Case Study assignment

Write up a case study, between half a page and one page, about a difficult situation you have
personally known in the past. This situation should have occurred over 5 years ago. Change
all names of people and all means of identifying the people involved. You may change the
location and the gender of someone, so long as the changes still keep the main problem clear.
If there was no one to help with counseling or any advice at that time, you can use your
imagination to make up someone that the key person with the problem was likely to have
spoken to.

We will use the case studies in Counseling Families Across the Stages of Life as models to
show you how to write up your case study and how to write about it.

Describe the main characteristics of the people and the difficult situation. Then describe a
conversation (which you might remember or which you imagine might have happened)
between the key person with the problem and someone else. This other person may have been
wise or unwise.

We will then use the following sections in the case studies in Counseling Families...

Pastoral Assessment – in your case study, the person spoken to may not have been a pastor
but may have been a relative or a friend or someone else, whether in the church or not in the
church. Write about that person and whether they had any background or understanding that
might have been relevant to this problem.

Relevant History – write about any other relevant background for the key person with the
problem or their primary relationships or history.

Diagnostic Criteria – what have you have now learnt about this problem that you did not
know at that time?

Response – What might be helpful in this situation? Was the ‘counselor’ in your case study
helpful to the key person with the problem? Why or why not?

You do not need to write anything for the other categories in Counseling Families...

Total length: Between 2.5 and 3.5 pages.

Due 9am Tuesday 9 am 29th February.