UNDERSTANDING INAPPROPRIATE SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN TEENAGERS

Dan Mucci • December 1, 2020

As a parent, after a long day at work, the kid’s homework is complete and they are in bed, you sit down to watch television. Grabbing your child’s phone, you do a check of text messages, apps and their internet browser. You are caught off guard when you see a sexually explicit image sent from the phone to another person.

Panic suddenly sets in. Do you wake your child up and yell at them? Do you sit on the information until you can think clearly? Upon further investigation on the phone, you discover this is a deeper problem than you first thought.


Help is available at Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health (C&A). C&A offers a Healthy Sexuality Group for kids who struggle with sending inappropriate messages. But as a parent, who maybe grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s, what is considered inappropriate today.

WHAT IS INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR?

Sexually Inappropriate Behavioral Remediation (SIBR) Program Manager Dr. Seandra Walker discussed what is considered inappropriate behavior.


Dr. Walker said, “Inappropriate sexual behavior may include sending or receiving nude photos (including sexting and sextortion), inappropriate or excessive pornography use, inappropriate masturbatory behavior or highly sexualized behavior that may make a youth at risk for human trafficking.

“Teenagers are extremely tech-savvy and use electronics to communicate with their peers every day. However, many teenagers do not fully understand some of the legal ramifications of their online behaviors. For example, many teenagers do not know that sending and receiving nude photos from a same-aged peer is a crime in the state of Ohio. Lack of information regarding state and federal laws, as well as sexual beliefs or attitudes based on misinformation are common reasons why a youth is referred to the Healthy Sexuality program.”

HOW IS SOMEONE REFERRED TO THIS GROUP?

Dr. Walker provided different scenarios for an adolescent to be placed in this group. The first way, if a client is already a C&A client, their primary provider can submit a referral form. If the adolescent is not already a C&A client, an intake assessment would need to be completed and Healthy Sexuality services would be requested. A parent could call in and indicate their child needs this service.

WHAT DOES HEALTH SEXUALITY GROUP SESSIONS LOOK LIKE?

The initial session for this group is a parent/legal guardian-only session. The clinician leading the group will have:


  • Group introduction and review curriculum content/modules
  • Provide handouts and information related to improving safety measures at home regarding sexual boundaries, privacy and internet use
  • Group rules, expectations and attendance policy
  • Review and sign behavioral health service plan, detailing program goals/objectives
  • Additional services available/offered
  • Contact information given for parents to use if they would like to engage in additional meetings with the therapist regarding the program or their child
  • Question and answer


Healthy Sexuality is an eight-week group program. Sessions are 90 minutes long and are held once a week at the Belden office.

WHAT TAKES PLACE IN THESE SESSIONS?

Adolescents in these sessions are ages 13 to 18. Group sessions are by gender – a boy’s group and a girl’s group, which helps youth feel more comfortable in exploring topics such as puberty and dating.

Dr. Walker said, “Initially, many of the youth are feeling nervous about attending group because they do not know what to expect. Additionally, the topics being taught may be uncomfortable for some youth to discuss.


“This is not therapy, which means the youth are not sharing or processing their own personal stories/experiences. The group is more psychoeducation in nature (similar to the classroom), so youth are not asked to disclose why they are attending group. The youth are expected to participate in discussions regarding the topics being addressed but are not asked to share personal information about themselves.”


Each session is lead by a group facilitator based on a set curriculum. The topics discussed include developing and maintaining healthy relationships, dating, communication skills, boundaries, sexual education, laws of consent and electronic sexual behavior, human trafficking, effects of pornography and victim impact.


Dr. Walker explained in between the one-week sessions, if the youth has another provider (therapist, peer advocate or community psychiatric support treatment), the provider can check in with the youth regarding their thoughts and feelings about group, and discuss how the information being discussed relates specifically to the youth.

THE END GOAL –

“The end goal is for the youth to have a better understanding of how to develop and maintain healthy relationships moving forward,” said Dr. Walker. “The youth are administered a pre-test and post-test regarding some of the information that is being addressed in group. Another goal is that the youth show improvement on their post-test compared to the pre-test.”


At the end of the group, if the adolescent is stills struggling with inappropriate sexual behavior, it is usually recommended that they work with one of the SIBR therapists in individual/family therapy to address specific concerns.


Dr. Walker said a new group usually starts every two months. As a parent, if you think your child is having issues with appropriate healthy sexual behavior, please contact C&A at 330-433-6075.


C&A’s Sexually Inappropriate Behavior Remediation Program Manager Dr. Seandra Walker provided the content for this blog post. Dr. Walker is one of C&A’s expert clinicians with more than seven years of clinical experience

RECENT POSTS

SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER

By Mary M. Kreitz • November 21, 2024
For many people changes in the seasons also bring changes in mood, energy, sleep, weight and appetite. Some researchers have found that as many as 90% of people report noticing these types of changes in themselves. However, for some people, the changes are so intense that they interfere with the person’s ability to function in their daily life.  Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD is a type of clinical depression that occurs with a consistent seasonal pattern. The symptoms of SAD are the same as those for other depressive disorders; what is different is that the symptoms begin every year around the same time, last for several months, and then go away for the rest of the year. The most common form of SAD is what is known as winter-pattern SAD in which depressive symptoms start in the fall or early winter and end in the spring. Another less common form is known as summer-pattern SAD and is associated with depressive symptoms that occur during the spring and summer months and improve in the fall.

