Young Mom Support Group Essay

This is a support group with social skills and educational components. There will be educational videos and speakers introduced into this group. The book, “I am Still Somebody, by Chantea Jones will be frequently used in the group, and will be provided by the leader. This group will be held at the local community center. There will be two groups per year, and each one will run for the entire length of one school semester, or 16 weeks, with no meetings during the summer.

This group will be closed because it is important for the members to be exposed to consistency. Young girls in this position often struggle to find stability and consistency in their lives. This group can be a way to provide those necessities for them. If this group were to be an open group, it could potentially cause more instability and lack of consistency in their lives, which is what this group wants to avoid. This is a homogenous group since it is only for teenage moms age 14 to 19.

Rationale

Teenage pregnancy is a problem with disturbing statistics. United States has the highest teen pregnancy and birthrates in the Western industrialized world. Nearly 4 to 10 young women become pregnant at least once before they turn 20. Eighty percent of these pregnancies are unintended and 79 percent are to unmarried teens (Davies, McKinnon, & Rains, 2001). Only a third of teen mothers graduate from high school. 8 out of 10 unmarried teen moms wind up on welfare. The children of teen moms do less well in school and are at a higher risk of neglect and abuse than children born to women age 20 and older (Bissell, 2000).

Teenage pregnancy is an issue that has a huge impact on social, emotional, economic, physical, and psychological issues. A pregnancy for a woman should be an exciting time with lots of support and joy from those around you. For a teen this experience is quite different. There is often a lack of approval from outsides, and a sense of shame felt by the teenage moms (Davies, McKinnon, & Rains, 2001). This stigma results in having less of a chance of these girls establishing positive self-images as mothering figures and the children suffer the consequences. Society encourages dating and sexual expression and freedom from an early age, yet when a teen gives birth, we shun them. Society wrongly assumes that these girls have been promiscuous and careless (Szigethy M.D., PhD & Ruiz, 2001).

A teenage mother must adjust to parenthood while still enmeshed in problems of adolescence. A teenage mother faces many different emotions including: fear, resentment, confusion, depression, and frustration (Szigethy M.D., PhD & Ruiz, 2001). These girls are often ostracized by peers and lack familial support (Davies, McKinnon, & Rains, 2001). Teenage mothers often live in poverty and depend on federal assistance. They need support in accessing affordable health insurance and daycare. These girls need subsidized housing and access to education and training ("CDC Data & Statistics | Feature: Teen Birth Rates Rose Again in 2007, Declined in 2008," 2010). There are numerous ways in which our support group can benefit this population. We will aim to increase self-esteem and self-respect and provide these girls with many valuable community resources and guidance. This group will serve as a tool to empower these girls as they continue with their normative identity development.

Goals and Objectives

This group will discuss many aspects that teenage mothers may deal including motivating and empowering them with life choices about their futures and careers, helping them grow their support network, helping them learn development techniques, and incorporate coping skills and relaxation into their lives. These are the primary issues that we will address in order to help reduce the list of risk factors that often target teenage mothers.

Basic Information

The screening process for this group will require an interview with the teenage mothers between the ages of 14-19 that attend the local high schools. A maximum of 15-20 girls at a time is preferred. If more members want to join a second group may be added to accommodate the demand. The group will meet twice a week after school for an hour and a half at a time. The group will run for the entire length of one school semester, or 16 weeks, with no meetings during the summer.

 Therapeutic Techniques

The group will use ice breaker activities as the initial way for the members to introduce themselves and get comfortable with one another. We will focus on utilizing trust and relationship-building activities to help members develop trust in themselves and each other. These activities will empower these girls and enlarge their social support group. We will use self-reflection exercises to increase insight. Relaxation techniques and meditation will be taught to aid in stress reduction. The group leader will use art, music, and bibliotherapy as creative techniques to do introduce self-esteem boosting activities. We will also have a variety of guest speakers from community agencies that can offer services to expand members’ social network.

Special Considerations

Counseling for individual members is always available to anyone who feels that they need it. The group is made to be a safe environment where everyone has the right to see a counselor if they see fit. If a member comes in with other issues or a psychological diagnosis and it appears they need further help they may be referred to a psychologist to meet with and make sure they are getting all of the help they need since that area may be out of the expertise of the group leaders. The clients are still very young, but if an issue from their childhood arises and it seems like one that can be worked out in group it will, if it seems like a bigger issue that needs to be address

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