Selecting the appropriate intervention for children or adolescents with a stress or adjustment issue greatly depends upon their needs. Consider the following scenario:

Tanya is an 8-year-old girl who was in a severe car accident and sustained multiple lacerations on her face. She endured 6 hours of surgery to remove glass shards from her left eye and received 42 stitches from the left side of her chin to her forehead. Tanya’s surgery left her face disfigured. She spent 8 weeks recovering in the hospital.

Upon her release from the hospital, Tanya’s mother took her to a local ice cream store to celebrate her release. While Tanya enjoyed her ice cream, she suddenly felt as though everyone was staring at her. She observed a teenage girl looking at her and whispering to another friend. She overheard a young child ask her mother, “What’s wrong with her?” Tanya felt ugly and self-conscious because of her scars and she began to cry. Her mother tried to console her daughter but felt it was to no avail. As a counselor, how might you help Tanya adjust to her new face, tap into her resilience, and engage in social situations confidently?

Consider what type of intervention or setting would be most appropriate for Tanya. Is she likely to benefit from individual counseling or from a group setting with other children with similar issues? No matter what intervention you deem appropriate, as a clinician you must confidently convey to children or adolescents that with support and guidance, they can resolve their stress or adjustment issues.

For this Assignment, conduct an Internet search or a Walden Library search for at least one peer-reviewed article that presents evidence-based interventions that support stress or adjustment issues for children and adolescents. Then, select an intervention you might use for the stress or adjustment issue you selected in the Discussion.

The Assignment (2–3 pages): Describe an evidence-based intervention for the stress or adjustment issue you selected, and explain why this intervention is appropriate. Explain one way you might address one culture, family, or social factor in your intervention and how. Describe two ways you might educate and/or support the parents/guardians as they try to help their child or adolescent through the stress or adjustment issue. Be specific. Use the week’s resources and the current literature to support your response.

Required Readings Cook, E. C., Chaplin, T.M., Sinha, R., Tebes, J.K., & Mayes, L.C. (2002). The stress response and adolescents’ adjustment: The impact of child maltreatment. Journal of Youth and Adolecence, 41(8), 1067-1077. As you review this article, consider stress and adjustment during adolescence. Focus on the effects of stress and how adolescents react. Keller, P. S., Cummings, E. M., Peterson, K. M., & Davies, P. T. (2009). Marital conflict in the context of parental depressive symptoms: Implications for the development of children’s adjustment problems. Social Development, 18(3), 536–555. As you review this article, consider how marital conflict creates internal and external symptoms for children and adolescents. Focus on how these symptoms can further develop into behavioral problems. Miller, L. D., Short, C., Garland, E. J., & Clark, S. (2010). The ABCs of CBT (cognitive behavior therapy): Evidence-based approaches to child anxiety in public school settings. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88(4), 432–439. As you review this article, consider the results of this study. Focus on how CBT might be used as a treatment approach in your professional practice. Rew, L., Principe, C., & Hannah, D. (2012). Changes in stress and coping during late childhood and preadolescence. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 25(3), 130–140.
As you review this article, consider stress and coping skills in children and adolescents. Focus on how this information might inform your professional practice. Document: DSM-5 Bridge Document: Trauma, Stress, and Adjustment (PDF)
Use this document to guide your understanding of trauma, stress, and adjustment for this week’s Discussion.