Mental Health Intervention for Mary Angelou

This assignment presents a fictional case study of Mary Angelou, a renowned American poet grappling with grief after receiving news of her supposed death while alive. The document outlines the impact of this unexpected event on her mental well-being and proposes therapeutic interventions, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), and psychodynamic therapy. It details specific strategies for self-care and emphasizes the importance of a tailored approach based on Mary's individual needs and presenting complaints.

Running head: COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Case study
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Executive summary
This report deals with the chosen character Mary Angelou who was an American poet and
has never were being lazy in her life. Now that she is 81years, old and her health conditions
are deteriorating day by day, she suddenly get a fake news of her death and found her
relatives and dear ones getting worried if she is alright. This has induced grief in her because
she will be stepping to 82years of ager and she wants to keep on working. Keeping in mind
two sessions of therapy the following report deals with detailing the idea of the two sessions.
In the following report, it was found that the first session is mainly for engaging and
connecting the client along educating her on her problems. Followed by this the interventions
are decided which are mainly psychodynamic and CBT/REBT therapeutic interventions.
There are chances of obstacles that can arise during the sessions like from the client’s side
she might resist change or not work within the sessions and from the counselor’s side
discrimination or stigmatization might act as disadvantages which needs to be controlled.
Lastly, self-care is important for the client as it can benefit both her mental as well as her
physical health.

2
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Presenting issues for the client...................................................................................................3
Engaging and connecting to the client.......................................................................................4
Case planning.............................................................................................................................4
Theoretical ideas supporting the therapeutic process.................................................................5
Interventions...............................................................................................................................6
Obstacles anticipated..................................................................................................................7
Potential techniques to overcome the obstacles.........................................................................8
Strategies for self-care................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

3
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Introduction
In counseling, grief can be considered as a notable element within any given modality
or consolidative therapeutic sessions. However, the elderly people experiences grief in a
different way than the adults. Older people think more about death than living as life is all
about the reflection than about looking at the future. Grief counseling to the elderly people
mainly focuses on guiding those individuals to overcome their feelings of sadness as well as
depression. Counseling can be done in professional one to one setting as well as it can take
place in-group situations (Supiano and Luptak 2013). In this report the first two sessions of
the client Maya Angelou’s grief counseling therapy is stimulated.
Presenting issues for the client
The client in the session was by profession an American poet named Mary Angelou.
She had an untold story, which she unfolded in her autobiography as an American Negro, a
writer, a single mother, performer and a poet. From her autobiography it is known that she
was raped in her childhood and after the victim was sentenced to death she did not speak for
five years because she though as she confessed his name so her own voice killed that man.
She became a single mother and has hardly being inactive. However, now that she has
reached her old age, she has been suffering from health issues like chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease and one of her lungs being collapsed. However, recently, there was fake
news of her death in the media and this incident where she had to hear her own death news
made her become very upset. Her grandchild as well as other family members from Europe
and Africa ringed her in tears just to confirm the news if she is alive. Thus, at the age of 81
years after leading a life that she considers full of daring acts, she still hopes to work as much
as she can. Thus, for this client her grief is surrounding the fear of her health as well as
because of the slowly approaching death.

4
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Engaging and connecting to the client
In the 1st session engaging and connecting to the client is important and this can be
done if during the initial therapeutic session the older clients are responded appropriately. At
the very beginning, forming a respectful relationship with the client is important which means
that the client should be treated as an important person, which is followed by acknowledging
their physical reaction to grief. They can further be educated about the other emotions as well
as reactions other than grief like helplessness, guilt, sadness and yearning. To be connected
with the client as a counselor it is important to make her feel that yes, there is someone to
assist her as thus, the gift of presence is important making her feel that you are listening.
Then trust is build for which more focus should be on the client’s body language as well as
non-verbal communication which will show that how much the client wants to share in the
first session. Client should be provided with helpful feedbacks as well as encouragement.
Counselor should be alert and grasp the communication style of the client and being
competent while dealing handling the client in the first session. Thus, following these a
connection can be built with the client in the very first session (Waller et al. 2016).
Case planning
Goal and Objectives-
The main goal of this grief therapy is that to identify as well as solve the issue that the
client is having which is for this client the grief of approaching death. However, getting the
death news of her own at the age of 81years, it is natural that anyone in her place will come
up with strong emotional reactions like her. Thus, the main objective of grief therapy is to
bring a notable improvement in the client.
Idea and plan of the sessions-

