Case Scenario #1 – Lacey
Why is Lacey seeking counseling at this time?
Lacey is seeking counseling at this time because her primary presenting issue is her feelings of uncertainty in regards to completing her graduate studies. In addition to her primary presenting issue, it is important that we explore Lacey’s underlying issues that she may be feeling as well. Lacy is feeling anxious, down and has expressed feelings of insecurity in large part due to the cultural differences amongst the students and faculty at the university as well as the new predominately White community that she has become a part of. She is in her mid-sixties so I wonder if the feelings she has expressed are related in some part to feelings of oppression or inferiority in past educational settings growing up in the era of segregation. Lacey also is experiencing some pressure because she is the first in her family to attend graduate school. Lacey seems to be stressed and depressed.
What aspects of Lacey’s story are most relevant to her seeking counseling at this time and in what ways did cultural variables interact with the client’s presenting issues?
The most relevant aspects of Lacey seeking counseling at this time is all of the issues mentioned above and the mere fact that she is experiencing them all at the same time during this very emotional, mental, cultural and intellectual challenging experience. The reality that these issues are compounding has made this experience increasingly overwhelming.
According to ACA (2014) indicated that when counselors spend more time with client it will pave the way in building trust and therapeutic relationship. Also, when a counselor is not grounded well with diverse multi-cultural and religious system the counselor should consult more qualified and experienced counselor for advice. Mary Ann needed the counselor to resolve her feelings of depression and motivate her in order to do better in school and to get involved in any way with her religious faith. It is essential to understand the religious and cultural background of the client and the family in order to initiate appropriate intervention.
There is no doubt that the counsellor needs to be aware of the complexity of culture (Pedersen & Ivey, 1993). Culture results from the interaction of a number of variables including ethnographic, demographic, socio-economic, and relational factors. Within a culture, people develop patterns of behaviours based on a number of assumptions they have learned either directly, observationally or vicariously (Mitchell & Krumboltz, 1996). People also develop a cultural identity by
Marano then concludes that this state of mind is common due to the lack of “emotional regulation and generationally bred on the immediacy of having needs met” (Marano 65). This opinion is then backed by the expertise of director of campus counseling and professor of psychology at Georgetown University, Philip Meilman. He too has noticed the change in direction from developmental issues to the urgency of potentially harmful issues that college students currently struggle with. Statistics on the issue are then throw in for added cushion on the argument; the facts are where Marano gains the majority of her ground. Marano acclimates this change due “psychic sleight” (66). She never analyzes whether Alyssa’s heartbroken Facebook post justified or if a little dramatism is a part of the healing processes. Nor does she acknowledge the how the ability of a student to challenge their psyche can lead to self-awareness which opens accesses to their emotions. Then comes the regulation of said emotions. All of the statistics are based on the amount of students who realize they have an issue and are strong enough to recognize they need help. If anything, it just proves that this generation is becoming more emotionally inclined compared to their stone-faced
Jocelyn did not want to live on West campus because she heard that mostly White students lived there and that there was a lot of drinking, however, she still ended up living and working as an RA in a predominantly White dorm on North campus. Jocelyn had difficulty explaining her college experiences. Some of the difficulty seems to stem from not wanting to focus on the negative experiences. She believes that her experiences, both good and bad shaped her life and made her the person she is today. Jocelyn almost seems more fascinated with the behavior of White students than upset. She acknowledges some of the traditions
The Purnell Domains of Culture assessment gives a vast amount of information in regards to a persons cultural background, family and heritage that gives care provides a better understanding of their client or clients family. As a future care provider, I took the time to speak to Mrs. Smith about herself and family to gain insight on whom they are as a family and what influences them to be who they are today. Over the course of the domains of culture I have been able to increase my perception of who and what drives this family and how their beliefs came about.
Enns (2004) highlighted two such new views related to client problems. First, the perspective that, “the personal is political” emphasized that problems arising for women within therapy cannot be disconnected from the larger social and political context. To consider problems in therapy solely on an intrapersonal level is to perpetuate a “blame the victim” orientation. Therefore, it was essential that an integrated analysis of oppression was explored. Second, problems and symptoms may be conceived of as ways of coping and surviving oppressive circumstances. Anxiety may be reframed, not as the result of a suppressed unconscious or the inability to cope, but rather as a reasonable response to sexisms, violence or
Therapy has been used for many generations as a mean to resolve dilemmas in a persons’ life. Unfortunately, due to cultural aspects, therapy is generally centered on an individual. We typically presume that any problem that one may exhibit can be solved through personal realizations. However, society and therapists alike are
How does Person-centred counselling, influence the understanding of the development of concept of self? (245 words)
The client is aware of her emotions and how they affect her relationship with her husband and children. Her awareness of her unstable mental health situation will be useful later when these emotions are addressed in counseling.
In “Keeping Close To Home: Class and Education”, Bell Hooks argues that we have to not only maintain our ties to home but adapt to the new settings around us . In order to strive in one’s life, you must be able to interrupt daily life changes and maintain stability. (74). She explains that being an African American woman, coming from a Southern state, not really experiencing the things she did once she transitioned to Stanford University was a little frightening for her.(74). Hooks found many differences in the environment she now lived in. For example, the way the students interact with one another was strange to her. Where she comes from, children treated their parent with respect, but her white, middle-class roommate thought otherwise. She explained that “things were different” there and people “[thought] differently.”(76).
In a publication titled ‘Black Women in Academe’, author Yolanda Moses describes how “isolation, invisibility, hostility, indifference, and a lack of understanding of the Black women’s experiences are all too often part of the climate Black women may face on campuses” (Moses, 1989). The detrimental environment surrounding these women frequently results in sullenness, lack of social assertiveness, and belief that they are less competent than male students. Even if time spent at an academic institution is minimal, with this kind of prejudice faced at an early age, any woman- black or otherwise, would suffer the rest of their life. In response to the discrimination faced at universities, some have created programs to aid black students and other minorities; these programs tend to generalize the needs of all its black students and do not fully support black women specifically.
Based on influences from Foucault and other scholars, narrative therapy assumes that the stories people tell and the language that they use play a role in their interpersonal and intrapersonal problems (Mattingly, 1998). The stories that cultures tell about such concepts as gender, class and race influence members views on the meaning behind these concepts. Because of external influences, when a client brings up a problem it is not the problem itself that needs to be examined. Instead, the client is being affected by their own framing of the problem. The stories that people tell themselves are shaped by society and can become problematic when a client feels that they no longer have control over their own story (Ross & Shapiro, 2002).
Brown, L. (2008). Living in Multiple Identities in the Context of Trauma:Cultural Competence in Trauma Therapy. American Psychological Association, 49-59.
Holly Forester-Miller, Ph.D. Thomas Davis, Ph.D. Copyright © 1996, American Counseling Association. A free publication of the American Counseling Association promoting ethical counseling practice in service to the public. -- Printed and bound copies may be purchased in quantity for a nominal fee from the Online Resource Catalog or by calling the ACA Distribution Center at 800.422.2648. ACA grants reproduction rights to libraries, researchers and teachers who wish to copy all or part of the contents of this document for scholarly purposes provided that no fee for the use or possession of such copies is charged to the ultimate consumer of the copies. Proper citation to ACA must be given.
The biggest factors affecting Beth’s mental health have been the persistent, complex trauma resulting from the domestic violence, abuse, and poverty. Although she tried many times to do