reproductive health services for adolescents - Pathfinder International

Module 16/Unit 4
CONTENT
Knowledge/Attitudes/Skills
maturity⎯one of the goals of adolescent
counseling.
FOSTERING GOOD COMMUNICATION
Several principles help assure effective
counseling with adolescents:
• The service provider must accept
responsibility for leading the
analysis of and reflection on the
issues troubling the young person,
encouraging her/him to explore and
express feelings.
• The counselor avoids giving advice
and recipes or magic formulas for
solving problems. Rather, the
counselor helps the adolescent to
evaluate her/his own behavior and
the possible solutions to the problem.
• The provider respects the
adolescent, encouraging her/his
ability to help her/himself, to trust in
her/himself, and to take responsibility
for her/his decisions.
• Counselors should consider
adolescents as individuals,
emphasizing their qualities and
potential, respecting their rights as
people, and promoting the exercise of
their capacity to think and make
decisions.
• The counselor must accept
adolescents and not judge them as
good or bad. The counselor should
help them to examine their conduct
and make changes they consider
necessary. This will promote
ownership of decisions, greater selfconfidence,
and self-control.
Training/Learning Methods
(Time Required)
• Proceed until each statement has
been read and responded to.
• At the end, explain that the purpose
of this exercise is not to persuade
others to adopt certain positions, but
to listen and reflect on what we think
and feel about various issues. Better
understanding of one’s own values,
and how they differ from others’,
enables counselors to be more
accepting and less judgmental.
ROLE PLAY: ASKING QUESTIONS
(30 MIN.)
The trainer should:
• Explain that the purpose of the
exercise is to practice and improve
asking effective questions.
• Show Transparency 4.1 and review
types of questions, stressing the
advantages of open-ended questions.
4.1
• Play the role or request a volunteer to
play an adolescent who has
contracted an STI and has made an
appointment for counseling.
• Have Px take turns asking questions
as they would during a counseling
session.
• Ask Px to analyze which questions
were effective or not and why.
Pathfinder International
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Adolescent Curriculum