Meet Danielle.
Danielle
is 17-years-old and lives in eastern Ontario. She is in her final year of high
school before she moves on to study sociology at university. Danielle has
anxiety speaking over the phone, and in situations where she must speak with
people she doesn’t know very well. Danielle feels intimidated when put in
situations where she knows she should assert herself but doesn’t to avoid
conflict with her peers. This often leads to Danielle feeling insecure, which
causes her low mood.
Danielle comes into the BounceBack program feeling passive, nervous and
overwhelmed about starting university in the fall.
With the help of her coach, Danielle learns how to assert herself at school and
express what she is thinking in a clear, honest and direct way, which empowers
her to feel more confident in her relationships at school. This helps improve
her mood and self-esteem, and boosts her confidence in her upcoming university
studies.
She learns how to:
- Face situations and conversations that once made her feel uncomfortable by breaking down her fears and tackling each one slowly to overcome them.
- Notice her unhelpful thinking patterns that were affecting her relationships with her peers. For instance, when she’s having extreme thoughts that others don’t want her around, Danielle acts against them by reaching out to her friends anyways so that she can disprove them and change the outcome. As a result, she reported a healthier sense of self-esteem.
- Assert herself in group projects at school. She said that normally she would do all the work in a group project and then feel resentment towards the other group members. But after speaking with her coach and reading the workbooks, she reported standing up for herself and having everyone contribute equally to the group. This helped with her self-confidence.
