Tom Cantu Case Study Anthropology

Tom Cantu is a 15 year-old Hispanic young man who attends a community center for youth. Lately he has not been able to sleep or concentrate on his schoolwork. He tells the social worker that he needs to talk to her. Tom explains that he has been having some strange feelings. After much hesitation, he tells the Social Worker that he has been feeling attraction towards one of his track team teammates. He then mentions that he has been using marijuana and skipping school. He admits to wondering if he is gay and shows signs of fear and confusion when he says, “I’m so messed up”. My first response to Tom would be using level three in the empathic communication scale. This scale is a scale that starts at one, which is the least amount of empathy …show more content…
The first thing that I would do to help Tom figure out what his feelings towards his teammate mean is ask him a series of questions. I would ask him about his history with these feelings. I would then ask him about what his feelings towards the opposite sex are. Knowing this is important because sometimes sexuality is not black and white. If Tom says that he also feels attraction towards the opposite sex, it is imperative to consider that he might also be bisexual. The next goal I had for Tom was to figure out how he wanted to or if he wanted to come out as gay to his family and friends. Support groups are imperative to helping youth questioning their sexuality to become more comfortable with the possibility of possibly coming out as queer (Sue and Sue, 2009,p477). These support groups have other individuals also questioning their sexuality and going through the same situation and thus could really be helpful to Tom when he decides what his feelings mean and whether to come out or not. By finding a support group for Tom and allowing him to feel comfortable making a decision, I will help him decide whether or not to come out a gay and if he did decides to, whom to come out too. Being a part of the LGBTQ community can be something very overwhelming and helping someone come to a decision about joining the community and doing everything possible to make them feel included is imperative. The …show more content…
The first thing I would do to help him is role – play with him different scenarios that can occur when coming out. Role- playing is a common form of behavioral rehearsal and it allows for the client to view possible reactions that may occur in the coming out process before having to do so in real-life (Hepworth, 2013,p394). Tom can then better grasp what coming out to his family may be like and be ready for even a bad family reaction. This is great way to prepare Tom for all the implications that come along with coming out. The second thing I would do to help Tom is talk to him and inform his about the LGBTQ community. Coming out as gay can be very scary and usually people who are going through this process feel very alone. Informing Tom about the strengths of the LGBTQ community can make him feel more at ease with his decision. Pointing out to Tom all the successful people in history and currently that are a part of the LGBTQ community can also help to boost his moral and help give him the extra push to come out to his family. The LQBTQ community is usually portrayed as an oppressed and suffering group, by pointing out how many role models there are in this community and how supportive this community can be, I would greatly help Tom get the courage to maybe one day be a part of this