Case Scenario

As a human service professional, please review this case and answer the required questions.

Lucy is a 36-year-old married woman. She has a 12-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter. Her husband works full time and pays most of the bills. She works part-time, 15 hours or so a week, for $9.75 an hour.

Lucy reposts that her husband is abusive and that she is very unhappy in the relationship. She feels trapped because of the children and for financial reasons. She states her husband will drink alcohol to excess and then will start fighting with her “for no reason”. She states her husband is very jealous and gets angry when she talks with other people, including family members. She state he has hit her, pushed her, and kicked her. She said he can be “really sweet sometimes and she wishes “I could keep my man happy”.

She has called the police before and did not feel they were helpful. The police had her husband leave the night of the incident and he came back the next day. She states the children have been in the same room when the abuse occurred and she is concerned about this having a negative impact on the children.

Recently, she has begun to see her son have anger problems. He blames others when things do not go his way. He is defiant at times towards her and has screamed, “I don’t have to listen to you.” He has recently gotten into arguments and fights at school. She reports her daughter seems withdrawn and likes to attend an after-school program for girls where “people like me and don’t yell.”

Lucy reports she just needs someone to talk to. She states she is having a hard time “thinking straight”. She tells you she has a history of depression and self-harm. She reports she believes she is currently depressed. She states it is a secret from her husband that she is coming to seek help. She wants to keep her family together and fears if she leaves with the children that he will come to find her and hurt her. She also does not see a way she can support herself.

Answer the following questions:

What are the positives in this scenario? What are the negatives? Discuss.
What are your first concerns? In what order would you address these concerns? How would you begin to address these concerns?
Are there services or community resources that would be supportive of this situation where you live?
Are there any ethnic/cultural/ethical considerations that seem relevant? Discuss why or why not.
Write 5 open-ended questions that you would ask in this situation. Who would you address these questions to? (You can address these questions to more than one person in the scenario if applicable.)
Identify any possible transference/countertransference issues that you might deal with in this situation.