Week 5: Microskills Scenario

Laura is a relatively new client who presented with a reduced level of motivation and difficulty concentrating at her job. She has experienced difficulty falling asleep and has been eating more junk food than usual. Laura shared that she has some doubts about her ability to work at the same level as others in her department; these feelings increased after a recent promotion which required her to relocate. She sees herself as typically not needing help and as the “one who gets things done,” so her loss of motivation is quite distressing to her. She described herself as someone who is usually taking care of others. This tendency was fostered in her family of origin due to her parents’ spending a lot of time outside of the home in their jobs, which left Laura to take on a lot of parenting duties with her two younger siblings.

During the most recent session, Laura focused on her relationship with her partner, Tamara. Tamara is still living in the city where they met, which is a three-hour drive from where Laura is now living for her new position. She disclosed that Tamara has a history of cheating on her partners and also blaming them for not fulfilling her needs. Laura wants to set boundaries with her because she needs more time for herself and her job, but she worries that if she does not give Tamara enough time, Tamara will cheat on Laura. Laura also noted that about a month ago, Tamara lied to her about where she was going, and Laura found out through someone else that Tamara was at a sporting event with a woman she dated in the past. When Laura confronted Tamara about this, she justified it by saying that it was innocent. Tamara said she did not tell Laura because she did not want Laura’s feelings to get hurt. Ultimately, Laura believes that no matter what she does or how much she tries to meet Tamara’s needs, if Tamara does not work through this issue for herself, she may still look outside the relationship to get some needs met. At the end of the session, Laura said it felt really good to talk about this issue. She has been thinking about it a lot but did not want to talk to friends because she did not want them to look at or treat Tamara differently and because she did not want her friends to think that they were having problems. But it has been on her mind, and she felt very good about being able to talk about her concerns in therapy.

Post by Day 4 a brief description of the three skills you selected. Then, provide an example of how you might use each skill with the client in the scenario. Include a sample statement for each skill that demonstrates what you might say to the client in the scenario. Support your Discussion assignment with specific resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.