I’ve been working with Isaac since the beginning of the
year. During the fall he was part of the bereavement group. He lost his father
several years ago and never really addressed the loss. Very recently he lost
his grandmother to cancer. Isaac had a lot of built up anger about both deaths
and as a result took it out on other students and mainly his little brother. In
the Bereavement Group he was quiet and removed but started to open up and
release some of his anger.
As I mentioned the other week, our Bereavement group is a
half year program and we generally try not to keep students in the group for
the second session unless necessary. Isaac seemed to be making some progress
but was still very violent towards his brother. I felt he still needed
Partnership with Children’s support and moved him to our Bookstore Group where
he continues to progress.
The other day, Isaac made a HUGE breakthrough! We were
speaking about role models, and as I looked at him, I could immediately see a
change in his thinking. It was like a light bulb went off in his head and
everything became clear. After the group he came over to me and said he realized
he needed to be a better role model for his little brother. “I haven’t been
very nice to him lately and I should be someone he can look up to. I need to
spend more time with him. I think I’ll take him to play basketball after
school.”
I couldn’t have been prouder! Isaac understood the
importance of positive role models in a person’s life and realized he could be
just that for his little brother in the absence of their father. Not only will
his little brother benefit from the decision, but it will help Isaac heal from
the trauma he’s recently faced. Now that the idea is there, I can’t wait to see
the change unfold!
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