This chapter discusses comprehensive school crisis interventions, identifies the characteristics that define a crisis, finds ways to assess for the level of traumatic impact, and determines what interventions can be provided to help with response and recovery. It highlights the PREPaRE Model of crisis prevention and intervention. There are six general categories of crises: acts of war and/or terrorism; violent and/or unexpected deaths; threatened death and/or injury; human-caused disasters; natural disasters; and severe illness or injury. Children are a vulnerable population and in the absence of quality crisis interventions, there can be negative short- and long-term implications on learning, cognitive development, and mental health. Evidence-based interventions focusing on physical and psychological safety may be implemented to prevent a crisis from occurring or mitigate the traumatic impact of a crisis event by building resiliency in students. Crisis risk factors are variables that predict whether a person becomes a psychological trauma victim.

An individual’s identity development, including his or her preferred gender identity, is a lifelong process, which starts with the earliest interactions with the world. The concepts of gender identity have been explored, studied, debated, and discussed for decades and are currently going through a resurgence of examination, especially in Western cultures. This chapter provides an overview of gender identity development, beginning with an explanation of terms, followed by an exploration of theoretical perspectives which includes cognitive developmental theory, social learning theory, gender schema theory and feminist theory. Topics include current research and perspectives on how gender identity evolves in children and recent shifts in understanding atypical gender identities, including transgender, gender neutral, and gender fluid identification. Finally, implications and strategies for mental health professionals are discussed, especially related to counseling those who are experiencing conflict or distress surrounding issues of gender and gender identity.

This chapter explores three ’classic’ studies of creativity and mental illness. The first is Jamison whose focus is on the connection between bipolar disorder and creativity. The second is Andreasen, who used structured interviews to analyze 30 creative writers, 30 matched controls, and first-degree relatives of each group. The writers had a higher rate of mental illness, with a particular tendency toward bipolar and other affective disorders. The third major work is Ludwig, who utilized the historiometric technique. All three studies have come under serious criticism. Many of the studies of Big-C creators are historiometric, akin to Ludwig’s work. Some such studies claim that eminent creators show higher rates of mental illness. A much more common approach is to look at everyday people and give them measures of creativity and mental health. Typically, researchers look at what are called subclinical disorders—in other words, they’re not clinically significant.

This chapter focuses on office automation and systems that are useful in the mental health field, along with principles to be aware of when considering the use or purchase of such systems. Most managers have to rely on input from outside in order to form an opinion about how to resolve complex issues. The complexity of the issue increases significantly when the current federal health care laws are incorporated into the task of choosing appropriate clinical information management software. The significance of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) would seem to dictate at least a brief foray into its content because it lays the foundation for virtually everything that is happening in the clinical information management (CIM) realm. The information provided in the chapter can give a backdrop by which current practices can be examined for goodness of fit with the available client information management systems.

This chapter presents the best measures for resilience and community protection for some of the social determinants of digital diseases in the future for further discussion with families, school workers, and allied health professionals. It suggests that high levels of resilience may prevent development of mental health problems, like depression, stress, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, supporting the suggestion that fostering resilience may prevent development of mental health problems in adolescents. The chapter presents a case report of a 14-year-old, brought to consultation by his mother, who has been worried about his weight. This case report points out how important it is to build up resilience skills through the development of caring and supportive relationships within and outside the family. The chapter suggests a four-pronged approach to prevent the excessive use and the problems associated with the Internet. It includes regulatory, parental, educational, and technological approaches.

This chapter discusses current thinking in the field of social support and social relationships, and physical and mental health among older racial and ethnic minorities. Social relationships are an important predictor of health and psychological well-being across the life course. Many minority older adults will face the continued challenges of declining functional status due to physical and mental health conditions over the course of their lives. Most empirical studies on social support among older racial and ethnic minority adults explore the association between social support and both physical and mental health. The wealth of studies on social support among minority older adults has much to offer with respect to understanding the correlates of emotional support and patterns of assistance. The biological mechanisms explaining the link between social support and physical health outcomes have been largely unexplored among older racial and ethnic minority groups.

