Part 2: Essay Question

You and your colleague, Rudy, arrived 30 minutes early to review several items together before a big departmental meeting. As you set up your laptop, another colleague who is a close friend of yours, Anna, entered the room. She looked upset and visibly distraught.

You: Anna, what happened? Are you all right?
Anna: I just got off the phone with my helper. It’s my older son, Kai, again. He got into a physical fight with his younger brother and it got so bad that my helper says that there are bruises on my younger son. Kai threatened to use his desk lamp as a weapon and said that he would hit his brother on the head with it if he did not let him use the gaming console. My husband provides me with so much support. He is with them now and I will be going back home
after this meeting.

Rudy: Is this the first time this has happened?
Anna: This is not the first time. He has gotten into fights with his friends before outside of school. His teacher says that he just leaves school during lunch time and does not show up for afternoon classes. Just the other day he was caught for stealing his classmate’s money. Kai is only 12 years old. What did I do wrong? This must be just a normal phase right?

a) Select how you would respond to the conversation with one of the following options:

(A) Don’t be too hard on yourself. He is still young so this is probably just a phase.

(B) He has conduct disorder so you should refer him to a clinician.
(C) You must be so worried about him. Have you thought about seeking professional help for him?
(D)You need to discipline him before he gets worse.
Demonstrate basic competencies of group facilitation by writing an essay explaining your decision. Provide an elaboration of how you would respond to better support your selected option.
Note: There is no one correct answer, although some options might be better than others. Marks will be awarded based on your critical reasoning skills.

b) Explain the mental health continuum and suggest whether Kai’s behaviour is considered normal.

After the meeting, you hurried to catch Anna before she left and noticed a few healed scars on her wrist. She caught you looking at the marks and quickly lowered her sleeve to cover them.
Anna: I felt suffocated and anxious. It is difficult to meet deadlines at work when I am so emotionally distraught from managing my problems at home. I worry that my performance at work does not meet expectations. At the same time, I worry that I am not present at home enough and that my boy is the way he is now because of me. I feel so trapped. Please don’t
judge me.
c) Select how you would respond to the conversation with one of the following options:

(A) I am worried about you, and I will do anything to help you.
(B) I know you are struggling with so much but must you really resort to self-harm?
(C) Why would you do that to yourself? That solves nothing.
(D)I would never judge you. Have you thought about seeking professional help?
Practice the skills needed to interact with people with mental health conditions by writing an essay explaining your decision. Provide an elaboration of how you would respond to better support your selected option.
Note: There is no one correct answer, although some options might be better than others. Marks will be awarded based on your critical reasoning skills.