5
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
However, as per the case planning is concerned in these two sessions mainly in the
first one the preparations will be done for assessment along with the beginning of the
assessment process. In the next session, which will be the follow up session, it will be the
closure of the assessment. During the session the as a skilled counselor the therapeutic
interventions that can be used for this client can be psychodynamic, CBT/ REBT therapeutic
interventions.
Theoretical ideas supporting the therapeutic process
There are certain therapeutic models, which further informs about the therapies that
needs to be applied for the client. However, the models are discussed below-
 Posttraumatic growth model
 Posttraumatic growth outcomes
 Machin’s narrative process model
Along with the above models, there are other therapeutic interventions like psychodynamic,
CBT/ REBT, Rubin et al (2012)’s comprehensive therapy and Worden’s model of
counseling. According, to Rubin who integrated the model of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy,
Rational Behavior Therapy (CBT), Strategic Meta-therapeutic Interventions and Systemic
Family grief Therapy actually supplies with valuable combination as well as comprehensive
analysis of counseling interventions (Rubin, Witztum and Malkinson 2017). REBT however
is a humanistic and existential model of CBT, which is mainly concerned with the individual
as a whole along with the experiences that exist including the sufferings (MacLaren, Doyle
and DiGiuseppe 2016). Angelou who is having difficulty with the transition of aging and her
ill health can be benefited and will be able to manage her emotions, find new places of joy as
well as meaning and new support systems. As applied for Angelou in this Case study, is
mainly psychodynamic and REBT/CBT therapy and their aims are as follows-

6
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
 The aim of psychodynamic therapy in this case is to bring the unconscious mind of
the client into consciousness so that it can help her to unravel experiences as well as
understand her true, deep-rooted feelings so that it can be resolved.
 On the other hand, CBT-REBT therapy will mainly focus on the solutions so that the
client gets the encouragement to challenge her twisted cognitions and modify her
destructive pattern of behavior. REBT mainly is a part of CBT therapy, which will
help the client to understand her unhealthy thoughts and beliefs, which are creating
emotional distress in her.
Interventions
Interventions have been distinguished between primary, secondary and tertiary by
Schut and his colleagues in (2001). Primary intervention mainly focuses in all the bereaved
people, the secondary interventions focuses on those individual who are at a higher risk of
developing problems and lastly, the tertiary intervention, which focuses on those who have
developed problems (Burke and Neimeyer 2013). Therefore, for this client tertiary
intervention would be appropriate. Counselor will maintain a compassionate and informed
approach throughout the session. The demonstrations are mainly that the counselor is here to
help the client rather than just being sorry for her grief. Interventions which reach out to the
client are mainly shows them a desire from the counselor’s side to engage the client in a
meaningful way. Spending time with the client as well as listening to their story can be
helpful at this age. The majority of the elderly people who are suffering from grief often
require sound information along with someone who can willingly listen to their issues and
supply them with valuable advice and help. As indicated by Jacobs and Prigerson (2000) that
there are a wide range of therapies which are affective as well as appropriate elderly suffering
from grief (Shah and Meeks 2012). Nevertheless, for this client CBT and psychodynamic

7
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
therapies are applied. CBT is viewed as an ideal therapy for elderly individuals suffering
from grief. In general, it is very much effective in treating anxiety and mood disorders.
Obstacles anticipated
Therapies are a unique and ongoing relationship, which is created in a safe
atmosphere, which can lessen the pain of the client, empower her, and further direct the client
towards inner peace and happiness (Bond 2015). However, the basic obstacles in these two
sessions that might arise are as follows-
 Client not working in between the sessions- many a times it is found that clients have
wrong assumptions that only showing up in the sessions with bring significant
improvement in their lives. However, the actual scenario is that improvement will
take place if the work is continued both in and after the therapy.
 The client may resist change- maximum of the times client want their feelings,
circumstances, relationships as well as their thoughts in their life to get modified but
obstacles takes place when they want to continue the same things like engaging in the
same thoughts and feelings and yet expect a change to happen without in actually
modifying anything.
 Stigma and discrimination- another important obstacle can be the stigma of mental
illness. Research has found that there is stigma towards mental illness, which is
evident in Unites States and many other nations. Because the client is aboriginal thus,
there are changes of discrimination from the counselor’s part, which can act as an
obstacle.

