Scenario – Jane 32 years and Pete 34 years have come to you for marriage counselling saying that “they cannot communicate”. The couple met
when they were backpacking through Asia and have been married now for six (6) years and have one 6 month old son, Jake. They have been
living with Jane’s widowed mother whilst they have been saving for a deposit on an apartment for the past 18 months. Jane is still on
maternity leave from her primary school teaching position and Pete, who works in IT, is working long hours sometimes including weekend work.
They both say Jake is a ‘good baby‘ but that he doesn’t sleep more than five hours a night. Jane grew up in Sydney with her family who

originally migrated from Honk Kong when she was a baby. All of Pete’s family are in Ireland.

Task; Describe your role and

responsibilities as Jane and Pete’s counsellor from two (2) different couplelfamily therapy models (see below). Be sure to include, compare
and contrast your focus of work from both perspectives in the early stages of counselling, developmental issues the couple are facing and
the core concepts and therapy goals that would guide you.

Therapy models could be;

Cognitive Behavioural Family Therapy

Adlerian Family

Therapy

Human Validation Process Model

Symbolic-Experiential Family Therapy

Structural Family Therapy

Solution FocusedlSolution Oriented

Therapy

Post modernism Social Construction and Narratives in Family Therapy

Suggested sources;

Bitter, J. (2009) Theory and PRactice of

Family Therapy and Counseling. USA: BrookslCole

Long, L.L., & Young, ME. (2007) Counseling and Therapy for Coupes (2nd ed) USE:

BrookslCole

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling