CASE EXAMPLE

 

Nadia is a 13-year-old European American girl who has been referred by her music teacher to the school counselor for possible participation in the Changing Families Support Group. Although Nadia has always excelled in school and actively participated in extracurricular activities, she has had a more difficult time concentrating in school and during her choir rehearsals over the past few months. When the school counselor inquires how things are going,

 

Nadia reports she has a close relationship with her mother whom she describes as “my best friend.” She also reports getting along well with her 14-year-old brother. She, however, has mixed feelings about her father, who recently separated from her mother, moved to another state, and has contacted her and her brother only through an occasional text message. On one hand, on a day-to-day basis the house is more peaceful and Nadia need not worry about her father’s being verbally abusive to her mother after drinking too much alcohol. On the other hand, without her father’s contributions to the household income, money is extremely tight. The sudden decrease in income seems all the more pronounced in their upper-middle-class neighborhood. Being too embarrassed to admit her family’s financial concerns, she has been declining her friends’ recent invitations to shop or to see a movie, so her friendships are a bit strained.

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS