Case Study: Consultee-Centered Case Approach

Case Study 3 This case study concerns a counselor who has requested consultation with a psychologist at a mental health center where are currently employed (Dougherty, 2010). The counselor is seeking help to gain knowledge on how to work with a client who is terminally ill (Dougherty, 2010). The client is in denial of her terminal illness, but continues counseling to meet her social needs (Dougherty, 2010). The client will continue to discuss issues with the counselor about everything except for death and her illness (Dougherty, 2010). The best consultant approach used for this case study is the Consultee-Centered Case Approach. I will discuss how to apply the approach to the case study and why it is the most appropriate and effective approach …show more content…
The main goal in this approach is to have the consultant help the consultee work with their client effectively (Dougherty, 2010). The consultant will listen to the consultee explain the problem with the client and gather all the information needed to form an assessment. Once the consultant reviews the information, they will consult with the consultee to make suggestions and recommendations (Dougherty, 2010). The consultant will be the educator and provide emotional and cognitive factors that are considered for the case (Dougherty, …show more content…
The psychologist will devote time for their colleague to discuss the client’s case. The psychologist will help the therapist improve the situation by developing new ways for the therapist to work with their client (Lambert, 2004). In this case, the therapist will explain to the psychologist that her client is in denial about her situation and that she does not know how to approach the issue (Lambert, 2004). Once the psychologist has reviewed and reflected on the case, the development of recommendations can begin. The psychologist will discuss what actions need to be taken to give the client the most appropriate and effective treatment. The Psychologist will offer a different perspective on the clients issue and will allow the therapist to see every side of the situation (Lambert, 2004). In this case, the psychologist may express a unique perspective on the situation, since she has suffered a similar experience with cancer. The therapist may begin to see the client is not in denial; she is worried and scared to discuss the topic of death. The therapist can take the information and recommendations and either incorporates it into therapy or rejects the advice and uses another approach (Lambert, 2004). It seems the Consultee-Center Case Approach is the most effective approach for this specific case. It allows the consultee to confide in a consultant about a clients issue and receive