MEET YVETTE

Meet Yvette*. At 15 years old, Yvette was referred to CGC by her counselor because she had reported cutting herself. Her parents were also concerned because they noticed a significant drop in her weight in a very short period of time, and she had become much less social.

CGC’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Services team was called to the school to conduct a safety assessment. The team referred Yvette for treatment at CGC’s Child and Family Therapy program. During therapy, Yvette told the clinician that she was under a lot of pressure academically, and didn’t want to let her parents down. Because Yvette based so much of her self esteem on academics, when she began struggling in a couple of her classes she started losing hope and felt worthless. She withdrew from her friends, stopped eating, and started cutting. She was able to deceive her parents about her eating habits by walking around the house with food in her hand or pushing food around her plate during dinner, but not actually eating. Yvette was depressed and anxious, and she used cutting as a form of emotional release.

The clinician worked with Yvette to help her stop cutting by identifying emotional triggers and teaching healthy coping techniques. The clinician also helped Yvette’s parents support her during rough times. Yvette and her family are still working with the therapist to develop more realistic expectations for her academic performance.  To help Yvette manage her depression, she was also referred to a CGC psychiatrist for medication management.  Yvette has stopped cutting and her parents are happy to report a significant improvement in her mood and appetite.

* identifying information has been changed