In the therapeutic community (TC), recovery is viewed as a change in lifestyle and identity. It is a view that can be contrasted with the conventional concept of recovery in medicine, mental health, and other substance abuse treatment approaches. In the public health experience of treating opioid addiction and alcoholism, drug abuse is viewed as a chronic disease, which focuses treatment strategies and goals on improvement rather than recovery or cure. The TC view of recovery extends much beyond achieving or maintaining abstinence to encompass lifestyle and identity change. This chapter outlines this expanded view of recovery and details the goals and assumptions of the recovery process. It presents the TC view of right living, which summarizes the community teachings guiding recovery during and after treatment. The terms “habilitation” and “rehabilitation” distinguish between building or rebuilding lifestyles for different groups of substance abusers in TCs.

A growing body of research documents racial and ethnic disparities in physical and mental health among older Americans. This chapter discusses larger stress process literature and reviews research on discrimination as a source of stress that is an influential determinant of racial and ethnic differences in the health status of older Americans. It provides a brief overview of disparities in health among older Americans. The chapter discusses the biology of stress, elaborates on key elements of the general stress process framework, and highlights findings pertinent to the health of older minorities. It reviews the research on personally mediated discrimination and health that includes findings from both age-diverse samples and those specific to older adults. The chapter also reviews the literature on coping with discrimination and the contribution of institutionalized discrimination to health inequalities. Lacking are investigations on the joint impact of perceived discrimination and residential segregation.

This chapter helps readers to understand the main characteristics of the three major types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. It also examines each disorder from a neurobiological perspective, including genetic factors when known, neuroimaging results, the understanding of neurotransmitter dysregulation, cognitive performance, and various types of treatment. The chapter then presents the consideration of the unique challenges associated with comorbidity, societal pressure, and medical implications. Eating disorders are increasingly common, debilitating, and potentially life-threatening disorders that are clearly linked in their neurobiological basis. Mental health professionals should be aware of the signs and symptoms of eating disorders, as individuals might not disclose their eating habits as readily as their mood, anxiety level, or other symptoms. Treatment is complex, as no medication has been shown to be consistently effective, and each eating disorder will bring with it specific goals.

This chapter describes the toxic stress often experienced by young homeless children and the effect that this type of stress can have on brain development, behavior, and lifelong health. Mental health and cognitive challenges are abundant among homeless families. Stress can affect maternal cardiovascular function and restrict blood supply to the placenta, potentially reducing fetal nutritional intake or oxygen supply, and lead to reduced fetal growth, increased risk of placental insufficiency, preeclampsia, and preterm delivery. Trauma in early childhood has clear neurological and developmental consequences, especially with regard to brain development and executive functioning. The chronic release of two stress hormones glucocorticoids and cortisol can have damaging effects on neurological functioning and lifelong health. Similarly, exposure to high levels of cortisol inhibit neurogenesis in the hippocampus, further impacting executive functioning and the ability to distinguish safety from danger, a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This chapter provides selective review of research on religion and spirituality across three groups of racial and ethnic minority older adults African American, Asian American, and Hispanic/Latino. It discusses major denomination and faith traditions, as well as information about types and patterns of participation and their sociodemographic correlates. The chapter examines informal social support provisions within faith communities and the types of assistance exchanged. It also examines associations between religion, spirituality and physical/mental health, and psychological well-being. Religion and spirituality, through a variety of psychosocial mechanisms and pathways are thought to have largely beneficial impacts on physical and mental hea.

This chapter presents advances in the understanding of adolescent brain development that can inform and improve social work practice with youth leaving foster care. Foster care populations have a high rate of mental health disorders, and the association of types of child maltreatment with elevated risk for such disorders is well known; discussion of specific mental health problems and their treatment can be found elsewhere. Conventional mental health approaches have often targeted the innervated cortical or limbic neural systems, rather than the innervating source of the dysregulation. Psychotherapy, whether psychodynamic or cognitive, acts on and has measurable effects on the brain, its functions, and metabolism in specific brain areas. The ethical response is a sharing of the dilemma, and of information about the neurobiology of the client’s struggle, to enable the client to make as informed a decision as possible. In addition, neuroimaging techniques themselves lead to other ethical dilemmas.

The clinical social worker typically interfaces with older adult clients and their families in a variety of settings, providing diverse services ranging from assessment to clinical treatment to referral. This chapter discusses the ways in which cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) techniques can be used by social workers across different milieu to assist elderly clients who may be suffering from depression. These settings include the client’s home, an inpatient or outpatient mental health facility, a hospital or medical setting, a long-term care facility, or a hospice setting. The chapter provides an overview of how cognitive behavior techniques can be integrated throughout the range of services social workers may provide to elderly clients. Clinical examples demonstrate the use of CBT in a variety of settings. For many older adult clients, issues related to the need for increasing dependence on family, friends, and paid caretakers may become the central focus of counseling.

