Bullying at school was causing the young person a huge amount of emotional distress which manifested in aggressive and rigid behaviours. Some bullying in the neighbourhood was having the same effect outside of school
We agreed to work with him on 1:1 basis to increase his understanding of emotions, what they are and where they come from. We agreed the 1:1 sessions should allow the young person to experience pleasant emotions so we used games and the informal education was delivered in a way that considered young person’s learning style.
Young person attended 14 1:1 sessions. At the mid-point of the intervention, we allowed some of the 1:1 sessions to take place in a group setting; allowing for direct observation of the young person in social settings (where most of the reported bullying would happen). This allowed for collaborative exploration of incidents ‘there and then’. Young person’s diverse learning ability means their short-term memory and other executive functions are not as established as others at their age, so talking to them about incidents ‘there and then’ proved to be effective. The intervention took more of a ‘coaching’ role.
Alongside the intervention staff working with the young person consulted about the best way to support him in group settings. It was agreed that we would remain consistent and persistent with them while adopting a communication style with them that was unlikely to exacerbate their emotional state.
Following incidents of unacceptable behaviour the young person was allowed to attend Positive Futures group opportunities because they showed an increased understanding of the importance of conforming to organizational rules.
Their parents received support from our Family Support Worker and multi-agency meetings at school, initiated by Positive Futures resulted in alternative and more person-centered education to be arranged from September as a school that is geared up to meet their needs.
