increasingly nervous as she anticipated Victor's next accusation. She believed herself to be at fault, not giving him enough time and attention, and she tried even harder to convince him that she loved him. This caused him to doubt her more since he suspected that she was "buttering him up" to keep him from checking on her.
Denise reported that she begged Victor to get counseling but he refused and maintained that he was not the one with the problem. At this point, Victor's anger became more enraged and he hit Denise in the face causing a black eye. Denise felt that this was the last straw and she left Victor to stay at a friend's house. She obtained an order of protection against Victor and pursued a divorce. She sought counseling and called a local domestic violence hotline where she was referred to the present counseling situation. Denise stated that she felt she was to blame for Victor's behavior; she did not understand that she was a victim. She stated that her goals for counseling are to help understand what she could have done differently so that she won't make the same mistakes again.
The client's goals for therapy did not include the notion that she had been a victim, in fact she had the goal of becoming more "perfect" than ever. In addition, Denise made no mention of needing to deal with or overcome psychological distress resulting from all that had been experienced. This differed from the goals of the therapist, who saw Denise as a victim with needs to overcome resulting pain as well as behaviors that contribute to this tendency. The differences between the client's and the therapist's goals were discussed along with the notion that empowering the client was the ultimate goal of therapy.
Social work, as in this case, is characterized by encounters with individuals who have been exposed to hazardous or threatening life events, resulting in a crisis. For the assessment of Denise, crisis theory is used...