This chapter focuses on the often overlooked parts of the ethical equation, that of translating information and knowledge into action. It addresses both the vulnerabilities we are all prone to and also examines the ways to facilitate ethical “resiliency” to help us and our supervisees more effectively address the human tendencies that can land even the most well-intended supervisee or clinician into ethical quicksand. The chapter explores some of the various ways that supervisees and all mental health professionals are likely to be prone to ethical improprieties and suggests ways that “ethical resilience” can be enhanced. Certainly having a good working knowledge of professional ethics codes, state laws, and risk-management principles is a very important resource to have in the ethical resilience tool kit. The chapter highlights a handful of the issues that might arise in clinical supervision.

Community-based epidemiological studies find that when grouped together, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions in the United States apart from substance use disorders. Anxiety disorders are also associated with substantial impairments in overall health and well-being, family functioning, social functioning, and vocational outcomes. This chapter includes a brief description of the anxiety disorders followed by a more detailed review of the cognitive behavior interventions indicated for these conditions. Social phobia is the most common anxiety disorder in the United States. Panic attacks are sudden surges of intense anxiety that reach their peak with 10 minutes and involve at least 4 of a list of 13 symptoms. Another somewhat less common anxiety disorder is obsessive compulsive disorder. The chapter discusses the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Two anxiety management procedures, breathing retraining and deep muscle relaxation, have been subject to some level of empirical investigation for certain anxiety disorder.

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book serves as a practice resource for social workers by making accessible the vast territory covered by the social, cognitive, and affective neurosciences over the past 20 years, helping the reader actively apply scientific findings to practice settings, populations, and cases. It helps readers gain a deeper understanding of how neuroscience should and can help the design, development, and expansion of therapeutic interventions, social programs, and policies for working with our most vulnerable populations. The book considers the neuroscientific implications for social work practice in child welfare and educational settings across system levels. It highlights the neuroscientific literature that can inform social work practice in health and mental health. The book concludes by discussing the neuroscientific implication of social work practice in the criminal justice system.

This chapter focuses on six maladaptive processes that underlie a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems commonly addressed by social work practitioners in the mental health field. First, it explicates how a focus on transdiagnostic processes differs from traditional views of psychopathology and accords more closely with neuroscientific evidence. Next, the chapter reviews current research in the fields of experimental psychopathology and neuroscience to detail the cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological features of these six core transdiagnostic processes: automaticity, attentional bias, memory bias, interpretation bias, suppression, and stress reactivity. Then it discusses how these processes may be assessed by clinical social workers in the field, and offer six case vignettes that depict how they manifest in human suffering and impaired psychosocial functioning. Finally, the chapter discusses mindfulness-based interventions as a means of targeting transdiagnostic processes in clinical practice.

This chapter explores the impact of acculturation on three diverse U.S. populations: Hispanics, represented by a specific focus on Mexican immigrants; African Americans; and Native Hawaiians. It reviews relevant acculturation theories developed to explain cultural and psychological changes occurring in racial and ethnic populations in the United States as a result of interactions with the majority racial/ethnic population. The chapter presents Berry’s model of acculturation in particular, as a helpful theoretical model for clinicians working in neuropsychological rehabilitation to use for understanding psychological issues related to acculturation pressures. It also highlights the unique historical context of acculturation for each ethnic group and its effect on their acculturation experience as well as mental and physical health outcomes. The chapter provides rehabilitation psychologists and counselors with culturally relevant assessment and intervention recommendations for working with ethnically diverse clients.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with children addresses four main aims: to decrease behavior, to increase behavior, to remove anxiety, and to facilitate development. Each of these aims targets one of the four main groups of children referred to treatment. This chapter suggests a route for applying effective interventions in the day-to-day work of social workers who are involved in direct interventions with children and their families. An effective intervention is one that links developmental components with evidence-based practice to help enable clients to live with, accept, cope with, resolve, and overcome their distress and to improve their subjective well-being. CBT offers a promising approach to address such needs for treatment efficacy, on the condition that social workers adapt basic CBT to the specific needs of children and design the intervention holistically to foster change in children. Adolescent therapy covers rehabilitative activities and reduces the disability arising from an established disorder.

