Problem
You are a social work practitioner working as a therapist with teenagers on juvenile probation. You have been working with a 16-year-old client named Kamry, for the past year. Kamry is on probation for possession of marijuana charge-she was caught at school with the drugs in her backpack. Kamry has no contact with her Mother due to severe neglect in the past as a result of Mother's drug use. Kamry has never met her Father and is currently in the custody of her maternal Aunt. As her counselor, you have been one of the only consistent adults in her life since she began services with you about a year ago. When you first began services, Kamry was resistant and building rapport and trust was challenging. You have spent a great deal of time, effort, and energy over the past year or so gaining her trust and assisting her in processing her multiple past traumas. You have worked with Kamry on issues such as peer pressure, anger management, and substance abuse.
Although she has had occasional setbacks, for the most part Kamry has made significant progress in her daily living skills, coping skills, and overall behaviors both at school and in the home environment. Kamry has improved her overall attitude and seems to be motivated to be successful in life. Kamry has a goal of becoming a teacher so she can help other kids the way her teachers have helped her. Kamry has struggled in school academically (she has an educational IEP), socially, and behaviorally (she has been suspended multiple times in the past for fighting). You have observed that over the past few months Kamry has been working hard and maintaining her treatment plan goals and has demonstrated significant and consistent progress overall. You currently see Kamry once a week for a 45-60 minute session. You see Kamry with her Aunt for family sessions as needed. You feel it is time to begin the gradual termination process with Kamry. You know that Kamry is attached to you and that you are an important person/role-model in her life. You feel that this planned termination may be difficult for Kamry so you want to be cautious in how you guide her through this phase of the helping process.
A. What are your plans for monitoring progress with the client?
B. What will you say to invite the client and her Aunt to give you feedback?
C. How will you and the client decide when to end your time together?
D. How might you prepare the client for the end of the professional relationship?
E. What could you do to help the client express her feelings about ending the relationship?
F. How will you process your own feelings about ending the relationship?
G. Write at least five things that you might say as part of ending the relationship.