Professional Order of Social Workers of Québec - Articles

Provided by the Professional Order of Social Workers of Québec (Ordre professionnel des travailleurs sociaux du Québec), these articles are intended to help you deal with everyday life. They could also help you help a friend!

Note: These articles reflect the views of the author alone. Desjardins cannot be held responsible for the opinions expressed in them.

Great Friendships
Friendships, especially during the teen years, are very precious. Through them, we get to know ourselves better, improve, grow, share and give of ourselves to others. Who knows? Perhaps these friendships will last a lifetime.

Studying for your future
It’s normal to sometimes feel discouraged about your studies. The important thing is that you can motivate yourself and give yourself the means necessary to get your high school diploma to then be able to choose a trade that best suits your tastes and aspirations.

Self-respect
While many teenagers lead a healthy life and know how to strike a balance between their studies, friends and love life, others suffer from a modern-day distemper called "oversexualization", which can have serious consequences for their future.

Life in cyberspace
Despite the benefits of the Web, social workers and family therapists have seen some negative fallout over the last 10 years. It is called "Internet Addiction".

Is surviving the teen years really so hard?
"Have you ever met a 14-year-old girl who thinks she looks pretty in a photo?" Maude commented during a family slide show.

I know what the DYP is!
If someone finds out a child is being mistreated in his or her surroundings, they must inform the Department of Youth Protection (DYP) so someone can come to the aid of the child. The DYP is there to protect you and your friends against every kind of abuse.

Homophobia, you say?
If you think homophobia is an allergy to homogenized milk, you'd better take a couple of minutes to read the following!

What kind of drug user are you?
One way to prevent drug addiction is to know yourself. Reading this text will help you figure out what kind of user you are and learn more about mood-altering drugs, another good way to prevent drug dependence.

Stay in school!
Everyone is back to school and well into the first semester. If you ended last year on a sour note or if you are off to a rocky start this year, read on about dropping out of school.

No more bullying!
September is already here and a new school year has just begun. For some of you, this might mean having to go back and face certain undesirable individuals. This is why today's column deals with violence and, more specifically, with bullying, a form of verbal and psychological violence.

Self-esteem and adolescence
It has been said that in order to love someone else, you need to love yourself first. And that's not all that self-esteem can do for you. Without self-esteem, the shooter would miss the goal, the actress would mix up her lines and the mechanic would be afraid to change any parts in the motor. Many of our actions, both minor and major, are influenced by self-esteem.

Non-violent communication
Allow me to tell you about a very useful tool to create or maintain a space for dialogue between you and your friends or between you and your parents.

Life is worth living!
Did you know that heartbreak is among the leading causes of teenage suicide? I suggest you read the column all the way through since you just might learn something that can be helpful to you or a friend.