CONSULTANT'S CORNER-RESPONSE TO MONIQUE

Module 5 Consultant's Corner
QUESTION:
One or two students—as indicated in the table in the Consultant's Corner Instructions under Course Home—are asked to post a challenging issue that he or she is facing at his or her agency. The challenging issue must be related to a macro practice scenario. Please avoid describing a clinical issue. After describing the respective issue (2-3 sentences only) and in objective terms, using terminology from the course, the presenting students will ask the class one question about how best to address the challenge. All other students (i.e., those who are not presenting a challenging issue) are required to respond to ONE student, who presented a challenging issue at their work assignment. In the response refer to a component of the course content that relates to the challenging issue and recommend a course of action.
The student will identify the issue in the subject line of their post as follows: [Challenging Issue]—[Student's First Initial] [Student's Last Name]. For example, a hypothetical subject line might read, "The agency tolerates poor performance of its employees—J. Doe."
MONIQUE’S RESPONSE:
My current field placement services a large community of adolescents. The community in which we serve is high in crime and riddled with gun violence. Since my involvement, there have been several reported incidents of death by gun fire reported by our client body. In addition, most of our clients are gang involved and often attend our weekly “Cook, Eat, Talk” program. The issues that I struggle with is keeping the rival gangs at bay and separated. Yet, I would like to encourage group dialouge. Recently, I suggessted to staff that we incorporate a gang awareness program. However, because so many of the client’s are already gang involved, I am uncertain about how to approach it. Any suggestions?