A theoretical framework of the therapeutic community (TC) grounded in clinical and research experience can maintain the unique identity of the TC and the fidelity of its wider applications. This chapter illustrates several broad initiatives: generic TC model, general guidelines for adapting and modifying the TC for special settings, special populations, and funding limits; the codification of principles and practices of the TC into explicit standards to maintain the integrity of the program model and method, training and technical assistance, and research agenda. Staffing compositions have changed to reflect a mix of traditional professionals; correctional, mental health, medical, educational, family, and child care specialists; social workers; and case managers to serve along with the experientially trained TC professionals. The evolution of the contemporary TC for addictions over the past 30 years may be characterized as a movement from the marginal to the mainstream of substance abuse treatment and human services.

Child psychotherapy is different than any other type of adult-child relationship. A trained mental health professional is using clinical skills to help a child find the answers to the problems he or she has encountered. This chapter outlines the most common symptoms in child psychotherapy. Anxiety is one of the most common symptoms of childhood, but the etiology and manifestation of anxiety varies. Anxiety is a symptom of many other disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia and other specific phobias, selective mutism, mood disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Gifted children tend to have higher levels of anxiety because they can think about things they are not yet emotionally prepared to manage. The chapter discusses clinical interventions for common issues of childhood, along with resources for children, directions for parents, and references for parents, caregivers, educators, and therapists alike.

This chapter presents a case for examining aging in the United States through an inter-sectionality lens. It begins by presenting age, gender, and race/ethnicity as social constructions, followed by a conceptual overview of intersectionality to highlight strengths as well as challenges in this approach, particularly as it relates to health. The chapter reviews the most current thinking on gender and minority health, with special attention to social roles and contextual factors, and methodological approaches. The social construction of gender has been widely addressed in the sociological literature, with identified insights for better understanding health and the aging process. Research on gender and physical health outcomes draws much greater scholarly attention than mental health in later life. The intersectionality paradigm has provided new directions for identifying the importance of gender as a key element for predicting health across the life course.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related cortical dementias are a major health problem. Patients with AD and related dementia have more hospital stays, have more skilled nursing home stays, and utilize more home health care visits compared to older adults without dementia. This chapter discusses the role of family caregivers and how they interact with in-home assistance, day care, assisted living, and nursing homes in the care of an individual with dementia. It also discuss important transitions in the trajectory of dementia care, including diagnosis, treatment decision making, home and day care issues, long-term care placement, and death. It highlights the importance of caregiver assessment, education, and intervention as part of the care process. Dementia caregivers are at risk of a variety of negative mental health consequences. Another important moderating variable for dementia caregiver distress is self-efficacy.

This chapter identifies how psychological frameworks can be integrated into a cohesive, multigenerational intervention to connect children with their incarcerated parents. It describes scenarios through which televisiting develops resiliency in children. The chapter delineates how geographic, financial, temporal, and intergenerational barriers can be reduced or removed via televisiting. It describes supportive televisiting services as an innovative, psychologist-directed, multidisciplinary program that connects children and teenagers with their incarcerated parents via secure, live, interactive video teleconferencing. The chapter also discusses the seven main pillars that make up the theoretical foundation of the televisiting program: child-focused; the attachment theory; trauma-informed care; resilience and strengths-based perspective; mental health challenges; the developmental, life-span, and intergenerational approach; and yellow flag not red flag policy.

This chapter describes the various roles and functions of the treatment program or clinical management staff in the residential facility. It characterizes the roles of support staff and agency personnel. Teachers, physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, lawyers, and accountants in the TC ply their professions in the usual way. The relationship between staff and peer roles is rooted in the evolution of the Therapeutic Community (TC). In the TC approach, the role of staff is complex and can be contrasted with that of mental health and human service providers in other settings. An array of staff activities underscores the distinctively humanistic focus of the TC. The chapter describes how primary clinical staff in the treatment program supervise the daily activities of the peer community through their interrelated roles of facilitator, counselor, community manager, and rational authority. Other staff provide educational, vocational, legal, medical, and facility support services.

This chapter describes changes in the age demographic of the American populace that will steadily increase the number of elderly people in the United States for the next 30 years, and examines the relationship among aging, health, and disability. It provides the characteristics and needs of people who have frequently occurring aging-related disabling conditions such as dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, and stroke. The most common chronic health conditions for people over the age of 65 include arthritis, hypertensive disease, heart disease, hearing impairments, musculoskeletal impairments, chronic sinusitis, diabetes, and visual impairments. It is important for rehabilitation counselors to understand the impact that population aging has had and will continue to have on family interaction and socialization, the American economy, and human health care and social service systems. In providing counseling and guidance services to individuals with age-related disabilities, the issue of chronicity is often of paramount concern.

