Case Vignette
Bill and Leslie, both African American and in their mid 30’s, married for 7 years, came in to counseling to work on their marriage. Bill is an attorney working approximately 70 hours a week while Leslie is the director of consumer services for a large telephone company. They have 2 children ages 3 and 5. Bill has another child from his prior marriage, in which he rarely has any contact, but pays child support. Leslie is very supportive of the situation.. Leslie is concerned about Bill spending a lot of time with his female clients and arriving home at night, which lead her to feel unappreciated. She also wishes that Bill would take on more responsibility around the house and with the children. Both are feeling very frustrated about what 's going or what 's not going on between the two of them. Bill wants better communication and wants Leslie to be more understanding of what he …show more content…
E., & Murray, T. L., 2004).
One way of doing this is by asking a miracle question. A miracle question consists of asking the clients, “If you go home tonight and wake up tomorrow and all your problems went away, what would be the first small clue to know that something is different? The problem is gone. How will you discover this?” The miracle question helps to elicit information about each partner 's vision for the marriage (Murray, C. E., & Murray, T. L., 2004).
When this question was asked, the couple went from arguing to laughing and more at ease. Bill responds by saying that he will wake up smiling and Leslie would add Bill putting his arm around her stating that this behavior would be a miracle at this point of their lives. This will help them create a vision of what they want their marriage to look like and start getting clues to see what will it take to get to their goal. (O 'Connell,
Bill and Leslie, both African American and in their mid 30’s, married for 7 years, came in to counseling to work on their marriage. Bill is an attorney working approximately 70 hours a week while Leslie is the director of consumer services for a large telephone company. They have 2 children ages 3 and 5. Bill has another child from his prior marriage, in which he rarely has any contact, but pays child support. Leslie is very supportive of the situation.. Leslie is concerned about Bill spending a lot of time with his female clients and arriving home at night, which lead her to feel unappreciated. She also wishes that Bill would take on more responsibility around the house and with the children. Both are feeling very frustrated about what 's going or what 's not going on between the two of them. Bill wants better communication and wants Leslie to be more understanding of what he …show more content…
E., & Murray, T. L., 2004).
One way of doing this is by asking a miracle question. A miracle question consists of asking the clients, “If you go home tonight and wake up tomorrow and all your problems went away, what would be the first small clue to know that something is different? The problem is gone. How will you discover this?” The miracle question helps to elicit information about each partner 's vision for the marriage (Murray, C. E., & Murray, T. L., 2004).
When this question was asked, the couple went from arguing to laughing and more at ease. Bill responds by saying that he will wake up smiling and Leslie would add Bill putting his arm around her stating that this behavior would be a miracle at this point of their lives. This will help them create a vision of what they want their marriage to look like and start getting clues to see what will it take to get to their goal. (O 'Connell,