SCENARIO: Tiffany and Jason have been married for 16 years. They have 2 children, Brendan, 7 and Michelle, 14 y/o. For the last few years, they both admit, to have been slowly drifting apart. Jason began spending more and more time at work. The situation worsened about a year ago, when Tiffany found inappropriate text messages from his secretary on his phone. When she confronted him about it he accused her of not trusting him and he stormed out of the house. Whenever Tiffany brought up the issue, it would end in a similar fashion. Jason neither confirmed nor denied anything and Tiffany assumed this meant he was indeed having an affair with his secretary. She became bitter and withdrawn. Although Jason maintained that he still loved her, Jason became more distant too, partly due to his feelings of guilt and partly in reaction to Tiffany's withdrawal. Now the only time they interact with each other is in response to the children-and rather than being positive interaction, it is simply to apportion blame to each other for any of the children's perceived short comings. An example of this occurred a month ago when Jason, Tiffany and Michelle were called into the school because of Michelle's recent truancy. As the Principal informed them of Michelle's excessive absences, instead of discussing the issue with Michelle, Tiffany and Jason blamed each other for her behaviour. Eventually the Principal asked Michelle to leave the room and spoke to Jason and Tiffany in private, advising them that they seek counselling.

For their part Tiffany and Jason recognize they have been ignoring the children and their escalating marital problems are having detrimental effect on the well-being of their 2 children. They both believe their relationship has deteriorated beyond repair and are seriously considering getting a divorce. Tiffany has decided to come in for counselling, as Brendan is breaking into temper tantrums at the slightest of issues and the suspicion that Michelle may be taking drugs, although she denies this. She wanted Jason to attend counselling as well, but he thinks that they don't need counselling and Tiffany is being a bit paranoid again. To add to the issues, Jason's father died a week after the discussion with the principal. Jason is dealing with his grief by withdrawing from the family even more. Brendan and Michelle are upset about the loss of their grandfather and spent more time close Tiffany as Jason is unresponsive to them. Tiffany is not sure she can cope with this added burden and the marriage break down.

Outline the presenting and safety issues this client is currently facing

Outline any client strengths you can identify

Outline any special needs to be mindful of with this client

What steps will the worker take in preparing for the first session with this client?

What themes will the worker communicate to the client about the expectations of counselling/the session? How will the worker structure a session based on client needs and expectations, and considering person centred theory?

Develop a plan for the client, outlining what the worker think their needs may be. (Consider safety concerns, special needs, available referrals and agencies).

What referrals might the worker consider for this client, and where would the worker refer to?

What information will the worker provide to the client that assists them to understand the nature of the counselling service on offer?

after some time What strategies and techniques did the worker use to build rapport/engage the client?

How did worker facilitate clients to work through concerns and in identifying priorities? List what they were.

Were open and closed questions used appropriately? Explain and provide examples.

Where feelings accurately reflected? Specify

Was there any summarising or reframing done? Specify

Did the worker use owned statements or restatements of ideas? Specify.

What sorts of minimal encouragers/responses were used? Specify.

What aspects of SOLER were evident in session?

What were the goals established in the session?

How did monitoring and evaluation occur during the session?

How did the worker terminate the session?