CASE STUDY- ” JONAH” An overnight sport and recreation
An overnight sport and recreation camp for a group of 15 young disengaged people is organized by a youth center targeting adolescents with behavioral problems. The camp will run for three days and two nights. The sport and recreation camp provided various opportunities for young people to socialize, learn and have fun. At the end of each activity, a debriefing session is enabled to receive feedback, evaluate outcomes and adjust the program accordingly. Free time was integrated to allow informal chats with individuals and get to know them better.
The staff is:
*Tim a youth worker
*Aisha a counselor as the maintain facilitator.
*Zac the sports instructor
*Ali and Ruby- two volunteer students on work replacement.
The group is diverse and included six boys and nine girls aged between 14 and 21 years old. Eight participants were born overseas including Syria and Jonah who is from Samoa. Some participants have complex issues including body image issues and undiagnosed signs of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder.
On the first day, the team:
*Reviewed the structure of the program with the participants.
*Outlined the young person’s right, and conflict resolution and grievance processes,
*Organised ice breakers for people to get to know one another
*Brainstormed ground rules. The ground rules were used as reminders and, revisited and updated throughout the camp.
On the second day, some of the participants took advantage of the free time just after lunch, to go to the local pub to play pool. When Jonah came to the sport and recreation facility to attend the scheduled activity, he was 20 minutes late. Tim who was running a workplace on bullying at that time, asked him ‘what happened?’ and Jonah replied ‘I fell asleep’ without making eye contact. Tim did not want to argue and said ‘we can chat about this later in the afternoon’ while Jonah rolled his eyes and shrugged.
During the small group discussions, Jonah sat quietly his arms crossed. Tim noted that he looked somehow annoyed and frustrated. He was gazing down and fidgety. Then suddenly Jonah snapped and started swearing, raising his voice, and sounding angry. Jonah is 19 and a rugby player with no known history of violence and is usually soft-spoken, caring, and polite.
Although Jonah did not direct his anger to anyone, in particular, people around felt scared and unsafe. While most participants were silent and intimidated, some started asking ‘what’s wrong with him?’ so Tim quickly said: ‘Come on Jonah, let’s go for a walk and take some fresh air. Ali can join us if you don’t mind and we can have a quiet chat under the oak tree.’ Then he added: ‘Aisha and Ruby can stay behind and continue with the rest of the group’. So, Jonah stood up, kicked and pushed the table in front of him, and cursed others. This is when Tim smelt the alcohol on Jonah’s breath and realized that Jonah was intoxicated.
Tim remained calm even when Jonah started shouting at him and blaming others. He breathed slowly, maintained eye contact. Tim mentioned assertively: ‘let’s hold it for a minute, this isn’t working, let’s start from the beginning.’ Tim did not talk about the drinking issue but sought to understand what happened that led to Jonah being upset. They did not try to reason with him or problem solve but enabled Jonah to vent his anger and realize the potential consequences of his behavior. Then, they agreed to resume the conversation at a later stage after Jonah had sobered out.
At the end of the day session, Tim facilitated the daily debrief session to discuss and examine the antecedent, problematic behavior, and consequences of the incident involving Jonah.
When checking in with the team during the round table conversation:
*Ruby admitted feeling personally uncomfortable with the behavior of some participants.
*It was noted that a conversation with Jonah’s case manager showed that Jonah has been experiencing pressure at home and bullying at school
*The workshop about bullying aggravated Jonah’s reaction
*It appeared that Jonah’s decision to get drunk and subsequently lose his temper was due to previous comments from participants about his mannerism.
*Jonah’s Samoan Fa’afafine cultural tradition meant that he had been raised as a girl (or third gender)
The ground rules were used as a benchmark to guide the decision and it was decided to give Jonah a warning and the opportunity to demonstrate a more positive attitude throughout the camp.
Tim and Aisha approached Jonah and discussed:
*The factual information and expressed their concerns
*They did not react to Jonah when he became defensive and avoidant
*They did not try to justify themselves
*They encouraged Jonah to reflect on what happened and take responsibility for his misbehavior
*They did not get side-tracked or distracted from the main points but focused on his behavior at the camp and clearly reasserted what was unacceptable.
*Implications of his behavior and the risks of harm, they looked at alternative ways to deal with anger.
QUESTIONS
1 ) Answer the following questions;
a) Identify the underlying reasons for the potential conflict?
b) Describe the recognized behaviors of concern and the early signs of violence?
c) Identify the preventative and defusing strategies employed by the staff?
d) Principles of responding to human behavior relating to violence, aggression, and suicide.
2) To avoid misinterpretation, it is essential to ensure misbehavior and interactions are evaluated in a fair, objective, and consistent manner.
a) identify whether the team’s debriefing enabled us to evaluate and analyze Jonah’s behavior in a clear and constructive manner.
b) provide examples of questions you would ask to reflect upon and, ensure both accurate interpretation of the event and appropriate response.
3)Describe action regarding unacceptable behaviors that must be consistent and fair and follow organizational policies. Answer the following questions.
a) describe how the response employed by the team regarding Jonah’s unacceptable behaviors was consistent with the available evidence.
b) outline an organization policy they would have used.
4) The Sport and Recreation Camp involved people from diverse backgrounds and cultural sensitivities.
a) identify some of the cultural differences apparent in the case study and,
b)discuss potential strategies to facilitate cross-cultural communication and acceptance.
5)Describe the approach used to ensure Jonah was made aware of the consequences of his undesirable behavior and took responsibility to change.
6) Describe Tim and Aisha’s approach with Jonah to provide feedback and confirm the consequences of Jonah’s continuing behaviors of concern in a calm but firm manner.
7) Identify examples of modeling:
a) Assertive behavior
b) Consent
8) Describe the key principles and/or protocols for documenting and reporting accurately what happened at the sport and recreation camp