Story about a fictional client 1

by cheryl

Posted to Stories on 2001-09-10 06:15:00

Client’s expressed emotions: confusion and frustration

1. empathic understanding

I wait for John to calm down. I reassure him that I am here to listen and want to hear what he wants to say. I would like for him to say as accurately as possible what he thinks the problem is that prevents him from studying and gaining the best from University Life…..

Hello John, I am Cheryl your counsellor. Please relax and make yourself comfortable. Please tell me your story in your own time and words, and I will try to help you….It could be a good idea to say to me first what your are feeling at this moment.

John, I think you feel confused and frustrated. John, I hear you saying that nobody cares, and you think your parents do not care. You feel the social life at University is causing the problem with concentration and studying for your exams. You highlighted that ou never drank before coming to University and put this down to social life pressures. Because of this you say you are going to fail the first year finals. You must be worried about how things are going as you are here now. You want my help. Would you share with me how you feel when you are socialising and this would help me to get a perspective on how you feel.



Client’s expressed emotions: confusion and frustration.

2. advanced empathy

I wait for John to calm down. I reassure him that I am here to listen and want to hear what he wants to say. I would like for him to say as accurately as possible what he thinks the problem is that prevents him from studying and gaining the best from University Life…..

Hello John, I am Cheryl your counsellor. Please relax and make yourself comfortable. Please tell me your story in your own time and words, and I will try to help you….It could be a good idea to say to me first what your are feeling at this moment.

I hear you say that nobody cares, and you think your parents do not care. You feel the social life at University is causing the problem with concentration and studying for your exams. It seems John you are saying that the social life is the problem. You think if it were not for the social life of the University you would not fail your exams. It seems here that the social life and drink together are linked for you to participate in the life of the University. So by drinking you feel apart of the scene. It could be you need to decide which is most important to you, to pass your finals or to be part of the social whirl.

I get the impression you have negative feelings here. Am I right in thinking you feel put under pressure to drink more than you actually feel is right for you. Perhaps at this point in time you need to get your priorities right. So then your exams are important to you, otherwise you would not be worried about them and you would not care if you passed or not. Perhaps you could put a temporary halt on socialising and revise as best you can before the exams so you would feel more confident. Although I do not suggest to halt socialising altogether, after the exams you could resume going out.

It could be the separation from your peer group that would help you control the drinking and concentrate on studying. I feel this way forward could help you to prioritise your needs. I would suggest after the exams, think of whether the course you are on is the right one for you. I suspect you would feel lonely without University Social life as it is important to you to join in the fun. Perhaps there are other activities could enjoy to gain friendship to avoid so much peer pressure.