Essay Instructions: Hypothetical Case Illustration
Tony Cepin
Tony Cepin is a healthy, 45 year old Hispanic male, who doesn?t like to be reminded of the fact that he is a middle age man, who has not accomplish his career goals in life and who?s biggest fear is becoming too old to complete his Master Degree. He feels that he is in a race against time because his most productive years in life are almost over and he wants to do so much more.
Most of his work experience is in hotel and tourism in Puerto Rico. There he was an assistant manager for a large four stars hotel, until the year 1990, when he return after an 18 years absent from the N.Y.C. During his first 8 years after returning to New York City, he continued working in the hotel industry. He felt so happy helping people that he thought that he would be doing the same thing until his retirement. But an opportunity to work with children in a school setting presented itself and suddenly he found himself applying in a line of work that he never thought would be of interests to him.
He is now a Family Worker at the same school that he and his siblings attended as children when they first arrived as immigrants to America in 1967. As part of his duty he works mostly with ?at risk? students and their parents. Many childhood memories arouse when he started working at this school. Some of them pleasant, most of them, very painful.
He has been working at the same school for almost 7 years and a lot of people believe that he has been successful with ?at risk? students, in strengthening the skills they need to succeed in school. One of the ways that he does this is by working closely with their parents. He has developed an excellent rapport with them and also has an ability to communicate and direct them concerning how best to help the students at home. He also makes home-visits with the purpose of improving attendance, communication and conflicts. In certain ways, he instills confidence in parents and students to face their concerns and problems. He thinks this is because he sees his family and himself reflected in most of the situations.
As for Tony, growing up he did not have many helping hands in the school system and his parents were not able to solve many of the issues that affected him and his sibling?s life. They were just seen as yet another immigrant family with a lot of barrier to work with and without the skills needed. His parents were working long hours to support the family on minimum wages. They were practically raised on there own. They attended school when they felted like it and no one missed them when they ?play hooky? and didn?t show up at school. They were all placed in Special Ed. classes, just because they did not speak the language. Tony became frustrated and as a consequence made a lot of wrong decisions.
After he was ?socially promoted? to middle school and after many complaints from school officials about his absents from school, his parents thought they found the right solution for Tony. They send him back to Puerto Rico to live with his grandmother, who was old and didn?t have enough energy to deal with his street smarts. He was his own man at the age of twelve with no one to set limits or control him. His parents also decide that Tony would not return to America if he didn?t change his ways. This desperate move on the part of Tony?s parents made him realize that he had to get an education and be more responsible if he was ever going to return to N.Y.C. to be with his immediate family.
Now that he too is a father, Tony can now understand his parent?s desperate actions and behavior during those years. They did not know better and they didn?t find any support network to help. But he still resents those years so badly because part of his childhood was without the company of his parents and siblings and now he has a distant relationship with them.
All those interruptions and waste of time in Tony?s life has created a person that has difficulties finishing tasks. It was years before he was able to get a high school diploma and even longer to graduate from college. After almost 17 years, when Tony?s son Jesse started applying for college, he felt motivated again. In 2004, he enrolled in college to pursue his Master Degree. His goal is to receive his Master Degree next year when his son graduates with a Bachelor?s Degree from a College in Massachusetts. Some times he has doubts about it because he knows it will be very difficult and some times he feels so overwhelmed. Tony also suspects that he suffers from a mild case of ADD, with would explain his difficulties finishing his task. He has never been evaluate and has never been on medication.
Tony has been married to his wife Michelle (44 years old) for 20 years now and also has a daughter name Jessica (13 years old). Tony and his wife work in the same place and her job is also related to families. He loves to help his wife and be part of every event in her life. Sometimes he feels that she does not appreciate how hard he tries and she does not realize what his real intention is. He doesn?t want to make her feel furious, he just wants to help out, but for an unknown reason, the results of his good deeds are not welcome. Some times what is meant to be a good action from his part ends up in an argument and anger that can last for days. They hurt each other, and sometimes, they don?t even remember what cause the conflict.
The quantity of relationships in Tony?s life is very limited. He doesn?t know how to cultivate and maintain friendships. Maybe it is because he prefers a private life and to dedicate his time to his immediately family. Tony loves to talk a lot but lacks listening skills. He has an extensive knowledge of social science topics, but sometimes he can not remember things that happened to him weeks before or someone?s name. He?s much disorganized and can lose concentration very easily.
Going back to his childhood, He remembers growing up in a small two bedroom apartment, living with his parents, sister and his two brothers. His father was not very open and did not speak a lot to him. In certain ways, everyone in the household was afraid of him. He never showed interested in knowing how his family was feelings. His goal was just work and put enough money together to be able to go back to Dominican Republic. They had a color TV that they were not permitted to watch, a sofa that they were not allowed to sit on. The living room was always packed with things his parents wanted to take back to their homeland to decorate their dream house. They were so busy planning their future that they hardly paid any attention to their present.
When Tony thinks back about all those moments he can justify some of his own behaviors. He has two large screen TVs, two expensive cars, expensive taste, and loves to go on vacation with his family. He believes that this is how he deals with his frustration of growing up and having been deprived as a child. He wants something different for his children. His wife?s role is to keep it real and set limits, which she often has to in order to keep Tony from overspending money.
Tony?s relationship with his mother is not the ideal one. His mother Ana is very critical of him, despite the fact that he is a very responsible and hardworking man. She does not give importance to things that happen in his life. She is so busy with everybody?s life that she missed out on his triumphs. Tony feels that because he is a middle child he has to work harder than his siblings to please her and he resents the fact that his mother treats his older brother like if he were a God. She always expects the worst from him. He always tries to help her, by buying her things, but they can not get along. They get along better when they are not around each other. Tony would like to establish a better relationship with his extended family and not feel so emotionally withdrawn from them, and is willing to undergo Psychotherapy and Counseling, but is afraid that it might be too late.
Please analyze this client using the case models of Stan and Ruth and drawing from a combination of the following therapies. (See ?Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy? by Gerald Corey.
1-Gestalt Theory and Therapy
2-Bahavioral Theory and Therapy
3-Cognitive-Behavior theory and therapy
