Therapeutic Relationship Case Study Essay

1307 Words3 Pages

As a strong therapeutic relationship is being cultivated with a client and their family, a therapist is able to create a conceptualization case study to help them. Although each therapist has their own preference of conceptualizations, this case study will focus on the client’s demographics, reason for referral, developmental stage, mental health history, diversity and risk factors, role of the therapist, goals/interventions, and ethical concerns. Client’s Demographics Elias is a five year old Mexican American male child, who resides with his mother and baby brother. His mother is married and is currently separated from Elias’s stepfather. At this point, it is undetermined the employment status of Elia’s mother including the socioeconomic status …show more content…

In order to develop a therapeutic alliance with Elias and his mother, their Hispanic/Latino culture needs to be understood. Not only does understanding their ethnic background have value, but it is crucial to understand how the culture (machismo, submission, collectivism) plays a role in their family structure as well. Another way to cultivate therapeutic alliance is to be aware of one’s own bias about the clients and the situation. As for Elias’s case, it is easy to blame the mother for negligence for the care of Elias’s physical and mental health care. Therefore, to keep Elias welfare a priority, it is highly important to cultivate an open, non-judging and empathic environment to gain the trust of Elias’s mother (responsible party for Elias), so treatment for Elias and the family could continue and works towards the best interests of their …show more content…

For it is just as important for the counselor to be able to relate the child’s culture, developmental level and perspective. Working with Elias and his mother may be challenging at first, due to my own bias; however, by using interpersonal skills (patience, empathy, warmth, listening, reflecting, and etc.) and creativity with Elias, there is hope for the communication lines to be open and trust to be restored in a social

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