CEFS 620 Week 2 DB Forum 1 Example

Discussion Board Forum 1: Thread and Two Replies

CEFS 620 Counseling Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, Discussion Board Forum 1 (thread and two replies)

Thread by [Student Name]

The prompt and the classmates' posts are composites standing in for the course's own forum; the textbooks, Scripture and published studies are real, and every journal source is from the last five years as the guide requires; the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for CEFS 620.

Thread

The risk I chose is the rise in depression and anxiety among adolescents in the years around the pandemic. Racine et al. (2021), in a meta-analysis of studies from the first year of COVID-19 that together included tens of thousands of young people, estimated that about one in four children and adolescents worldwide had clinically elevated depressive symptoms and about one in five had clinically elevated anxiety symptoms, roughly double prepandemic estimates, with higher rates among older adolescents and girls. McWhirter et al. (2017) describe how risk accumulates when stressors at home, at school and in the community combine, and the pandemic pressed on all three at once. School closures, family job losses and canceled activities removed many of the routines that ordinarily steady young people.

Social media is often blamed, but the evidence is less clear than headlines suggest. Valkenburg et al. (2022), reviewing 25 reviews published between 2019 and 2021, found that most interpreted the associations between social media use and adolescent mental health as weak or inconsistent, while a few described them as substantial. For counselors, this argues for asking how a particular adolescent uses social media, and with what effect, rather than assuming harm. An adolescent who stays connected to distant friends online may be helped by it, while one who scrolls alone late into the night and constantly compares themselves with others may be harmed, and the same hours of use can mean very different things.

Protective factors offer a clearer path. Preston and Rew (2022), in a systematic review of 12 studies with 14,064 adolescents aged 10 to 19, found that social connectedness, including family connectedness, school connectedness and social support, along with self-esteem and prosocial behavior, were the most common factors protecting adolescents from the psychological harm of social isolation. Connectedness is the most practical target because a counselor can strengthen it directly, through family sessions, school partnerships and group work, while many risks lie outside the counselor's reach. Cook-Cottone et al. (2015) emphasize that counseling young people means working with the systems around them, and connectedness is where those systems meet the adolescent.

The letter to the Galatians calls believers to carry each other's loads (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Galatians 6:2). For isolated adolescents, the counselor's task is partly to help families, schools and churches do exactly that, so that no young person carries anxiety or sadness alone.

Classmates: which setting, home, school or church, do you think offers the most room to build connectedness for the adolescents you hope to serve?

Reply to Brooke

Brooke, you argued that schools are the best place to reach adolescents at risk because that is where they spend most of their waking hours, and you suggested that every school should have a mental health screening program. I agree about schools, and a recent study suggests that the relationships adolescents have with adults at school may matter as much as screening. Brar et al. (2023) asked 31,459 eleventh graders in a Midwestern state about their mental health and their ties to school staff; about a quarter screened positive for depression and more than a quarter for anxiety, and students who felt closer to adults at school were less likely to screen positive for either, whether or not they had experienced dating violence. Connectedness was protective regardless of whether a student had experienced that violence.

This suggests that screening should be paired with efforts to make sure every student has at least one adult at school they trust, whether a teacher, coach or counselor. A school counselor could help teachers understand how much their relationships matter and could identify students who seem to have no such connection, then pair each of them with a willing adult mentor.

Do you think screening programs risk identifying students' needs without giving them the relationships that help them recover?

Reply to Marcus

Marcus, your thread recommended that schools adopt classroom programs that teach coping skills to all students, as a way to prevent depression and anxiety before they start. Universal programs are appealing because they reach everyone without singling anyone out. The evidence suggests they help, but modestly. Zhang et al. (2023) conducted a meta-analysis restricted to rigorous randomized controlled trials of school-based mental health interventions targeting depression or anxiety among school-aged children and adolescents, and their focus on high-quality trials gives a more trustworthy estimate than reviews that include weaker designs. The effects they report are positive but small, which suggests that universal programs are a reasonable foundation rather than a complete answer.

For a counselor, the implication is to combine a universal program with targeted support for students who show elevated symptoms, and to involve families, since what students learn in class lasts longer when it is reinforced at home by parents who know the same skills. McWhirter et al. (2017) describe this kind of layered prevention, moving from universal to selective to indicated efforts, as the most realistic approach for at-risk youth.

Which program were you considering, and has it been tested in a rigorous trial with students like the ones in your district?

References

Brar, P., Shramko, M., Taylor, S., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2023). The moderating influence of school adult connectedness on adolescent dating violence and mental health. Journal of School Health, 93(4), 297-304. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13268

Cook-Cottone, C. P., Kane, L. S., & Anderson, L. M. (2015). The elements of counseling children and adolescents. Springer Publishing.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

McWhirter, J. J., McWhirter, B. T., McWhirter, E. H., & McWhirter, A. C. (2017). At risk youth (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Preston, A. J., & Rew, L. (2022). Connectedness, self-esteem, and prosocial behaviors protect adolescent mental health following social isolation: A systematic review. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 43(1), 32-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840.2021.1948642

Racine, N., McArthur, B. A., Cooke, J. E., Eirich, R., Zhu, J., & Madigan, S. (2021). Global prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19: A meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 175(11), 1142-1150. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2482

Valkenburg, P. M., Meier, A., & Beyens, I. (2022). Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 58-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017

Zhang, Q., Wang, J., & Neitzel, A. (2023). School-based mental health interventions targeting depression or anxiety: A meta-analysis of rigorous randomized controlled trials for school-aged children and adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52(1), 195-217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01684-4