emotionally reactive at times and less socially sophisticated compared to their adolescent counterparts. But what was so enduring and refreshing was their desire to have fun, be creative, and take risks. They were willing to participate in any type of initiative or group activity. Sure there might be fears or worries about how their peers might view them, but those concerns aren’t as extreme and engrained necessarily at their age. They also sought and valued connection with adults, which to us translated to lots of shared meals and games. The coolest and most impressive part of working with this age group was seeing them tap into their strength and resiliency through the experience of living in the outdoors. I felt fortunate to have witnessed the inception of Footsteps; however shortly after it launched, I left Second Nature for graduate school. While I was sad, I knew I would return.
Fast forward several years and here I am, back at Footsteps with an artillery of experience, creativity and energy. Since departing I had worked at a variety of clinical settings, including a therapeutic boarding school for middle school girls. It is through these combined experiences that I have come to some valuable conclusions that I keep in mind when working with this population. In hopes to better help others, I have shared them below.
1) Have fun! In order to work well with this population you must be willing to have fun and be playful. Play primes the mind and body for learning, teaches social skills, build connections, aids with emotional regulation and can lead to increased self-esteem. Being playful doesn’t simply mean carving out “fun time” for games such as mafia or “big booty”, it means incorporating play into therapy and the everyday process. This winter we witnessed our amazing field staff use some playful approaches to accomplish chores and combat the cold weather. They had the kids participate in dance parties to warm up and competitions to create objects out of wood collections.
2) Change your expectations. This doesn’t mean have no or low expectations, but it does mean being aware of how you might expect middle school aged kid to act like adolescent or young adults. Middle school students have different physical and cognitive abilities. Their brains and bodies are not as developed or mature so they do not easily understand abstract concepts and lack physical strength and dexterity. This doesn’t mean they cannot learn or grow stronger, they just need more time, structure, containment, repetition, and help or support in doing it.
3) Utilize a concrete and experiential approach to therapy. Developmentally, middle school students are more concrete which means they experience and understand the word through their senses. In order to best teach and reach this age group you must therefore use art (drawing, painting, and model clay), play, initiatives and other creative modalities to help teach complex or more abstract concepts such as shame, awareness and choice. Be wary of students with high verbal reasoning abilities because that can be used to mask a lack of awareness or understanding of program tools. They can talk the talk but can they walk the walk?
4) Trust the process. Trust that the tools and skills you are teaching them in the wilderness will become the foundation for the future.
5) Be willing to be humbled. So lose the ego and embrace the playful and sometimes unpredictable and chaotic nature of working with middle school students. If you can embrace it, you will learn far more about yourself and how to better connect and teach these kids. Plus, oddly enough you’ll have fun. Also this age group make you a better therapist because of the skill set you must develop in order to teach and reach them.
Next month Footsteps turns seven years old! Like a child, it is growing and evolving. I feel fortunate to be a part of its evolution and am thankful for the many lessons I have learned along the way.
Read more about Liz and her work here: Liz Lucarelli, LPC, NCC, Primary Therapist