Vargas Family: Meet the Family
Introduction
The members of Vargas family are Bob, Elizabeth, Frank, and Heidi. There is increased marital tension in the family due to Elizabeth’s and Bob’s inability to agree over Frank’s recent unusual behavior. The objective of seeking counseling is to restore peace and understanding between Bob and Elizabeth as far as Frank’s behavior is concerned. The paper will address strategies of building alliance with this family, develop mechanisms that may help the family maintain and solve the problem, and ways of building rapport, the interventions to use, and on the best ways of closing this counseling.
Discuss how you would build alliance with this family
Building alliance is the first stage that the counselor needs to consider with the Vargas family. In this scenario, the therapist should first conduct an introductory interview with the family so that both parties introduce themselves and create a good rapport (Barbara & Lewis, 2008). To do this, the counselor should meet Elizabeth, Bob, Frank, and Heidi face to face in his/her office. At this point, the counselor must be warm, give the client his contact details, and inform them of all needed counseling resources such as visiting hours and counseling fee.
Also, the counselor must be emphatic and respectful to the clients. In probing and questioning the family, the counselor should act in a manner that truly reveals he feels for them. All members of this family have an equal right to express and share their feelings with the counselor, here the counselor must be fair and avoid being bias (Barbara & Lewis, 2008). A good counseling relationship will be established only if the counselor makes the client feel worth, valued, and respected. In building alliance, the counselor must avoid being judgmental.
In addition, the therapist needs to show positive regard towards what the Vargas family is undergoing (Barbara & Lewis, 2008). This will be possible by listening to the issues being raised by the clients, for example Elizabeth and Bob and impartially responding to them in a way that both feel encouraged. The counselor should give them the rules and requirements of counseling session, and this would help solve the ongoing wrangles.
Develop some hypothesis about the family patterns that you believe are maintaining the problem
In counseling, hypothesis serves as the reasoning point for a counselor. In hypothesizing, a counselor never refers to any facts, but this serves as the starting point for his investigation on the client’s situation (Rober, 2005). In case of Vargas family, the counselor will need to formulate a hypothesis which is neither true nor false, but can assist him verify or prove the validity of the problem at hand.
In the context of the family patterns that I believe are maintaining the problem for Vargas family, these hypotheses can be formulated:
- The habit that Bob has of defending Frank’s unusual behavior hurts Elizabeth his wife
- Elizabeth’s inability to relax when Frank misbehaves causes increased marital tension and arguments with Bob in their children’s eyes
- Frank’s ADHD and impulsive behavior upsets Elizabeth his mother
Conclusion (rapport building, assessment and intervention, and closure)
According to Rober (2005), quality counseling follows three stages (1) rapport building, (2) assessment and intervention, and (3) closure. In each stage, a counselor has certain expectations as he/she engages the client.
Rapport building: Based on past experience, I believe that this phase will be a success with the Vargas family. In rapport building, I will first introduce myself, my qualifications, experience, and contact details. I expect that the Vargas family will provide accurate contact information like their names and phone numbers (Sharpley, Jeffrey, & Mcmah, 2006). I also expect that the clients will embrace self-disclosure and cooperate by giving all needed details. Again, small successes in terms of encouragement and positive feedback will be also achieved as a strategy to motivate the clients.
Assessment and intervention: In assessing the client’s needs, I expect full commitment and compliance. In the probing and questioning stage, I expect the client to communicate their feelings and problems openly (Barbara & Lewis, 2008). Also, I expect them to provide true information without malice. In intervention session, I expect total compliance from the clients to what I recommend for them, for example, disciplining children together, considering each other view in problem solving, and solving problems alone in the absence of Frank and Heidi.
Closure: In this phase, I expect that the clients will have healed and able to solve issues with sobriety (Rober, 2005). I expect that clients will have attended all counseling sessions and provided all needed resources to facilitate the process. Also, I expect that the existing marital tension between Bob and Elizabeth will be eased and that the two will be able to peacefully solve their problems in the absence of children.
References
Barbara, M. A., & Lewis, M. S. (2008). Therapeutic alliance directions in marriage, couple, and family counselin. Compelling counseling interventions: Celebrating VISTAS’fifth anniversary, 2(1), 59-69.
Rober, P. (2005). Constructive hypothesizing, dialogic understanding and the therapist’s inner conversation. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28(4), 67-78.
Sharpley, C. F., Jeffrey, A. M., & Mcmah, T. (2006). Counsellor facial expression and client-perceived rapport. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 19(4), 43-56.