Adisa’s case includes a couple of significant issues that must be taken into account in the treatment planning. Adisa is a six-year-old, middle-class Black male who identifies himself as a girl (Adisa will be referred as “she” in this paper). Adisa and her family recently move to the home country, the United States from Belgium. After the relocation and starting the school, she becomes a target of the peer bullying in the school settings due to their gender identity. As a result of prolonged bullying, she started presenting internalizing problems, such as sadness, anxiety, poor appetite, sleep disturbance, and persistent restlessness. In considering her presenting problems, an appropriate treatment plan should be developed based on Adisa’s developmental stage, gender identity, ethnicity and cultural background, bullying-peer relationships, and presenting symptoms. …show more content…
However, especially children in minority groups (gender diverse students, ethnic and religious minority groups) are at the higher risk of being bullied in the school (Shafer, Silverman, 2013). According to American Psychology Association (APA, 2015), only a small number of school employees take measure to stop bullying against gender diverse student in the school settings, and even more they exacerbate the extent of the problem. The same report also indicates that transgender and other gender diverse students experience poorer academic performance compared to lesbian, gay and bisexual students due to sexual harassment, bullying and other types of oppression. Furthermore, Adisa is an African American child. African American children / adolescent population are frequently victimized, mislabeled, miseducated and mistreated in the mental health agencies in the American society (Gibbs, 2003). Therefore, all these factors will play an important role in Adisa’s treatment