Case Presentation Form for Individual Counseling Sessions

Christina Walter
Background Information: Alexis is a 14 year-old Caucasian female living in Bellevue,
WA. Her family has a middle socioeconomic status and she lives with her Mother (who
is expecting a baby in January), her younger sister, brother and stepfather. Alexis has no
contact with her biological father but appears to have a good relationship with both her
mother and stepfather. Alexis is in her first year at Interlake High School as a ninth grade
student and has an I.E.P with targeted goals in Math. She is currently taking a block
Algebra 1 class to meet her I.E.P. goals but is enrolled in standard level classes during the
rest of her day. She has a severe allergy to lactose and has difficulty controlling her
consumption of dairy which may have contributed to her struggles with attendance in the
past.
Session Information: My fourth meeting with Alexis occurred on Thursday the 9th of
October and it lasted about 35 minutes.

S.O.A.P. Notes
I have been working with Alexis for four weeks as a result of an experience she
had with a boy in her math class (Juan), who was harassing her via text and
Facebook at the beginning of the year. She was feeling extremely uncomfortable
and unsure of how to handle the situation. We have been working with her
teachers and the Dean of Students to ensure her safety at school. During this
particular session we addressed an issue surrounding a substitutes announcement
in class about the need for Alexis to sit away from Juan. Alexis described the
situation as so awkward and looked down frequently when describing the
situation, appearing to be embarrassed about what the substitute had said. Alexis
expressed interest in discussing the situation with her teacher when she returned
but was concerned about her language being too harsh.
When Alexis entered this session she was dressed neatly with newly dyed green
hair. She appeared comfortable as we talked and smiled often. As I asked her
questions about what she could do to advocate for herself she giggled, smiled and
looked down, appearing to be unsure and anxious. She continued to express
concern about finding a balance between advocating for herself while not
sounding disrespectful to adults.
I believe that Alexis struggles with low self-esteem and often searches for
validation in adults and peers, especially males. This need may stem from the fact
that her biological father left her family when she was very young. When she
struggles academically or socially at school it appears that her coping mechanism
is to stay home. Although her parents appear very supportive and encouraging
about academics, I do wonder about the messages Alexis receives at home about
missing school as most of her absences are excused. Alexiss struggles need to
be addressed immediately as she is missing school, failing classes and having
struggles forming healthy relationships with her male peers.

As I continue to work with Alexis, the counseling plan will involve different
methods for helping her examine her self-confidence as well as improving the
way she sees her role in both in her family and at school. As I believe that her
poor attendance is a direct reflection of her low self-esteem, I will measure
improvement using her attendance record. Last year she was absent for 27% of
her classes so her goal is to only miss 10% of classes this year. As her primary
struggle is making it to first period each day we have created a plan where if she
makes it to first period each day she and her mom will have a date on Friday
evening of that week. In the last two weeks, she has attended 80% of her first
period classes and received one reward from her mom. This plan will involve
two levels of intervention: the counselor and advocacy. I will work with Alexis
every other week, keep in contact with her mom about the progress and advocate
for contact between Alexis and her teachers.

Multicultural Factors
Alexis and her family have been greatly affected by her mother and fathers divorce when
she was younger. Alexis and her mom struggled financially, moved to several different
cities and lived with family members because they could not afford a home of their own.
As soon as her mother met Alexiss current stepfather, their financial troubles lessened
and Alexiss mother was able to get back on her feet, go back to school and secure a job
as a chef at a local restaurant. I believe that this experience has instilled the belief in
Alexis that having a husband/boyfriend equals stability and that is why she pursues
relationships with male peers more than female when she feels insecure.
Counseling Theory
In my work with Alexis I use a Solution focused theoretical approach. This approach will
hopefully encourage her to embrace her strengths and use these strengths to obtain clear,
reasonable goals. Although this session does involve a great deal of processing regarding
an incident with a teacher, I use questions such as what was different? and what could
you do? in hopes of highlighting her positive traits and reframing situations that may
contribute to a negative self-esteem. Although I did not use it in this particular session I
have used the Miracle Question with Alexis to help her imagine her ideal school
experience.
Success and Improvements
In this session I was happy with the strong rapport I have developed with this student, the
questions I asked and my challenge regarding her absences this week. In the future I will
work on the objectivity in my tone when discussing a teacher as I believe I can across as
too opinionated. In addition I will continue to work on my ability to challenge her and
also implement more of a solution focused approach, as this session involved a lot of
processing that took up a great deal of time.