Social work practice with female juvenile delinquents

Building self-esteem: a group curriciculum [sic] for female adolescent offenders

“…There is limited literature to guide the development of such a program for offenders, particularly with female adolescent offenders (Kaweesi, 1999). Information available on working with male offenders and non-offending populations often must be generalized and adapted to meet the needs of the female offender.…”

“…The cognitive behavioural approach that will be followed has been shown to be an effective intervention with juvenile delinquents in teaching social skills and addressing issues of self worth and self esteem Carrel, 1994;Kaweesi, 1999;McKay & Flanning, 2000;. Further, this project is focused on strength based skill building issues and avoids the direct offense behaviour in an attempt not to focus on the youth's image as a "delinquent" or "offender".…”

“…One to one therapy is often very intimidating for these youth, as they have not experienced positive relationships with other adults in authority in the past. The power disparity between the therapist and the adolescent dissipates in a group setting where there are more youth than adults Farmer-Corder, 1994;Kaweesi, 1999). A group provides opportunity for adolescents to give and receive feedback and discuss life goals with their peers.…”

“…One of the most difficult tasks when working with adolescents and in particular those involved mandated by the justice system to participate in the therapeutic process is to successfully engage them in the process Jenkins et al, 1995;Kaweesi, 1999;Seden, 1999). One approach that is often used is group treatment.…”

“…It must be remembered that the participants will be suspicious of the motives of the facilitator and could put up rigid defenses (Brendtro, et. al, 1992;Kaweesi, 1999). In responding to their defenses, the facilitator will need to be prepared to deal with behavioural problems, negative attitudes, non-compliance, personality factors, and inappropriate value statements.…”