Reference no: EM133196397
Case Assignment
Use the following vignette to answer the questions below:
Sarah, a Caucasian, 15-year-old, heterosexual girl in the 10th grade at a private school, presents with poor concentration. She lives with her biological mother and a 13-year-old sister (Kelly). Her mother describes her as an outgoing and straight-A student until about 2 months ago. Her grades have slipped from As to Cs, and she has been feeling sad and irritable. She has started avoiding her friends, and has been worrying about her appearance and her grades. She states that she feels dumb, and that her classmates don't like her. Recently, she started to think that life was not worth living, and wished she would fall asleep and never wake up. Her boyfriend broke up with her about 3 months ago. The last time she felt this sad was 5 years ago when her parents divorced.
Mom (Ms. Smith) is very concerned and afraid that Sarah may do something reckless to harm herself. Consequently, she doesn’t allow Sarah to stay in her room all day and makes her watch movies or have family game night with the family. Mom also is checking up on Sarah’s grades online at the school and reminding her that college is in a few years and she needs to “get her shit together”.
Mom is a single-parent working multiple jobs with minimal financial assistance from her ex-husband (Sarah and Kelly’s dad). She is overwhelmed with the situation and was told by the school guidance counselor that it might be a good idea for some individual counseling for Sarah.
After a few weeks of pondering the decision of counseling for Sarah, Ms. Smith trying to work out her work schedule, and a huge fight where Sarah yelled, “YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT ME!!! NO ONE UNDERSTANDS MY LIFE OR GIVES A SHIT ABOUT WHAT I WANT!!!”, Ms. Smith decided to bring Sarah to counseling to see you.
Take a deep breath… ?
Please answer the following questions based on the first session with them:
1. What are some cultural considerations in this family?
2. Let’s say you decide that you want to see Sarah without mom. How would you bring this up?
3. How would you connect with Sarah?
4. What are your concerns about Sarah and her family?
5. What are some possible factors affecting Sarah in her teenage development?
6. What therapeutic orientation might you use with Sarah?
7. What stirs up within you when thinking about Sarah’s situation?
8. How might you use that in your work with her?
Review all the readings we’ve covered prior to this assignment to answer the questions.
Your paper should be no more than five (5) pages. In other words, I do not want to read a novel about Sarah, her mother, and your thoughts about this fictitious family?