Case Study Discussion Project Paper

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CASE STUDY INSTRUCTIONS

Select a scenario below and discuss how you would proceed if working with this client.

 

Scenario #1

Mario is an illegal alien from Mexico. He has lived in the U.S. for five years and worked various

construction jobs in the South. Mario’s family stayed behind in Mexico so he struggles with

loneliness and has a poor social network except for an outreach ministry at a local Catholic

Church.

 

Mario was pulled over and charged with a DUI. He was sent to your agency for mandatory

counseling in addition to attending a drug treatment support group like Alcoholics Anonymous.

You are assigned Mario’s case.

 

Scenario #2

Janet just completed her fourth divorce. She is in her early 30s. Her personal life is in chaos. She

has children by three of her former husbands. Janet has struggled with addiction issues over the

years including alcohol and drugs. She came from a very difficult family where her parents were

alcoholics and often fought with each other. Janet was sexually abused by her uncle on more

than one occasion when he lived with the family during her early teen years. Janet’s problems

with drugs and alcohol began as a teenager.

 

Scenario #3

Roger is an obese 40-year old man and suffers from other health issues like diabetes and high

blood pressure. Roger reports that he lives alone and has very few friends. Roger is single and

would like to be married. However, he is afraid that women will reject his advances due to his

weight. To further complicate the issue, he reports struggling with homosexual thoughts and

feelings. Roger sought your help because he recently contemplated suicide.

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Select a scenario and explain how you would proceed in counseling this client. The following

items can serve as sections in the paper. Be sure to identify each section in the paper as a

heading.

 

1. Personal Information Discuss the information you want to obtain from the client in the first session. Why do

you want this information? Would one of the taxonomy models such as the one offered

by Hays or Maslow be appropriate? Be clear in identifying this information such as

Family Background or Relationship Background and explain why you would want to

know this information.

 

2. Personal Biases and Limitations Every counselor needs to consider personal biases and limitations carefully. If the topic is

a hot-button or you lack sufficient knowledge to be effective with the client then you

 

 

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would need to refer. Identify possible problems in working with the client. Be clear in

explaining why these issues could detract from counseling.

 

3. Goals What goals would you like to achieve with the client? Why do you believe that these

goals are important? What would you do if the client refused to accept a goal that you

believe would be helpful? If you were allowed only one goal, what would that goal be?

Why do you believe this would be the most beneficial goal?

 

4. Theoretical Approach Discuss the theoretical approach or model that you believe will be most effective for the

client. Why will this model be the best model to use?

 

5. Therapeutic Techniques What counseling techniques would be appropriate (e.g., genograms, journaling)? How

many sessions would you schedule? Would you encourage the client to seek other areas

of psycho-educational assistance or resources?

 

6. Measurement of Progress and Success How do you plan to measure success? Why is this form of measurement the best method

to use with this client?

 

7. Conclusion The conclusion should provide a brief summary of your closing thoughts or concerns

about the future progress of the client.

 

PAPER REQUIREMENTS

 

The body of the paper must be 3–5 pages.

 

The paper must include a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed or scholarly sources dated within the

past 5 years. The information borrowed from the resources should offer support for your

comments. Use the course materials and peer-reviewed journals.

 

Information borrowed from other resources must be cited APA style in the body of the paper in

addition to listing the source citations alphabetically on the reference page.

 

The assignment must include a title page and an abstract page in addition to a References page

that are current APA format compliant. Follow current APA formatting throughout the paper.