Shannon, aged 8

Shannon is an 8 year girl whose mother was concerned about her angry and often violent outbursts.

Mum also felt Shannon was socially isolated and showed signs of 'quirky' traits e.g.: talking to herself which she felt left her having no friends and worried she presented as “odd” to others. There had been some concerns from school reporting that Shannon lacked concentration and motivation.  

 

We saw Shannon for 6 sessions. She was always happy to come and seemed to enjoy the activities and readily spoke about her feelings. Mum was invited to the last fifteen minutes of these sessions.  She was engaged and there was plenty of humour in their relationship. Mum always had Shannon’s 8 month old half-brother with her.

Shannon’s best hopes were to be more helpful at home, have friends at school, to be able to be less angry and able to cope better with angry thoughts.  She also wanted to have more time with mum when there was no shouting.

In most of the sessions she worked on self-esteem and confidence and Shannon recognised the things she was good at and had insight into where she wanted things to improve. Alongside this we concentrated on the triggers that brought on her anger and how it affected her.  We worked together on how she could manage her emotions more positively.

 

Shannon wanted to change and she therefore worked well in the sessions. She was always happy when she noticed a difference no matter how small.  At the evaluation mum was very pleased with the outcomes.  Shannon was now was more helpful around the house, she had new friends which meant she was doing more outside the home and had just signed up for a local dance course.  At parent's evening the previous week teachers had noticed a positive change in her attitude and there was an improvement in learning.  

 

Mum said Shannon’s angry outbursts could still be as violent but they were 50% less frequent and more manageable.  She said she was no longer 'pulling her hair out' and their relationship was much improved.  She now always made time to have 10 minutes alone with Shannon before bedtime.