Health Professions Counselling

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1
Counselling in the health professions
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

PSYCHOLOGY 2
Abstract
Community and family counselling services must be available to all persons who struggle
while coping with relationship or family issues. These services primarily give priority to
children or vulnerable teenagers. This case scenario involved the Williams family comprising
of four members. While the father has been recently facing financial crisis, his addiction to
alcohol has also resulted in marital conflict. Diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome in the elder
son Jacob and behavioral issues reported by the younger son Leo has further worsened the
situation. Therefore, in order to help the family members effectively cope with the situations,
they shall be provided different services. While Jeff will be provided cognitive behavioral
therapy (CBT), functional family therapy (FFT) and psychoeducation will be offered to Leo
and Jacob, respectively. The marital conflict at home will be resolved by Marriage and
Family therapy (MFT). Moreover, they will also be sent for referral to additional services like
Alcoholics Anonymous, Rivermont ABA Program (RAP), and the Fee-Only HSC Wealth
Advisors.
Keywords: family counselling, therapy, Williams, services

PSYCHOLOGY 3
Introduction
People with high mental health needs often rely on counselling and clinic services for
help. As a community mental health counsellor, it is necessary to provide assistance to
individuals suffering from mental distress, which in turn helps in the effective management of
dysfunction (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). This case study deals with the Williams family
comprising of four members, Jeff, his wife Sandy, and their two sons Jacob and Leo. While
Jeff is recently facing financial stress due to the economic downturn, he also has a drinking
habit, which has resulted in frequent marital conflicts with Sandy. Jacob, the eldest son
suffers from Asperger’s syndrome since several years, and has of late reported social
isolation, depression, lack of social engagement, agitation, and other behavioral issues. In
addition, Jeff reacts with annoyance and irritation towards Jacob, which in turn adds to their
marital conflict. Jacob’s disorder has resulted in loneliness for the couple and they are aware
of their incapability to comprehend and understand the distress that their son is going
through. The youngest son Leo remains aloof and detached from the family and is reportedly
facing problems with his education, as manifested by his degrading grades. He has
increasingly become frustrated in recent years, thus adding to the problems. The parents also
think that their children do not get much needed assistance from their school, which has made
it more difficult for them to manage the conditions.
Issues faced by the family
Financial distress and economic hardships generally have devastating impacts on
families, as in this case. Financial pressure faced by Jeff has resulted in tough economic
times, thus making them struggle to meet the fundamental needs. Often it has been found that
males suffering from financial stress often consider themselves a failure, become ashamed
and guilt-stricken for not being able to fulfil the role of being the family’s provider (Hall,
2016). This uncontrollable situation has created a negative impact on Jeff’s marriage and his

PSYCHOLOGY 4
relationship with the sons. Alcoholism has been identified as a major issue during the
counselling sessions and it adds to the emotional and physical health problems. An analysis
of the case suggests that family members of the alcoholic father are subjected depression,
anxiety, and shame associated to the addiction of their loved one, and have also become the
victims of expressive outbursts (Haverfield & Theiss, 2016). Inappropriately, loneliness and
seclusion does little to safeguard the family members from the monetary and emotive impacts
of alcoholism. Alcohol abuse has affected the family relationship in this case since families
affected by alcohol addiction demonstrate an increased likelihood of poor expressiveness,
emotional bonding, and independence. According to Sebastian and Suja (2019) couples
comprising of at least one partner who is alcoholic have numerous negative communications
and relations, when compared to those who are not necessarily affected by alcoholism.
Moreover, it has been deduced that alcoholic nature often makes the person deny their
condition, thus minimizing the extent of drinking or its associated problems. This worsening
of conviction has harmed their relations, thus forcing Jeff and Sandy have hard feelings about
one another.
The diagnosis of development disorder like Asperger's syndrome affects all family
members in different manners. Parents generally have to transfer much resources of money
and time towards delivering interventions and treatment for the affected child, to the
elimination of other significances. Moreover, diagnosis of the disorder brings together several
stress owing to complicated schedules of therapies, family commitments and job
responsibilities. Conflict between parents is also damaging to the mental and physical health
of the children (Segrin & Flora, 2017). According to Petrou et al. (2018) parents of such
affected kids generally experience social isolation, embarrassment over behavior of the child
in public, frustration at their parenting experience, despair, anger, and guilt. Hence, it can be
stated that the developmental disorder in Jacob has added to the worries of the family.