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A Dilemma Involving Child Welfare and Safety

Monday, September 8th, 2008

John has been attending counselling sessions for several months seeking help with the difficulties he is finding in dealing with his relationship break-up. He and his partner were together for ten years and have two children, a boy aged 9 and a girl aged 7. John has access to them every other weekend and for part of each school holiday. This arrangement has been operating reasonably well for the past two years.

In John’s sessions with you, you become increasingly aware of building frustrations and stress regarding visitation and access to his children. His heightened display of frustration has raised a number of concerns for you about the stability of his mood and thought processes.

Aware of recent reports about parents taking the lives of their children and themselves in similar circumstances, you begin to become apprehensive about the children’s welfare and safety.

As a counsellor, what would you do in this situation?

Posted in Counselling Dilemmas | 2 Comments »

A Client Who Tells Offensive Jokes

Friday, August 8th, 2008

You have a client of the opposite sex who is coming to see you weekly about problems with family and social relationships. He/she has been attending sessions with you for two months and seems likely to be a long-term client. Although initially very quiet and reluctant to discuss issues, you have succeeded in gaining his/her confidence.

The sessions are proceeding well, but as the client is leaving each week he/she always tells you a couple of jokes of a kind which you find offensive. While not wanting to upset the client you are finding this situation increasingly uncomfortable.

How would you deal with this dilemma?

Posted in Counselling Dilemmas | 3 Comments »

A Client with Depressive Behaviour

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

Melody has come for counselling to deal with the death of her husband. You have been counselling her for four weeks and in that time Melody has reported that she feels “depressed”. In addition, she complains of being constantly tired and lacking motivation to do simple tasks such as showering and cooking for herself.

As you have no formal qualifications or training to diagnose or treat psychological disorders such as depression, you encourage Melody to visit a GP to have her symptoms assessed. In the next session, Melody reported that her GP had not given her a diagnosis; however he had prescribed an eight week course of anti-depressant medication.

Given this outcome, would you continue to counsel Melody?

Posted in Counselling Dilemmas | 3 Comments »

Helping a Highly Stressed Client

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

A client comes to you having had to quit work due to a degenerative visual impairment. He has a 3 year-old child and his wife is expecting another baby. His sight may continue to deteriorate or it may remain at the current level. He is suffering stress, feelings of grief and loss and anxiety about the future.

How would you go about helping this client?

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A Dilemma Involving the Risk of Pedophilia

Monday, October 15th, 2007

You have been counselling a client in relation to her recent separation and divorce. The client and her husband are currently pursuing custody of their two small children through the courts. Your client is living with her children in their family home, whilst her ex-husband is staying with family friends. The house is going on the market in a few weeks and your client is packing up the family belongings.

In the process of packing, your client has stumbled across some pornographic magazines, left behind by her ex-husband. She is stunned to find a number of magazines containing explicit child pornography and mentions this to you in the course of a session. In addition, your client explains that her ex-husband is currently living with a family that has an 8-year-old daughter.

You have suggested that the client talk with her solicitor about this issue. The solicitor has recommended that she should wait and present the issue when the custody case is heard in court, as it will increase her chances of gaining full custody of the children.

Your client is still uncertain of the action she should take in this situation and has appealed to you for some advice.

What would you advise your client to do in this dilemma? What would be your ethical obligation?

Posted in Counselling Dilemmas | 4 Comments »

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