To complete Case Vignette Analysis #1, assume you are in the role and case study scenario described below
To complete Case Vignette Analysis #1, assume you are in the role…
To complete Case Vignette Analysis #1, assume you are in the role and case study scenario described below.
ROLE: Mental Health Professional in a rural community with no behavioral health center, safe house, or in-place support systems.
CASE STUDY: Carol has been your client for 4 sessions and recently disclosed the abusive nature of her 25-year marriage. She alleges her husband has struck her and she is fearful of his rage episodes.
She also suspects that he is referring child pornography on their computer, but has been unable to substantiate. They have a daughter with 2 granddaughters ages 6 and 4.
Her husband is a well-respected businessman in the very small, geographically isolated community and frontier county of less than 2000 residents. He is also a Scout leader and buddies with the County Sheriff.
The couple attends church semi-regularly, belonging to a dominant patriarchal religion in the area. She is unable to go to church authorities with her suspicions and complaints as is the expected practice, because the last visit to her religious counselors resulted in intensified abuse afterward and a reprimand by the religious leader for being a poor wife.
Carol calls you at 10:00 pm one Friday night with terror in her voice and informs you she has left her husband, but knows he will come looking for her.
Her personal funds are limited, and she is driving a high-visibility vehicle. From the panic noted in her call, there is little question that she feels she is in danger.
Please answer the following:
- Your assessment using the ABCDE Assessment Model (explained below).
- Your detailed six-step, single-session crisis intervention using the intervention model.
- Your ongoing crisis management and intervention goals.
| Affective Responses | The feelings the client has following the trauma. Sometimes these are expressed non-verbally or in culturally specific ways. |
| Behavior | Clients actions or inactions in an attempt to cope with or respond to the trauma. Here suicidal and/or homicidal ideations could occur. Clients behavior may not seem rational to you, but they believe their actions are warranted given what has occurred. |
| Cognition | Clients attempt to understand and explain the traumatic event. Irrational thoughts such as paranoia, self -blaming or overgeneralization may occur, or the use of religious beliefs or cultural explanations take place. Try to understand the client’s logic even if it is flawed. |
| Development | Stage of life needs/tasks/concerns that affect the impact of the crisis should be evaluated. We discussed the potential impact of stage of life issues in case examples above. |
| Ecosystem | Factors such as ethnicity and culture of the client should be evaluated in terms of what treatment would be most effective and garner more compliance and participation from the client. For instance, having a Latina woman confront her husband in open court following a domestic violence charge may sound empowering to the helper but is likely to be terrifying and met with resistance by the victim. Evaluate the level of support, degree of education, language barriers and resources the client has access to and is willing to use. For example, an elderly Asian client is less likely to agree to participate in therapy with a non-Asian therapist and may not be willing to participate at all since cultural values dictate that problems are to be resolved within the family and without the use of “outsiders”. An important step for the helper is to anticipate barriers to treatment and minimize these where possible. |
