Question

Q6- 16-year-old student working through issues of past sexual abuse and occasional lying behavior that had got her into trouble with her friends, reveals to the counselor that she has over the past few weeks begun to help herself to her friend’s parent’s liquor cabinet. Both her fairly conservative parents work late hours and the student admits that she finds it fairly simple to access the liquor from her friend’s house storage and be able to deal with the evidence before they returned from work. The student expresses concern over this trend but specifically asks the counselor not to involve her parents and that she would sort it out on her own eventually. The counselor and the student are aware of the school’s zero tolerance policy towards underage drinking. What will you do as a counselor?​

Answer 1

I think that the girl is drinking to escape the nightmares of the sexual assault she faced. You should first try to make her understand that it was not her fault. It was the abuser’s fault. She shouldn’t blame herself or regret it. Let her get comfortable around you and tell her to open up about her feelings and thoughts so she will feel light. Then explain her that drinking won’t help her. Probably the girl is blaming herself for the assault and that is why she is drinking. Then tell her how drinking will harm her instead of helping her. Then show her some pictures of people who have been drinking and have got some problem. Tell her more about the disadvantages of drinking to the point that she is scared of drinking. Tell her to meditate and practice yoga. Whenever she feels the urge to drink tell her to take a look at the pictures of people who drink too much (the ones that look really ugly), breathe (use 4-7-8 technique), see YouTube videos on how to stop drinking and restrict herself to go to her friend’s alcohol storage. She is struggling and don’t ruin her life. If in 2 weeks you don’t see any improvement then it probably is time to inform the parents and refer her to a therapist. Then if in 1-1.5month her drinking problem does not stop then it is time to tell the school.