GEYRODIEN ALEXANDER

THE EDUCATOR IN A
PASTROL ROLE
EDPHOD8

ASSIGNMENT 01
DUE DATE: 5 MARCH
Section 1: BACKGROUND

1.1 Tina is a minor who has been sexually abused by her 21 year old step-brother
John, ever since her mothers marriage to Johns father. Tinas problems with
low self esteem and lack of self-worth stems back to when she was 3 years
old. Her mother blames her for her father leaving them. This seed that has
been impregnated in Tina;s mind as a toddler has now grown into something
more serious. Due to the guilt she feels because of the past, she is unable to
communicate her current situation with her mother, because she is afraid she
will be blamed for breaking up the new family. Tina forces herself to
withdraw physically and emotionally from her family in an attempt to avoid her
step brother. Tina does this because she feels unsafe in her own home and
lives in constant fear that she will be sexually abused again.

1.2 .1 Child abuse: By physically or emotional harming a child.

The immediate effects of child abuse can be extremely serious, especially in

Tinas situation. Tinas abuse can be identified by the following signs:

Physical Effects of child abuse

A fear of adults, Tina has made several attempts to talk to her mother,
but scared she will cause trouble in the family.
Anti-social behaviour, She (Tina) will withdraw herself from people, she
will be to scared to communicate with others.
Problems in school, Tinas grades will drop and will not be able to
concentrate in class.

Emotional Effects of child abuse

Drastic changes in appetite

Nightmares
Over compliance or Excessive aggression, Tina will be scared of people
touching her and will turn to aggression behaviour if it happens.
Fear of a particular person or family member, Tina avoids her step
brother at all costs and attempts to talk to her mother, but her mother
keeps on blaming her for father walking out on them.

Neglect
 Extremely hungry
Appearance is dirty or unbathed

Long-range of child abuse

Children who have been abused are 2.5 times more likely to abuse alchol
and will later abuse their own children (Sara O Meara and Yvonne
Fedderson< 1959).

1.2.2 Sexual abuse: The forcing of unwanted sexual activity by one on another, as
by the use of threats or coercion.

Tina is 11, who has been sexually abused by her 21 year old step brother
John. This form of sexual abuse, will fall under the category of interfamilial
sexual abuse (Takes place within the nuclear and/or extended family).

John is 21 years old which makes him an adult. This means that he has been
sexually molesting his step sister Tina. This refers to improper sexual
activities between adults and children e.g touching, stroking or kissing a child.

There are some effects Tina can go through:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Pregnancy
Depression
Suicide
Sexually Transmitted Infection
Sleep disorder
Eating disorder
Body Memories
Flash backs

1.3 In order for us to determine the possible effects of Maslows Hierarchy of

needs to establish the various levels of needs, and keep in mind that in order
to progress to the next level of needs, the foundation has to be met.

Maslows Hierarchy of needs are divided into levels. These levels will be
discussed in terms of Tinas behaviour ranging from the lowest level, to the
highest level.
 Physiological needs: Tinas basic physiological needs of food, clothing etc are
fulfilled.
Safety needs: Tina is living in an environment in which her safety and well
being are at risk. This causes her to withdraw herself physically and
emotionally from her family in order to avoid her step brother, who poses a
threat to her.

Tina is unable to progress to the next 3 levels namely belonging and love
needs, self esteem needs and self-actualization needs. This is attributed to
the fact that her basic safety needs are not met. She is unable to pursue a
normal mother-daughter relationship, because her mother blames her for past
mistakes. She is therefore unable to communicate, nor trust her mother
completely, because she is unsure whether her mother will do what is best for
her. Therefore Tina cannot excel in her career and education goals and will
never understand why.

______________________________________________________________

Section 2:

2.1 Definition of Counselling

Counselling is an effective tool for dealing with problems and emotional
issues. Counsel is a legal term that can mean the distinction of an attorney
who is employed by a law firm or an organization. The goals of counselling
are to overcome problems and issues with yourself or a group of people.

Counselling can be defined as a facilitative process during which the

counsellor, working within the framework of a special relationship, uses
specific skills to help young people to help themselves more effectively (Gillis
1997:2).

The difference between counselling and support for learning problems

Counselling is based on helping people with problems, e.g emotions, stress,

family issues, relationship issues and friendship issues etc. Counselling can
play different roles, using special techniques and communication skills:

Special Counselling Relationship

To encourage/help people to express themselves and also be open

with others.

Help people to help themselves

This process helps individual people to adopt to change and feel more
responsible.

Learning problems is experienced by a group of children, which develop

problems such as reading, writtening and mathematics (counting). It can also
be a disability and children find it difficult to accept or deal with it, e.g . blind,
disabled etc.

Counselling is listening and observing people. Whereas support for learning

problems is helping people improve on difficulties that they experience on a
daily basis and that can also improve knowledge and skills.
2.2 Trauma suffered by children has struck a deep chord within the Child Welfare
system. Workshops, conferences, networks, and research centres have all
recently emerged, dealing with some aspect of a horrific event experienced by
children. Perhaps this is a residue of recent events: 9/11; school shootings;
the Katrina disaster; and parents turning up with child refugee survivors of
murderous violence in war-torn countries. There appears to be a lingering
perception of an unsafe world for children.

School children absorb more than we sometimes realize. Tinas trauma

phase started with initial shock and denial. She began to feel guilty, sad and
blaming herself. Phase two, fear and anxiety. Tina realize that whats
happening is wrong and becomes scared (Tina goes great lengths to avoid
her step brother). She then turns to her class teacher and opens up to
him(me), which goes into phase three resolution.

According to Lewis (1995:15-16) the trauma response has three phases,

namely:
Impact phase: Started off as harmless flirting.
Recoil phase: Avoid her step brother.
Reintegration: Tells the story to the teacher.(Me)

2.3 Parent involvement is simply being involved in your child or childrens lives.
Be active in their school work, their friends and jobs. Parent counselling
allows new ways to understand themselves as parents and strategies to help
their children manage problems.

2.4 An early intervention program for parents and children who have been
identified as being at risk of child abuse can be assigned to one of two
conditions: (a) an information group offered by the child protection agency
(which served as a control condition) or (b) a special program of behavioral
parent training. Self-report measures indicated that significant improvements
in parenting risk and child behavior problems at posttest and at 3-month
follow-up were evident only for mothers who received parent training in
 addition to information groups. Home observation data is possibly due to the
limited opportunities to observe behaviors of interest.

Explain to Tina that there are procedures one can follow to report the matter,
but ensure her that the information she provide will be confidential and no
harm will come to her and her parents. Make sure and that she understands
it is not her fault and that she should not blame herself.

The first thing the Lecturer (Me) should do is report the matter to the
Department of Welfare and the Police. You also need to report the matter to
the principle and student support department. Student support is there to
assist the student with the matter and make sure that it does not effect the
students education.

Provide Tina with extra activities that will improve her education, involve her
parents to take part in her daily plan.

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