ELECTION ANXIETY

By Mary M. Kreitz • November 6, 2024
The 2024 election has brought a lot of fear and stress into the lives of people throughout the country. A recent survey by the American Psychological Association found that 77% of adults in the US are worried about the future of the nation, 73% reported feeling stressed out about the economy and 69% reported feeling stressed about the presidential election. When adults are feeling this high of a level of stress, you can bet that children and adolescents are feeling it too.

TRUSTED ADULT

By Daniel Mucci • October 1, 2024
Are you a trusted adult to your child or someone’s child in your life? What are the characteristics of a trusted adult?  Trusted adults are viewed by children or adolescents as a safe figure that listens without judgment, agenda or expectation, but with the sole purpose of supporting and encouraging positivity within a young person’s life. Today’s youth identify a trusted adult as someone who is willing to listen and engage, rather than lecture and give orders. Young adults are interested in having open conversations about mental health, social media, bullying and sharing their own experiences.

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

By Daniel Mucci • September 9, 2024
Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health’s (C&A) The Canton Repository Let Your Light Shine presented by the Massillon Eagles FOE #190 is Sept. 21 at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Canton, from 6-9 p.m. The 19th annual event supports the youth mental health programs and services C&A provides each year to our 4,100 clients.

WHY PRIDE MATTERS FROM A BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVE

By Mary M. Kreitz • June 18, 2024
You have probably heard the scary statistics. LGBTQ+ youth are at higher risk for serious mental health problems (such as anxiety and depression) than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. They’re more likely to consider suicide, more likely to attempt suicide and more likely to engage in non-suicidal self-harm.

HOPE AND HOPELESSNESS

By Dr. Robert Willoughby • June 4, 2024
Hope and hopelessness play a large role in the phenomenon of suicide and depression including that of children and adolescents (Liu, et al., 2021). On the positive side I am always reminded of the use of hope to overcome hopelessness in stories reminiscent of a hero’s journey. Stories, where in the face of insurmountable odds, one digs in deep to find themselves, their own hope, and the hope of others joining together to help whilst overcoming trials and tribulations (Campbell, 2011).

988 IS LIFELINE IN A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

By Dan Mucci • May 16, 2024
Suicidal ideation is on the rise nationwide, especially among teenagers and college-age students. Post COVID, adolescents are struggling to handle a variety of situations and have limited coping skills to help them through the challenges. One of the biggest challenges is loneliness.

STARK COUNTY SCHOOLS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

By Dan Mucci • April 16, 2024
The sixth annual Stark County Schools Mental Health Awareness Week is May 6-10 Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health (C&A), CommQuest Services and Pathway Caring for Children will partner to bring positive mental health awareness to more than 53,000 students and 7,000 support and administrative staff in all 18 Stark County School districts.

UNDERSTANDING RACE IN SOCIETY AND THERAPY: CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS’ EXPERIENCES

By Chris Alpert • November 16, 2023
In the film, I’m Not Racist… Am I? as introduced and explored in first of this three-part blog post series, the participants engaged in multiple workshops that address race and racism. Interpersonally, the group of students grapple with their own differences and similarities, which impact the content and emotions they share with each other. There are several moments in the film that demonstrate the clear differences in the participants’ understanding of race. In the first workshop, the students were exposed to the idea that all white people are inherently racist seeing as American society was founded on principles meant to support white people (see more on structural racism here, here, and here for further understanding). Several white students in the film became emotional during that workshop. Most students remained quiet. Following this workshop, a black student and a white student were filmed independently of each other in their own homes and discussed the workshop and what they learned with their families. The white student discussed the differences between structural racism and bigotry with her mother and struggled to identify with the principles taught in the training. The black student stated to his mother how almost everything spoken in that workshop applied to him. The student further discussed his feelings by stating how overt racism is and yet how “subliminal” it is at the same time. How can something be so in your face and yet under your feet simultaneously? I immediately reflected on the dialectic of something being so clear and yet so vague. The film continued to grapple with student differences. At the beginning of the film, one white male student discussed with his mother how he feels that all individuals, if they apply themselves wholeheartedly, have the same chance of success regardless of their skin, gender, sexuality or other demographic factors. As a white man myself, I must confess that when I was in high school, I had the same mindset. How could it be different? Especially when I was reading mythic bootstrap literature in high school classes. Sure, the harder you work the more you deserve, but that statement does not work for all Americans. I had not accounted for racial factors that inhibit the growth of others, not to mention socio-economic factors, nationalities, citizenship status, gender and age. I continued to reflect on these statements and connected them to my experience in high school in New York City. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement responding to the murder of George Floyd, multiple private progressive schools in New York, including the one I went to, suffered scrutiny from students and alumni who identify as black, indigenous people of color (BIPOC). Multiple Instagram accounts surfaced with the handle “BLACK AT [school name].” I read the posts in 2020, and again before writing this post, and remembered feeling horrified knowing these acts of racism, bigotry and microaggressions happened all around me. This was subliminal to me, yet overt to others.
More Posts
Share by: