Assignment -

Two Separate Questions. These assignments are based on Choice theory/reality therapies and its techniques.

Question 1 - Over the past several months, Miguel has run away from home twice. The family has only lived in their multi-bedroom house on an estate size parcel of land in an upper middle class predominantly White suburban community north of NYC for a year. The home is located in a gated neighborhood that has its own private security force. His parents are both in their mid-thirties, well-educated and highly paid professionals working in upper management positions for large corporations in the city. Miguel's mother is Cuban and his stepfather is Irish-American. Miguel's biological father has had no contact with either he or his mother since almost immediately after Miguel was born. His mother and step-father met through work and describe themselves as very goal oriented career people but are also very committed to the well-being of their family and especially the welfare of their only son.

Mother took Miguel to receive private therapy for what she termed his "behavior problems". According to mother, the behavioral problems began when Miguel was called "beaner" by a White classmate at school. Miguel's response was seen as excessive by the school administration since it was only, in their terms, "a simple name calling incident". His response was reported as verbally yelling and then physically attacking the other student. After punching the other student, Miguel was reported as throwing him to the ground and then proceeded to kick and spit and stomp the student until he was restrained by several of their classmates. The resulting consequences for Miguel were that he was given an in-school suspension while the other student was given a verbal reprimand.

After the original incident, Miguel ran away immediately and was found by police and brought home early the next day. When asked about his reason for running away, he shared that he couldn't understand why the other student was not punished and why his parents did not make sure that the other student was given an in-school suspension as well. He felt as if he was being discriminated against because he was not White and that his parents were too afraid to say anything because of what others would say and how that might affect their careers.

The second runaway event came after Miguel had begun wearing a denim jacket with a Cuban flag sewn on the back and the words "NOT A BEANER" inscribed below it. His parents indicated that they were not aware of his wearing the jacket although the school claims to have tried to communicate with the parents. Apparently, he had worn the jacket every day for approximately several days despite his teachers and later school administrators telling him not to present himself at school if he intended to wear it again. Finally, since the school reported that they had not heard from the parents, the principal confronted Miguel as he arrived on school property and told him to remove the jacket or that he would be turned away. In response, Miguel simply walked away and did not go home or return to school for three days.

Questions for Story above

1. What cultural statuses does Miguel occupy that are impacting him at this time?

2. In your first individual session with Miguel, what would be your goals as the counselor?

3. How would you seek to accomplish these goals?

4. What are your goals for Miguel?

5. What are some ways you think you could work with Miguel to help him achieve your mutually-agreed-upon goals?

6. How would you respond to inquiries from the stepmother about your work with Miguel?

Question 2 - Dao is an eighteen year old woman who has begun seeing the school counselor for feelings of depression and worthlessness. Dao has just begun her senior year in high school and has always been average in the academic arena. She is an attractive young lady with dark hair, dark eyes and quick to smile. Although Dao is short in stature she eveloped early, that is, she had relatively large breasts for her age early on and is self conscious about their size at present. She feels ridiculed or that she is always being judged by others her size. She believes that people, especially males, can only see her for this specific physical attribute and she has come to believe that they overlook her other qualities and are unable to see her as a whole person.

Dao's parents are originally from Thailand and she has only one other sibling, an older brother named Diem, who is nineteen years of age and attending a local community college part-time while working full time in the family business. Their parents own and manage a janitorial service and have done so for over twenty years. Her parents found her diary and learned that their daughter was writing about being sexually active. They perceived their daughter as a very sensitive, but, also a very emotional girl, who overreacts too often such as their having to deal with Dao's complaints that she is constantly being treated differently than her older brother.

Dao's older brother molested her twice over a period of three years. The molestation stopped when she was 14 years of age and she reported that the molestation did not include any penetration and in both instances was restricted to manual manipulation of her genitals. She had told a former school counselor about it, who apparently never reported to anyone ince no one outside the family ever spoke about it to her. Additionally, she told her parents about both incidents and her parents told her that they had had "a real good talking to Diem" and "He knows better than to ever do anything like this ever again after our talking to him", but here to, nothing further ever came of it.

Dao feels that her parents have two different standards when it comes to her and her brother. Her brother's current girlfriend is a past friend of Dao's. Their parents allow his girlfriend to stay overnight in their home but not sleep in his room. Dao reports that she believes that her parents are aware that once they have gone to bed his girlfriend does go to their son's room but they never say anything to him even when she tells them. They also have different rules about curfew and out-of-the-house activities she is allowed to have as compared to her brother. She reports that they are much more restrictive with her and that consequences for her coming in after curfew are much more severe since they never do anything to him at all while they are constantly grounding her or limiting her use of the telephone or television as punishment when she engages in violations of their rules. Dao expresses very strong reactions to this differential treatment but does not feel as if her parents listen to her at all. She also feels the double standards and more severe sanctions for even slight infractions of house rules is directly related to her being a female.

Questions for Story above

1) What cultural statuses does Dao occupy that are impacting her at this time?

2) In your first individual session with Dao, what would be your goals as the counselor?

3) How would you seek to accomplish these goals?

4) What are your goals for Dao?

5) What are some ways that you could work with Dao to accomplish your mutually-agreed-upon goals?

6) How would you respond to inquiries from the parents about your work with Dao?

Note - Two and a half pages for each story.