Week Three Case Analysis

docx

School

Southern New Hampshire University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

520

Subject

Arts Humanities

Date

Jan 9, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by UltraAlpacaMaster927

Week Three Case Analysis Observation Pari was born in Thailand, which makes her part of a minority culture when she moved to the United States. Pari also utilizes the teachings of Buddha, which is against the dominant culture in the United States of Christianity. Pari admits that she feels unwelcome in her husband’s family and feels out of place, as his family is “blond, skinny, and dress very nicely” and she is not. Pari’s English is not that good, and she is surrounded by people whose first language is English. Pari’s husband wants their children to be raised in American culture and the Baptist religion, which is very different than her own culture and religion. Pari seems to feel left out in her American family, and it seems as though her culture is being ignored and she is being forced to enmesh herself with her husband’s culture. Context The client is a 26-year-old from Thailand who has lived in the United States for over 2 years. The client is seeking counseling because she is having trouble adjusting to the United States and is uncertain that she made the right decision in moving. She reports being married to a 45-year-old Caucasian man and living in a remote North Carolina town where she does not have any friends. She is a stay-at-home mother of a 2-year-old daughter and has no contact with anyone outside of her husband, her daughter and her husband’s family. The client came from a large family with 11 immediate children, and her family was against the idea of her moving to the United States and unsure about her husband’s reasons for marrying her and the age difference between them. The client’s family is otherwise happy that she is living in America, as they see it as an opportunity. The client reports being happy to be in the United States, but feeling out of place with her new family, who are all “blond, skinny, and dress very nicely”. The client reports

not speaking much around her new family for fear of being judged for her lack of strong English language skills. She feels as though she will be disobeying her family and her entire culture by not raising her daughter with Thai culture as well as American culture, but that she feels forbidden to express her own culture by her husband. The client reports that her husband complains about her sending money to her family and refuses to visit her home because of a lack of money. The client reports questioning her husband’s commitment to her and is not used to not having friends and family to talk to. She reports feeling conflicted because she loves John and her life in the United States, but she misses her Thai family. Barriers I feel that one of the biggest barriers that has played a role in the client’s ability or willingness to access professional counseling services is her isolation. She lives in a remote town in North Carolina, and she reports that she does not really talk to anyone aside from her husband and her child. She is a stay-at-home mom, and her access to the outside world seems to be limited. I feel that this can be addressed by possibly providing Pari the option to engage in virtual therapy session, help her find transportation to get to therapy sessions, or maybe even offer to do therapy sessions in person at her home so that she does not have to worry about transportation. Another possible barrier that I see is that the client does not speak great English. I feel as though this can be a potential cause or factor in her feelings of isolation, as she does not speak the language fluently but everyone around her does. A study by Yoon, Lee, Koo and Yoo (2010) found that Asian American college students note a significant role of English proficiency and further found that lack of English language proficiency was related to adjustment to the US culture and identity, how much they felt they belonged in society, and their experience of any discrimination and how this impacts their adjustment to the American culture. I think that this

can be addressed by possibly trying to find someone who can translate or a provider that knows Thai so that Pari can feel more comfortable speaking and opening about her struggles in counseling. I also feel that showing her unconditional positive regard and validating her own culture would be crucial in this situation to help Pari feel more comfortable, as she has been surrounded by American culture and feels that she must hide her Thai culture. Another barrier could be finances. Although the case study does not necessarily say that the client has financial issues, it does mention that her husband says that they do not have money to go visit her family, so it is possible that he would also say that they do not have the money for her to attend therapy. I feel this can be addressed by helping Pari utilize her health insurance mental health benefits to find an affordable option to help Pari participate in counseling. It might also not be mainstream in the client’s Thai culture to pursue therapy, as Eastern cultures are generally more collectivist as opposed to the individualistic culture of the United States. I believe that his can be addressed by making sure to be culturally sensitive to Pari’s needs and what will benefit her and her situation the most while respecting cultural boundaries and norms. Steps As is usual in situations with clients that are from a different culture than my own and as noted by Duan and Brown (2015), there are self-assessments that can be done to assess my biases regarding any situation to ensure that I am not letting my biases or my culture interfere, especially in a situation with someone who is not from the same culture as me. I know that I have biases when it comes to certain religions, especially Christianity, so I want to ensure that I am keeping my biases out of the picture in this situation so that I am not judging her husband harshly or letting her husband’s religious views interfere with my objectivity regarding the client’s situation. I do not want to alienate her by talking badly about her husband or showing a negative

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

view of him because I do not agree with his faith or the way that he is treating her by isolating her at home and away from her family and culture in Thailand. I think it is important to keep in mind that behavior that is abnormal in my culture might not be considered abnormal in her culture, so this is important to recognize during sessions and in any treatment or intervention strategies used so as not to pathologize or misdiagnose based on cultural differences. Considerations I want to keep in mind that my culture is very different from the client’s culture in this situation. I think one of the most important things to consider is that I am more a part of the dominant culture, and the client is not, so I want to keep that in mind and make sure that I am not bringing the dominant culture into the situation because the client is already feeling out of place in America. I do not want to make her feel even more uncomfortable by bringing the attitude of the dominant culture into the conversation and alienate her and make her feel more alone than she already does. I need to keep in mind that she comes from an Eastern culture, which is more collectivist than the individualistic culture of America, so the client has different cultural values and norms than I do. The way that she communicates could be very different from the way that I communicate, and I need to keep in mind that her goals for treatment might be different than what I would originally think because she comes from a culture that values the good of the group over the good of the individual. A directive approach might not be beneficial for this client as the culture that she is from does not value that sort of directness.

References Duan, C., & Brown, C. (2015). Becoming a Multiculturally Competent Counselor . SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781483389967 Yoon, E., Lee, D. Y., Koo, Y. R., & Yoo, S.-K. (2010). A Qualitative Investigation of Korean Immigrant Women’s Lives. Counseling Psychologist , 38 (4), 523–553. https://doi- org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1177/0011000009346993

Week Three Case Analysis

Related Documents