Sexual Minority Youth
Group Counseling for Sexual Minority Youth
Abstract
Counselors often work with a silent population of sexual minority students. Focusing on the different types of issues facing sexual minority students this article discusses issues from homophobia, isolation, abuse and alienation at school and also at home. The article also describes the process in which one school set up in a gay, lesbian, and bisexual group counseling method for its students.
The article I chose was titled “Group Counseling for Sexual Minority Youth” and was authored by Lynne E. Muller and Joyce Hartman. This article was found in Professional School Counseling I. The article begins by mentioning that counselors often work with a silent population of sexual minority students. Because of the silence, counselors often assume that every student that every student is homosexual. The article then reviews the different types of issues facing sexual minority students and using a high school in Maryland, sets up a gay, lesbian, and bisexual group counseling method. The article mentioned several counseling issues. Homophobia, or fear and hatred for homosexuals exist in the schools, which often results in the verbal and physical abuse of students. Out of this abuse comes isolation where students are alienated and withdrawn from their school peers. Identity issues then arise because students need to be accepted and have interaction with their peers to complete identity formation. Homosexual students also face alienation from their family by disownment, rejection, or mistreatment from their parents. With so many problems from school and home, homosexual youths turn to drugs to cope with their rejection and eventually many commit suicide. From this point, the article explained how a group counseling session was created in a Maryland high school. The arrangement was done in a systematic order. They identified the members. Counselors had to advertise the group, choose leadership within
Abstract
Counselors often work with a silent population of sexual minority students. Focusing on the different types of issues facing sexual minority students this article discusses issues from homophobia, isolation, abuse and alienation at school and also at home. The article also describes the process in which one school set up in a gay, lesbian, and bisexual group counseling method for its students.
The article I chose was titled “Group Counseling for Sexual Minority Youth” and was authored by Lynne E. Muller and Joyce Hartman. This article was found in Professional School Counseling I. The article begins by mentioning that counselors often work with a silent population of sexual minority students. Because of the silence, counselors often assume that every student that every student is homosexual. The article then reviews the different types of issues facing sexual minority students and using a high school in Maryland, sets up a gay, lesbian, and bisexual group counseling method. The article mentioned several counseling issues. Homophobia, or fear and hatred for homosexuals exist in the schools, which often results in the verbal and physical abuse of students. Out of this abuse comes isolation where students are alienated and withdrawn from their school peers. Identity issues then arise because students need to be accepted and have interaction with their peers to complete identity formation. Homosexual students also face alienation from their family by disownment, rejection, or mistreatment from their parents. With so many problems from school and home, homosexual youths turn to drugs to cope with their rejection and eventually many commit suicide. From this point, the article explained how a group counseling session was created in a Maryland high school. The arrangement was done in a systematic order. They identified the members. Counselors had to advertise the group, choose leadership within
References: Muller, L.E., & Hartman, J. (1998). Group counseling for sexual minority youth. Professional School Counseling I, (3), 38-41.