Psychodynamic And Social Learning Theory: My Internship At Teen Court

Two theories that informed practice at my internship at teen court is psychodynamic theory and social learning theory. Completing the GAIN-SS with teens provides a quick assessment to identify any areas of concern relating to substance abuse, criminal, internal, and external behaviors. Teens will share emotions and thoughts about events influencing them to engage in delinquent behavior such as stealing, domestic violence, and using illegal substances. Teens express feelings of depression and anxiety due to being bullied, stress at home, variety of trauma, and interpersonal relationship issues. It is important to practice empathy, discuss and emphasize strengths, goals, support, and provide education to teens experiencing hardship. Social learning theory helped to identify what are the influences and role models that are shaping these teens. "Social learning theorists emphasize the power of role models and is the basis for peer jury approach and peer mandated sentence has greater potential to control the offender's future behavior than one handed down by adults. An underlying assumption of this theory is that the juvenile offenders see a common link with the court personnel youth and are members of the same community" (Forgays & Demilio, 2005, p. 108) …show more content…
Teens may be adapting to delinquent behaviors modeled by parents, siblings, or friends with minimal guidance and consequences to each behavior. Teens that score a certain score are recommended and referred for further services to evaluate behavioral health needs. "Assessing child and adolescent emotional and behavioral problems regarding onset, duration and intensity has its challenges whether they are able to report on any of these characteristics" (Kazdin, 2003, p.