Case Scenarios

About You

You are a Counsellor / Case Manager at Live for Life working with clients across all ages. Live for Life is a health and wellness community centre that provides a range of services to local clients from surrounding suburbs. The counselling and case management team is a small team of five workers. You have been working at Live for Life for four (4) years in a full-time capacity and live about ten minutes away from the centre. You often use skills that are aligned with person-centred practice, strengths-based practice, along with active listening and micro-counselling skills. You specialise in narrative therapy, solution-focused brief therapy, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and are connected with a range of other support services to best meet client needs. Whilst you work with those who have experienced post-traumatic stress and suicidality, these are not your or the organisation's areas of expertise.

Relevant Live for Life Policies and Procedures can be found in your Learning Portal under the 'Assignments' Tab

CLIENT 1 - LEAH

Intake information

Leah is a 24-year-old woman who has left the Army on medical grounds. During her four years in the Army, Leah experienced high levels of stress and anxiety which she coped with by drinking heavily. When she presented for counselling, Leah had been sober for two days and was seeking strategies to deal with her anxiety that didn't involve drinking.

Background

Leah was an only child whose parents separated during her teen years. She felt isolated and was often bored at school. Her love of art was the only thing that gave her any enjoyment, and she expressed this by covering the school buildings with graffiti after dark. Already in conflict with her mother due to her poor school performance, the involvement of the police after vandalising public property further worsened their relationship. Her father had moved away and was no longer involved in Leah's life.

Leah left school intending to train as an ambulance medic. On being told she lacked the life experience required for this work; Leah joined the Army on a four-year contract hoping to address this requirement. However, the Army turned out to be a repeat of the constrictive structure within which she had struggled both at school and home.

Being obligated to complete the full four years, she began to feel increasingly trapped and was often anxious and depressed. She was introduced to alcohol by her fellow recruits and started using this as a means of deadening her overwhelmingly negative feelings about the course her life was taking. After three years in the Army, Leah was discharged on medical grounds, having become dependent on alcohol and unable to control her intake. Leah is now living with homelessness as a result of being medically discharged and unable to adjust to the norms of everyday life and find employment.

Question :1

From the above case study how the counsellor will communicate with leah by asking questions and some of the strategies to help leah with the above issues?

CLIENT 2 - SASHA

Intake information

Sasha is a 60-year-old woman who has recently retired from a career in teaching. Working for many years in a secondary school environment, Sasha was confident, motivated and dedicated to her work, but at the same time looking forward to retirement so she and her husband could travel and spend more time with their adult children who lived nearby.

However, upon finishing work, Sasha found herself experiencing severe anxiety, particularly when around other people, and began not wanting to leave the house or invite people into the house. She also experienced bouts of crying when attempting to complete tasks such as housework and using the sewing machine. Sasha found her symptoms eased when she and her husband went on camping trips in national parks where they often did not see other people for days.

Background

Sasha was an unplanned baby, born after her older brother. Her parents did not want a second child but when they realised another was on the way, they hoped for another boy. As a child Sasha

remembers always being in the background and her brother and father being the 'important' ones. Sasha reported a vivid memory of coming home from school one day and finding no-one home. Sasha sat on the front porch and cried until her mother eventually came home and told her to stop being so silly. She described her mother as being more concerned with the state of the house than with her young daughter.

Sasha's father died when she was very young, and she remembers her mother not coping well for a long time. During this time, she (but not her brother) was often sent to her grandparents' farm to give her mother a break. Here Sasha spent most days on her own. However, she remembers these visits fondly, like 'a lull in the storm'.

When her mother died, she left everything to Sasha's brother, who was by then a well- paid solicitor with a young family. Sasha also had a young family but did not question her mother's decision as she had been conditioned from childhood to believe males were more important.

Question 2

From the above case study how the counsellor will communicate with sasha by asking questions and some of the strategies to help sasha with the above issues?

CLIENT 3 - FRITZ

Intake information

Fritz is 42 years of age and has been in Australia for the past 25 years. He migrated from Germany with his immediate family, comprising of his mother, father and two sisters. At the age of 17 Fritz was filled with great dreams and aspirations for his new life in a new country and until recently had been quite happy with the life he had carved out for himself.

Fritz has sought counselling largely due to the persistence of his wife. Fritz does not really understand why his wife is so upset with him but states that she thinks he is going through a "mid-life crisis". Fritz is a Butcher by trade and runs a delicatessen. The business has been slow lately, and he is afraid that the large chain stores are finally going to ruin his business. Fritz has not discussed his financial concerns with his wife, or the disappointment felt at never being able to achieve his long-term dream of expanding and establishing other shops in the surrounding areas. Instead, he has decided to sell up and is thinking about moving away from the city.

Fritz states that when Anna found out that he had approached buyers for the shop she was furious and could not understand why he had not discussed it with her first, after all, it was her inheritance money that enabled Fritz to purchase the shop in the first place and besides, he had always consulted her in the past on important decisions.

Over the past few weeks, Fritz has been withdrawing more and more from the family hoping to avoid further conflict; he has busied himself finalising details with the sale of the shop (he is determined to go through with it despite his wife's resistance) and arranging alternative plans. He does not see that such avoidance behaviour is creating more conflict and asserts that "Anna will come round when she gets used to the idea". Anna has threatened Fritz with a divorce and states that she is not going to let him drag the boys out of school and away from friends and family.

Fritz has entertained the thought that perhaps life would be much simpler if he did go it alone, shake off all his responsibilities and do those things he has always wanted to. "It's not too late" he stated, "I'm still young enough to enjoy myself". However, Fritz knows that he still loves his wife, and a divorce would make him feel like an even bigger failure.

Background

Fritz has been married for 19 years and until recently has had a reasonably happy relationship with his wife Anna. "Of course, we have had the usual ups and downs like most couples", Fritz explains, "but overall things have been all right". Fritz finds it hard to describe what the discord is about and simply states that "Anna believes I am neglecting my family responsibilities and says that I appear distant and uninterested in her and the boys". Fritz refuses to discuss his childhood or his parents.

Fritz has two boys, Ric (13) and Hans (15). Fritz describes them as generally good boys who are developing their own interests and he feels that they don't need him as much any-more. He believes that they would prefer to hang out with their friends rather than their "old" dad anyway. Hans the oldest son has been getting himself into a bit of mischief lately, not attending school some days, causing disruption when he does attend, and he has also been caught shoplifting on a few occasions. Fritz dismisses this behaviour as "kids' stuff" and thinks that his wife is overreacting. He simply states that "Hans will grow out of it".

Question 3

From the above case study how the counsellor will communicate with Fritz by asking questions and some of the strategies to help Fritz with the above issues?