This case history details a significant time in the life of the Smith-Curtis* family. This family did not come to counselling voluntarily, but were referred by the Department of Families after substantiated allegations of abuse and neglect of their two children. The counselling agency, (a non-government service provider), is experienced in working with involuntary clients who make up two thirds of... »
Maggie is a 35 year old woman who came for counselling six months after the break up of her nine year marriage to Michael, the father of her two children, Josh aged 6 and Joseph aged 12 months. Currently both children are in Maggie's sole care. Maggie has been referred to counselling by her General Practitioner whom she has been seeing for a number of minor physical ailments and early signs of dep... »
Beatrice is a 40-year-old married mother of four children; she married young and over time she and her husband separated on three occasions. Her husband previously subjected her to both psychological and physical abuse. As a child she lost her mother to suicide leaving her to be raised by her father. Unable to raise his daughters and work at the same time, Beatrice was passed around to various ext... »
Thomas is a 33 year old married man, who has recently become a father. He explains that he feels his self-esteem has been gradually deteriorating ever since he was married. He says that he can't find reasons to enjoy life with his wife due to feelings of inadequacy as a husband. In his new role as a father, Thomas had hoped to find the happiness that he was looking for; however this has not been t... »
Rose has come to counselling to help relieve her fears about driving. About 15 years ago, she had an accident while driving and has not driven a car since. She has recently applied for a job, and she will need to use a car to get there. She feels motivated to learn to drive again, however every time she even thinks about driving she experiences mild anxiety attacks. The Counsellor has decided to u... »
Mark is 28 and has been married to Sarah for six years. He works for his uncle and they regularly stay back after work to chat. Sarah has threatened to leave him if he does not spend more time with her, but when they are together, they spend most of the time arguing, so he avoids her even more. He loves her, but is finding it hard to put up with her moods. The last few weeks, he has been getting r... »
Michelle has come to counselling due to increasing feelings of hopelessness about the direction of her life. She is complaining that she is too "bogged down" in her problems to see where she should be going. This is Michelle's second session with the Counsellor. She has spent her previous session discussing the areas of her life that she is unhappy with. Within this session, the Counsellor decides... »
Richard is a 41-year-old plant operator in a heavy machinery company. He works long hours and must start very early each day. Twelve months ago he accepted a transfer from a country location to a capital city 250 kilometres away from his family. Due to financial obligations this was seen as a necessity. He travelled back to see his family on weekends. He has a wife and 4 children to support. »
Brett is a 36 year old man who works as an accountant for a small family business. The business is failing and Brett will probably have to begin the process of "winding it up" in the near future. His commitment to the business and his friends, the business owners, has intensified the level of stress he is feeling as a result of the business collapse. He has taken a week off work on sick leave and ... »
Jim had come to counselling to seek help with dealing with the sale of his late mother's estate. He was experiencing a lot of anger with the issue and also with his brother, Frank, who was joint inheritor. Frank was facing bankruptcy and needed the proceeds of the sale of the family home to save his business. »
Chris came to counselling because he was experiencing increasing feelings of being stressed, overwhelmed and weighed down by his commitments in life. He has been particularly concerned about his negative thoughts and attitude at work and at home and would like to change this. Chris has been seeing a Professional Counsellor for three sessions and together they have been using an eclectic approach u... »
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 exp... »
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 ... »
Kate is 21 years of age and has a very poor self image; in fact she hates the way she looks. As a result, Kate has such low self esteem that it prevents her from looking for work. Kate's mother is concerned about her daughter's feelings and subsequent unemployment and therefore has encouraged her to attend counselling. In the first session C focused on building rapport with Kate and encouraged her... »
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