Please read the case study below and answer the following (300 word max): What biological issue stands out as potentially important in counselling when working with John? What would you address with John? Using Chapter 2 of Slay-Westbrook (2017), readings from Pinel and Barnes (2021), as well as the reading from Shebib (2020), what possible issues of trauma, hurt, or grief may be uncovered and how would you be impacted personally?
Also, be aware of the description “Canadian Male”, what does this cause you to think, and how might you need to explore what this actually means?
John (he/him) comes in for his first
counselling session. John is 38 years old and has been with his partner for 12
years. They adopted two boys: one is four years old and the other is seven
years old. John identifies as a Canadian male and his partner identifies as a
Chinese male.
John has three siblings, one older sister and
two younger brothers. His parents often compare him to his siblings and make
sure he knows just how far short he has fallen in pleasing them. John remembers
his father being distant and often not at home, usually working, and his mother
drinking a lot until he was about twenty-two.
When John and his partner decided to live
together, John’s family somewhat accepted them as a couple. His partner’s
family accepted John and the children; however, they disapprove of their son’s
decision to be in this relationship with John.
In your second session, John discloses that
he is bisexual and perhaps he chose “the wrong sex” to be with. He
finds his partner to be overbearing and controlling. John shares that he is sad
a lot of the time, feels fatigued and could stay in bed most days. He sleeps
over ten hours per day and has recently been missing work. John’s colleagues at
work view him as lazy based upon his ethnicity. John is dissatisfied with his
relationship and is stuck with how to handle it. He does not know what he wants
or what to do.
Please Note: Some of the language in this
scenario is designed to cause you to think and question what the client is
saying or how the client is being described. For example, John’s expression of
thinking that they are confused about their sexual orientation as perhaps being
“the wrong sex” is how a client would express themself to you. This
is not in keeping with the proper way to express this however we want you to
experience such language so you can determine how it triggers you and or
perhaps how you would react to John. (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/sexual-orientation).