Description of Activity: Given the following cases below, how will you handle the different situations. Write it down and cite a Psychological theory that will be your guiding principle in dealing with each case.
CASE SCENARIO 1
You are one of the school counselors at Batangas National High School. Your caseload includes Sarah, a seventh grader. She was referred to you by her classroom teacher.
The teacher has concerns regarding Sarah due to Sarah’s recent change in behavior. Historically, Sarah has been a top student and is very outgoing. Sarah is a member of honor society, plays JV basketball, and is a member of the Drama team. Upon her return from summer break, Sarah was noticeably withdrawn and her grades began to drop. She has withdrawn from the Drama team and she seems to have lost interest in basketball.
The teacher shared that at a recent parent/teacher conference the parents did not seem concerned about Sarah’s behavior changes but rather focused their attention on Sarah’s basketball performance. The teacher also informed you that he had tried to connect with Sarah to talk about his concerns but when he tried to do so, Sarah became angry, burst into tears, and stormed out of the room.
Sarah has agreed to meet with you upon the encouragement of her parents under the auspice that you will help her with her basketball performance issues.
CASE SCENARIO 2
Chad is a 9 year old Chinese-Filipino, high school student, who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when he was 3 months old. While growing up, he has been required to go to the hospital every other month. He now only has to go about once or twice a year. Chad comes into see you at his mom’s request. His mom, Sylvia, is concerned about the fact that Chad is refusing to take his medication. She has noticed that Chad is starting to cough more and gets exhausted much easier. He stopped taking the medication about two months after Kyle, a friend that Chad had met in the hospital, died. Chad had maintained a friendship with Kyle for about 2 years. Chad respected Kyle because he was one of the few people who didn’t consider him a foreigner, a common occurrence despite the fact that his ancestors immigrated to the Phil. in the late 1800’s. Kyle had been waiting for a lung transplant, and Chad had observed him rapidly decline in health. Chad refused to discuss Kyle’s death with his mother. And recently, there were long periods of time when he wouldn’t speak to her at all.
In a phone conversation with Sylvia, you learned that after Kyle’s funeral, Sylvia had hoped that Chad could spend the summer with his father (Kevin) and older brother David (15) who live in another state. Kevin owns a small car dealership and David works with him detailing the cars on the lot. The dealership has been successful enough to pay for the numerous surgeries and maintain both middle class households. Kevin and Sylvia divorced when Chad was 6. When Sylvia discussed the idea of Chad coming for the summer, Kevin said he didn’t feel it would be a good idea because of animosity between David and Chad. In the initial session, Sylvia explained that “David has always felt that I favored Chad because I spent so much time with him. I had to because of his health, but there still is a lot of jealousy.
