References
This textbook must be used for this assignment Jones, S. L., & Butman, R. E. (2011). Modern psychotherapies: A comprehensive Christian appraisal (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press. ISBN: 9780830828524.
Jones & Butman: Chapter 5
Murdock, N. L. (2017). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: A case approach (custom package) (4th ed.). Upper Saddle Creek, NJ: Pearson.
Murdock: Chapters 8 Behavior Therapy
Chapter 14 Solution Focused Therapy
https://youtu.be/9mv_0MYEuR8
https://youtu.be/fQBZlgmebwY
https://youtu.be/6Fe8D0hAQh0
http://www.abainternational.org/
http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm
Running head: CASE SUMMARY 1
CASE SUMMARY 6
Case Summary of Sophia
Crystal Davis
Liberty University
COUN 510-B09
Client History
Sophia Daniels is an African American woman born and raised in Seattle. She needs counseling due to problems experienced at her place of work. Currently, there are quarrels and misunderstanding especially with people of different races something which has put her job on the line. Sophia is a graduate from the University of California, Berkeley where she graduated in 1998. She started working in Vertec Company seven years ago and has been constantly ranked as the best performing employee. The company is in Florida where she met with the husband during a friend’s wedding. Sophia is currently 43 years old and living with her family; her husband James an African American too and four children. Khoe is the first daughter and is 16 years old, Melvin the second born and is 13 years old. The others are Julie and Joe who are 8 and 4 years old respectively.
Sophia grew up in the suburbs areas of Seattle where she was raised with other five children. Her mother and father struggled so much to ensure that they went to School and had a decent life. She had three sisters and one brother. The sisters are Grace who is now 40, Rachel who is 36, and Lydia 32. Martin the youngest in the family is now 28. Being the first born, Sophia had to sacrifice a lot to ensure the others lived well. She has had to go hungry for the night to make sure Martin has eaten. For this reason, she fears losing her job and subjecting her children to unnecessary poverty.
James Sophia’s husband is currently unemployed. He was laid off from his place of work as the company was downsizing. Therefore, all the responsibilities including paying for school’s fees and are under her. However, she is currently not paying rent because two years ago she bought a new family house where they all now live. The problem is Sophia is feeling overwhelmed by all the responsibilities while the husband is still not concerned about searching for a new job. She must be persistent at work and at the same time perform the house chores something that is greatly wearing her out.
In the workplace, Sophia has been receiving warnings from the department head. Most of the time, she has refused to work with people who are not of the same race as she is. She has delivered poor quality results in a project after she was told to work with someone she did not want. The problem is that her attitude is affecting the performance of the department. It is because of the good performance that she has exhibited in the past years that she has been exempted on some occasions. However, in the month of July she received a warning letter which gave her a compulsory leave for two months so that she can work out the problems.
The office layout at work is such that all the employees sit together. Therefore, Sophia has to see the people she refuses to work with every day. The cultural difference she exhibits is due to the raising up in her family. The parents always had this negative attitude towards the whites and as such made Sophia believe that it is difficult to trust them. However, somewhere in high school she was able to understand that it is possible to live with people of all races. The problem started again when the husband was laid off and according to Sophia the whites never consider the plight of the African Americans. She is convinced that the husband was laid off because of his race and not on genuine sizing down reasons.
Problems Faced
Anxiety
One of the greatest problems Sophia is having is anxiety. She fears what could happen to her family once she loses the job completely. All her life she struggled to survive and complete her education. The reason she was able to graduate from the University was due to a scholarship she received from a non-governmental organization. Therefore, she understands the problems associated with poverty and this is the reason she is anxious. Her children are all in better schools and they are provided with everything they need. While she was growing up, she skipped meals and sometimes failed to go to school due to hunger. Her mother and father are currently depending on them the children because they can no longer work. This is bearing in mind that the mother was always at home taking care of the children while the father was doing some manual jobs due to lack of skills.
Recently, the salaries within the home has become lessened because the husband is not working. For this reason, her firstborn who is a teenager has been complaining she is not getting everything she asks for. As such, she has turned to be very aggressive and has joined a group of young people who are smoking. It is a situation that needs to be addressed but Sophia does not understand how she can do it. She is anxious that the daughter may end up being pregnant before she even finishes her education.
Insomnia
Sophia has been having a series of sleepless nights from the time she was stopped from going to work. The main concern is that she is seeing her family go through the same road she went as she grew up. The bills must be paid and at the same time she must support her husband who she feels has become a burden to the family. Every night, she tries to stay awake and think but the more she thinks the greater the problems seem. One of the disturbing issues is that she has only one month to go back to work. The department manager was categorical that she must go back to her former working capacity or else she will have to be demoted.
Demotion is a painful situation for Sophia. It will mean she will have a lower salary. Therefore, she must work well to get a better pay. However, she has a negative attitude about all her colleagues at work. They are all Caucasians and they seem to be competing to get her position as a senior accountant. For this reason, she feels that it is impossible to work well in the same working environment.
Unemployment
Losing a job is one of the most stressing experiences. People feel hungry, depressed, and grieved. This is the reason why Sophia is concerned. Losing a job brings about several changes at one. The fear of situations going out of control and inability to protect the family makes her much stressed. She is afraid of losing her professional identity as an accountant. She worked so much to where she is and now, she cannot risk going down again. Secondly, her self-esteem and self-confidence will also be hurt once she loses her job. Apart from this, she has been working for the last 20 years and now breaking her routine would be more devastating to her. Her sense of security will also be lost once she is not working. These factors make Sophia so frustrated and hence need help. She is a woman who feels better when working and not depending on anybody. Her own family cannot help her and so is James’s. His father is currently undergoing cancer treatment and hence the entire hospital bill has drained family resources.
