counseling skills

Case Study 1: Finding Family Balance in Greece
Katerina: (in the middle of a session that was first focusing on a problem at work) Something that bothers me very much lately is that I am overloaded with work, and I have a conflict with my roles as a mother, a wife, and a professional. All these roles are very important to me; I love them all. My family comes first, and I would like to be there whenever they need me. I want to prepare their meals, help my children with their homework… But right now there is so much work to do that I cannot spend the time I want with my family, and this provokes guilt feelings in me.

What skills would you use to help Katerina clarify her feelings and resolve her conflict?
How would you proceed by using interpretation and reframing?
Case Study 2:  Hurricane Katrina
Stephanie, an African American college student, comes to the university counseling center to meet with you for academic advising. She was a student at a historically Black university in New Orleans and had to evacuate because of Hurricane Katrina. She does not know whether her house flooded, and she has not been able to contact many of her friends.

The university where you work is a state university in which the majority of the students are White. Her New Orleans university is closed because of flooding, and she is not sure when it will reopen.

Stephanie would like to take courses at your university while her university is closed. When you tell her that only one of the classes in which she would like to enroll is open, she bursts into tears and has trouble talking. She apologizes and tells you that she knows she should be stronger.

How might you reflect Stephanie’s feelings?
How might you provide feedback?
What type of self-disclosure might be useful?
How can you interpret/reframe the situation to help Stephanie develop an alternative assessment of herself?
How would your nonverbals (body language, tone of voice) affect the client?