Assignment:
Same Sex Couple
Case Study
Corina, a 35 year old female, and Veronica, a 37 year old female, are a lesbian couple that has been in a committed relationship for 5 years. Corina, a recovering drug addict, has not informed her family of her sexual orientation or current relationship. Veronica is a working professional and is open about her relationships. The couple is now attending counselling to address the stress and anxieties affecting their relationship, reportedly resulting from Corina's inability to be open about their relationship. Veronica also reports feeling highly anxious while Corina states that she feels depressed and on the verge of relapse.
Read the Vignette, "Couple," above, and discuss the challenges of relationship building with this couple. Also consider:
1. How would you avoid inadvertently taking sides with one over the other?
2. What specific relationship building strategies would you employ?
3. How would the fact that they are a lesbian couple impact your hypothesizing about this couple?
4. What assumptions, helpful or not, might you have about them and their relationship?