Learning Points: We must try and understand the root causes of bad behaviour in adolescents

One of the most important aspects of working with adolescents is understanding the context of their behaviour. All behaviour has a context and all behaviour is communication. Often parents bring their children to me in the hope the behaviour causing them concern will be fixed, writes Richard Hogan

However, often what ends up being viewed is the ecology the child is living in and how that system is helping to maintain, or in certain incidences, how it causes the very behaviour the family wants to get rid of. I’m not speaking about blame here, but rather context.