This chapter helps reader to effectively delineate the core components of comprehensive case reports and identify school-based report-writing strategies that facilitate problem-solving decisions. It discusses different types of comprehensive case reports to illustrate the key components essential to producing effective psychoeducational summaries that help inform schools, parents, and mental health professionals of an individual’s needs. Report writing is a core skill competency area for the practice of school psychology and multiple writing exercises are often intertwined into the practica requirements. The overarching goal of psychological and psychoeducational report writing is to succinctly, accurately, and respectfully communicate the needs of an individual. Astute parents and teachers generally know the referral concerns and low areas of performance prior to reading psychoeducational reports. Any school psychologist who can consistently deliver insight on academic and behavioral needs with solutions will be highly respected and sought out.

Substance abuse is a significant problem among persons who are homeless. This chapter explores the application of addiction recovery management (ARM) principles for developing practice skills in the recovery process among vulnerable populations. It examines demographic and social action factors that may impede or foster successful completion of this long-term recovery for persons who are experiencing home insecurity. The chapter offers insight for forensic social workers about how to engage diversity and differences in practice, as well as advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice. Analytic concepts in forensic social work can enhance the capacity of educators to prepare practitioners to be effective in closing the gap that exists for racial disparities in treatment approaches and programs. Critical race theory can be used to develop guiding principles for competency-based education and outcomes that address the gaps in existing systems of care.

This chapter helps the reader to be familiar with the concept of an advanced specialization practicum. The overarching goal is to learn core competencies for assessment, intervention, consultation, and systems-level pedagogical supports. There is an increasing need for school psychologists with expertize in high school transition and postsecondary evaluations as well as dual enrollment collaborative evaluations. Clinic-based examples of specialized practica might include forensics evaluation through a law clinic or adjudicated youth programs, inpatient or outpatient hospital units, community mental health agencies, and private practice. The chapter describes important considerations for pursuing a variety of advanced practicum experiences, including coordinating postsecondary transition services, conducting forensic evaluations, and working within settings that utilize a medical model. To secure disability services at the college level, eligible students are required to submit acceptable documentation.

This chapter illustrates how factors outside of families affect lives of people within families. It examines the potential impact that two major issues—work-family conflict and mass incarceration—can have on the lives of family members. The chapter describes ways in which laws governing systems external to families, particularly work and criminal justice, can disrupt families in ways that may lead them to use social workers. It aims at providing necessary understanding of how social workers can help support such families, keeping in mind that family needs often develop from the social and economic context in which each family is situated. The chapter discusses the relevant ethical, legal, and policy issues facing work-family conflict and mass incarceration. It encourages social workers to look beyond the individual—to the systems in which individuals are situated, to better understand the behaviors, decisions, and mental health of individual clients.

A particularly distressing side effect of shame, self-blame, and guilt is that it is emotionally draining and exhausting, undermining our sense of self-worth and competency. This chapter explores how and why we may experience these emotions and learn ways of challenging them. Healthy self-blame is a way of taking appropriate responsibility for one’s actions. Self-blame is common among adult sexual trauma survivors and it is very common among children who grew up in situations where abuse occurred. Guilt is a sign that the person has not completed his or her grief. Sexual trauma occurs in many different forms and each one is a violation inflicted upon a victim by a perpetrator. Shame, like many feelings, can be either productive or potentially destructive. It may be helpful to write about the feelings or seek the assistance from a mental health provider.

This chapter discusses the general theory underpinning the practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). It outlines REBT’s major theoretical concepts and considers REBT’s perspective on the nature of psychological disturbance and health. REBT stresses the flexibility and anti-dogmatism of the scientific method and opposes all dogmas, and holds that rigid absolutism is one of the main cores of human disturbance. REBT’s theory of human value is similar to the Christian viewpoint of condemning the sin but forgiving the sinner. Some theorists outlined the powerful effect that language has on thought and the fact that their emotional processes are heavily dependent on the way they, as humans, structure their thought by the language they employ. REBT is most noted for the special place it has accorded cognition in human psychological processes, particularly the role that evaluative thought plays in psychological health and disturbance.

