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eleanorwaldorf

Student openly discussing sensitive information - looking for advice

Seeking Advice

I work in a low-income public high school in the Midwest. There are lots of students who have been through things that I can never imagine having to deal with. Lots of parental death, incarcerated family, gang violence... it can be heavy.

I have a student who was sexually assaulted by a family member. Truly awful situation and the student is just the sweetest thing. I'm going to call the student X. I'm looking for some advice on a sensitive topic...

X struggles with staying on-topic as well as getting to the point. I have noticed that X occasionally brings up the instance of assault as well as things going on related to the incident.

For example, today I pulled X in a group with 2 others. We were talking about the importance of active listening and a student brought up listening to health care providers. During a brainstorming session on how to actively listen to our doctors, things we might want to ask our doctors, that it is okay to ask things to the doc, self-advocacy, etc. X brought up the appointment they had following the assault and that they were scared, but that the doctor was really nice and helped them get through some scary stuff. (There were other details mentioned but I'll leave them out.)

I recognized what X was talking about and validated that doctors are there to help and it was great that those docs got X through a tough situation. I don't think the other students picked up on what X was saying. I steered the conversation back to when we need to actively listen.

I don't think that X understands that what happened to them isn't very common and isn't often talked about with acquaintances. The last thing I want is to make X feel ashamed for what happened or make X feel bad in any way... I mean, if they want to bring it up then that's their right but it is extremely sensitive information. I feel like I should maybe pull X for a 1:1 session where I talk to them about sensitive topics and the right setting/audience to discuss these things?

But when I thought about it some more, I realized that maybe I had no right to do that and that if X wants to discuss it then they should be allowed to and feel supported? But then again, I really don't think they understand how bad the instance was? And we all know that other high school students can be cruel...

X sees the social worker once per month. I'm thinking I will get her input on this.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Can anyone offer advice or resources?

Posted Dec 2, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

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