8
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Potential techniques to overcome the obstacles
As a therapist, the homework must be assigned to the client or the client may herself
practice what is done during the session on his or her own. If the therapist is not assigning
work then the client can ask for homework. The client must pick up someone whom she
trusts and can process the session and can ask for feedbacks. This way the obstacles of the
client not working in between the sessions can be minimized. Another obstacle identified is
the resistant to change in the client thus; the client should start believing that they are worth
bringing the change in their life. Therefore, the client needs to be honest to them, taking the
information in as well as guidance that are provided to him and applying them properly. They
should practice as well as apply what they are learning in the sessions. Therefore, the
counselor must keep in check if the client is showing any changes or is the same as she was
in the very first session and accordingly must take further steps. Lastly, the last obstacles can
come from the side of the counselor that when he should neither disseminate among their
clients not show any kind of perceived stigma towards any kind of mental illnesses. A good
counselor should never have stigmatizing beliefs because it can act as an obstacle during the
therapy. Therefore, before the session the counselor should leave all such negative thoughts
outside (Sue and Sue 2012).
Strategies for self-care
Self-care is anything that can help the client to maintain her physical, mental or
emotional health. Therefore, self-care is important for the client because it can help keep up
the healthy habits by doing something she enjoys for instance reading books. This will
distract the client’s mind as well as body from the stressful life events. It can further recharge
the client if she can meditate for some time (Stephen, Wilcock and Wimpenny 2013).
Another importance of self-care is that for many people it can help manage health issues, as it

9
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
is very much effecting for coping with mental as well as physical problems. Thus, self-care
helps people to live their lives as fully as possible. However, for this particular the strategies
of self-care that can be applied are as follows-
 She must not give up her usual daily routine
 They should talk to those whom they can trust
 Find herself some time so that she can relax by meditating or by reading books
 Regularly eat her meals
 Develop appropriate sleeping habits
 Caffeine containing drinks she must avoid because it can affect her sleep cycle
(Alexander and Klein 2012).
Conclusion
To conclude this report, it can be said that the chosen character Mary Angelou who is
herself an American Poet is suffering from grief after hearing her dead news being alive. At
the age of 81years when her health is already not permitting many activities that she still want
to continue, meanwhile this sudden news has actually affected her mentally. However, in the
initial two sessions the client need to be engaged with the counselor then based on the
presenting complaints her interventions are selected to be CBT-REBT and psychodynamic
therapeutic interventions, which can be attempted from the next sessions.

10
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
References
Alexander, D.A. and Klein, S., 2012. Mental health, trauma and bereavement. Grief, Loss
and Bereavement: Evidence and Practice for Health and Social Care Practitioners.
Bond, T., 2015. Standards and ethics for counselling in action. Sage.
Burke, L.A. and Neimeyer, R.A., 2013. 11 Prospective risk factors for complicated
grief. Complicated grief: Scientific foundations for health care professionals, p.145.
MacLaren, C., Doyle, K.A. and DiGiuseppe, R., 2016. Rational emotive behavior therapy
(REBT): Theory and practice. Contemporary theory and practice in counseling and
psychotherapy, pp.233-263.
Rubin, S.S., Witztum, E. and Malkinson, R., 2017. Bereavement and Traumatic
Bereavement: Working with the Two-Track Model of Bereavement. Journal of Rational-
Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 35(1), pp.78-87.
Shah, S.N. and Meeks, S., 2012. Late-life bereavement and complicated grief: A proposed
comprehensive framework. Aging & mental health, 16(1), pp.39-56.
Stephen, A.I., Wilcock, S.E. and Wimpenny, P., 2013. Bereavement care for older people in
healthcare settings: qualitative study of experiences. International journal of older people
nursing, 8(4), pp.279-289.
Sue, D.W. and Sue, D., 2012. Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. John
Wiley & Sons.
Supiano, K.P. and Luptak, M., 2013. Complicated grief in older adults: A randomized
controlled trial of complicated grief group therapy. The Gerontologist, 54(5), pp.840-856.

11
COUNSELING FOR GRIEF AND LOSS
Waller, A., Turon, H., Mansfield, E., Clark, K., Hobden, B. and Sanson-Fisher, R., 2016.
Assisting the bereaved: A systematic review of the evidence for grief counselling. Palliative
medicine, 30(2), pp.132-148.