Score another small victory for school support groups. The same self-help revolution that swelled the ranks of Alcoholics Anonymous - and spawned a raft of similar organizations - is now reaching kids as young as 5. And schools are the usual setting because, as Donald J. Steadman, dean of the school of education at the University of North Carolina, says, “Children have rich emotional lives - and child counselors have realized that these emotions are not confined to the home.”
Movements don’t get much more grass-roots than this. “This is people solving their own problems,” says Dr. Magda Pollenz, a psychiatrist in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. The groups started forming spontaneously about 10 years ago, as teachers noticed more kids having problems with divorce, drugs in the family and domestic violence. Formats vary widely. The Irvine Unified School District in California provides a counselor-run program which helps 5- to 18-year-olds cope with “life changes.” At St. Clement’s Catholic School in Chicago, kids attend weekly meetings where they discuss similar topics with one another and with teacher-moderators. A two-year-old New York City program, Network in the Schools, allows kids to express joy in their daily accomplishments and form a modest plan to make their lives a little better.
Not only do most counselors embrace this idea, many see the groups as one sign of a major cultural shift - away from shame and guilt and toward a greater self-awareness. “The beauty part of these sessions,” says Dr. Margaret Dawson president of the National Association of School Psychologists, is that “they are dedicated to the notion that you don’t have to have family secrets.” Parents, however, don’t always exhibit the same openness. Sometimes when a teacher notices a child being aggressive or withdrawn and suggests a support group, she gets a flat no from a parent who may be ashamed of what’s happening at home. “The reason some kids are having problems is that their mothers and fathers aren’t ‘fessing up to reality,” says Carol Hacker, a psychologist in Colorado’s Jefferson County school system.
For some children, the sessions are the most fun they have all day. Group leaders often suggest playing games that allow for self-expression. “What the little kids are really looking for is attention,” says Kathy Eslinger, a teacher at St. Clement’s. Dawson stresses that the sessions are not group therapy, which “is geared toward more serious problems.” The support groups, she says, work best for kids who are already coping but who could benefit from a boost in self-esteem or a practical suggestion.
Even counselors agree that group guidance is often preferable to the one-on-one approach. “The best medicine,” says Paul Cborowski, a professor of psychology at Long Island University, “is often the news that, no matter what your problem, you are not alone.” Steven Chinlund, who runs Network in the Schools, goes further. “The act of affirming yourself in public has an effect that is almost magical,” he says. The neatest trick of all may be that these groups help educators cope, too. “We live in an era when we have little money for guidance programs, but studies show an increase in the number of troubled kids,” says Hacker. “You could call these support groups a lucky break.” Or a dire necessity.