This chapter discusses medical, psychosocial, and vocational issues across emerging disability populations that should be addressed in the rehabilitation process. It also discusses the application of the ecological model developed by Szymanski, Hershenson, Ettinger, and Enright as a framework for assessment and planning with consumers who have emerging disabilities. The chapter examines the role that rehabilitation counselors can play in responding to issues affecting the lives of people with emerging disabilities in each phase of the rehabilitation process. Outreach to administrators, school counselors, mental health counselors who provide school-based services, teachers, school psychologists, parents, and students may be necessary to ensure that these students are made aware of the availability of rehabilitation services. One of the primary goals of counseling and guidance is to facilitate psychosocial adaptation to disability. Rehabilitation counselors can play a pivotal role in assisting consumers with emerging disabilities to develop health literacy skills.

This chapter describes how mental health and substance use interact with criminal justice involvement. It examines the common assessment and intervention strategies for co morbid mental health and substance abuse in forensic population and settings. The chapter gives a brief review of how substance use disorders co-occur with psychiatric disorders. The chapter describes prevalence of co-occurring disorders such as anxiety/depression, bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder in general. It then discusses prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the prison/jail systems. The chapter also describes medication-assisted therapies for opioid use disorders and, treatment and aftercare services. It explores two of the most common types of treatments for those in the CJS, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and 12-Step groups. The chapter further reviews two CBT programs, aggression replacement training and strategies for self-improvement and change.

This chapter aims to enhance understanding of the justice-involved veteran population including the extent of involvement, risk, and protective factors associated with offending, and the impact of criminal justice involvement on the veteran and the veteran’s family system. It discusses the targeted programs and services for justice-involved veterans, how social workers assist this population, and the specific skill set required for effective intervention. The chapter also deals with health and mental health of incarcerated veterans, causes and consequences of arrest among veterans, and the use of trauma-informed care models and other interventions designed to address trauma that are critical for addressing the complex needs of justice-involved veterans. It further discusses jail-diversion programs, and jail and prison-based programs and services.

This chapter reviews the historic relationship between social work and the criminal justice system and the significance of restorative justice to the social work profession. It demonstrates the strong implicit relationship between social work and restorative justice by reviewing the core social work values and how those values are manifest in restorative justice philosophy and practices. As long as rehabilitation was the guiding retributive philosophy, there was a natural affinity between social work and criminal justice. Social work is unique among the mental health professions because it is the only one built on a fundamental set of values. Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person. Self-determination is an extension of human worth and holds that individuals ought to take part in the decisions that affect their lives. Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.

This chapter describes the importance of research-based practice, the research method, evaluating the science and ethics of research and careers in adolescent development. The theories that guide research and practice in adolescent development now were generated through a rigorous and ongoing process of scientific investigation. Issues relating to health, school, delinquency, parenting, family, relationships, and dating are just a few of the many areas that use the ideas generated by the study of adolescent development to benefit adolescents in practice. Questions in adolescent development must be approached using the scientific method. Maybe playing violent video games is linked with aggression in adolescence, but as adolescents enter young adulthood playing violent video games impacts people in different ways. A college degree or knowledge in adolescent development can be applied to many fields of work.

One of the most important areas of practice that field instructors discuss with their students is teaching and reinforcing the ethics and values of the social work profession. Students are introduced to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) early in their social work education, but it is up to academic faculty and also field instructors to ensure that social work students can make connections between the content of the ethical code and real-life practice situations. There are a number of topics that frequently arise as ethical challenges in the practicum. These include mandated reporter responsibilities, mental health treatment and involuntary commitment, worker-client boundaries, specific boundary concerns related to self-disclosure, and disclosure of student status. There are a number of other approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas. These include the use of principle-based ethics and virtue ethics.

This chapter illustrates three important elements such as individual and institutional betrayal trauma, and reparative individual and institutional experiences. Military sexual trauma (MST) survivors receive psychological care from a wide swath of mental health professionals, within the context of both veteran and civilian institutions. The therapeutic orientations draws a combination of cognitive, dialectical behavioral, and relational-cultural theories, will influence the way we conceive of MST. A caregiver having cognitive, emotional, and physiological reactions of love, protectiveness, affiliation, and nurturing toward an infant buffers against the huge responsibility and effort it takes to provide sufficient care. Therapists may be able to gain clinical traction with MST survivors by understanding that MST almost always includes experiences of both individual and institutional betrayal. A therapeutic environment where mutual empathy and empowerment are present can provide an antidote to the patient’s previous environments, lacking in empathy and rife with disempowerment.

The family unit shapes the child’s intellect, and influences the child’s ability to cope with the phenomenological forces that can affect his or her mental well-being. The family teaches children how to be good citizens in society. Most importantly, family helps shape children’s identity development so that they can be proud of their cultural heritage, their background, and what they can offer to the world. Children in kinship care are found to maintain more connections with their families and communities; and they experience fewer disruptions in relationships. Children who reside in relative care, risk experiencing a host of negative outcomes including substance abuse, criminal system involvement, mental health disorders, early pregnancy, and education insufficiencies, to name just a few. Relative caregivers are often willing to be permanent resources for children through either adoption or guardianship and their preferences should be valued and considered in relation to the child’s best interest.

This chapter presents some general guidelines and considerations for interacting with a young adult in psychiatric crisis that will help guide our approach. It focuses on the knowledge and the skills that one has acquired to the point and speak more specifically about assessment of safety and intervention strategies to support and assist a young adult experiencing psychosis. It is not uncommon for young adults with psychosis to experience grandiosity, whether as a facet of their delusional system, or as a result of manic mood disturbance. Grandiosity may manifest in a variety of ways. The symptoms of psychosis may lead to a number of unusual behaviors. A relatively common pattern of bizarre behavior involves an element of hypersexuality. There are a variety of reasons that someone might behave in a way that seems unusual, including intoxication from drugs or alcohol, eccentric personality characteristics, or other mental health concerns.

This chapter examines the theory of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and use of the theory as a model of supervision. It reviews the theory of CBT by examining a philosophical foundation, techniques and interventions, the role of the therapist, the process of change, and cultural issues. The chapter discusses the significance of utilizing a CBT approach to therapy within the supervisor-supervisee relationship. It also reviews the supervisor-supervisee relationship, looking specifically at goals and challenges, and follows with a case example. CBT can be used with adults, children, and older populations throughout an extensive continuum of mental and behavioral health diagnoses with couples, families, or individual concerns. CBT theory works to promote change in daily living. Relaxation and mindfulness techniques are used within the CBT approach to increase internal experiences and awareness and to decrease stress and tension that impact the client mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Supervision in family therapy is an inherently complex enterprise. In any supervision of psychotherapy work, the supervisor must navigate the hierarchy of supervisor, therapist, and client; in family therapy, the client unit may include its own complex hierarchy as well. There are very different approaches to the supervision relationship. Ethical decision making in such a complex environment is understandably challenging for therapist and supervisor alike. Some evidence from other mental health professions suggests that supervisors may be hesitant to discuss issues of supervisees’ sexual attraction to clients in supervision, for fear of being accused of harassment or otherwise breaching ethical boundaries. Some supervisors are surprised to learn that confidentiality in supervision is very similar to confidentiality in therapy. There are a number of ways that ethical problems can arise in supervision, each requiring careful attention to be resolved in the best interests of all involved: client, therapist, supervisor, and setting.

This chapter describes the beginning of puberty, the timing of puberty and off-time puberty. Puberty is marked by striking differences between the physical development of males and females. The puberty process is an illustration of the magnificent way in which multiple systems in the body interact to produce growth. Puberty is initiated in the hypothalamus, an almond-sized structure in an area of the limbic system called the midbrain. As a child nears the adolescent years, and a threshold level of body fat is reached, fat cells produce the hormone leptin, which provides the signal to the hypothalamus to begin the puberty process. Parents, teachers, or mental health personnel should prompt discussions about the emotions linked with having the first period, feelings connected with the rite of passage of menarche, and the mixed feelings associated with puberty, such as the combination of embarrassment and pride.

Establishing rapport, building therapeutic alliance, and establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries are all important therapeutic skills especially when working with victims of military sexual trauma (MST). Along with being caring psychotherapists, clinicians may be called upon to play a key part in third-party issues, such as legal issues including custody battles or in reporting on clients for MST Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) service-connected disability benefits. This chapter reviews psychotherapeutic issues that arise when treating those with MST, specifically, barriers to treatment, establishing trust and rapport, boundaries, third-party issues, and documentation. The issues that prevent MST survivors from seeking mental health treatment mirror problems that service members may have had in reporting it, including fear of blame and stigma. To protect clients and therapists alike, it is also important to be mindful of other common boundary testing by trauma clients.