Case of Matt: Matt is a 44-year-old man with three children, a spouse, and a job in finance. He comes to you for counseling to discover a way to free himself from the “shackles” of his meaningless job and normality. Matt Explains: “I you wanted, I guess you could infer that I am going through somewhat of an identity crisis. Every day is the same and I feel like I need to take action and do something about it, I am simply not happy. Anyone would expect that a person my age would already be settled into a career and family life and be happy, but my job is horrible. I believe most of my dissatisfaction comes from working at that stupid place. I have worked at the firm since graduating college. Every day is the same, I sit in my cell (a.k.a., cubical) and generate reports. As usual, every day I am asked to stay late. Almost every weekend, I am asked to come in on Saturday. My bosses continually waive the possibility of promotion over my head if I work hard for the company, but nothing happens. Did I mention that I have four different bosses to answer to every day. That means four different people to tell me what to do, what I did wrong, and to stay late every day. I am fed up. I feel like that guy in the move office space, I just want to smash up their printer with a baseball bat (not really, but it is fun to think about). The conservative part of me says I must stay and put up with what you’ve got because that is what a man does! Then another side of me says leave and find something else more fulfilling. I’m really torn whether I should stay or leave. I keep thinking of my kids. I feel I should support them and see them through college—and if I go to another job I’ll have to take a big pay cut. I feel guilty about even thinking of letting my kids down when they expect me to see them through. And then my wife tells me I should just accept that what I’m feeling is normal for my age—a midlife crisis, she calls it. She says I should get rid of foolish notions about making a job change at my age. Then there’s always the fear that I would quit and never find a new job. I don’t know what to do, help! When working with clients/students it is important that we as counselors are purposeful with our words, use of skills, use of techniques, and our exhibited behaviors. Theory is what helps to guide how we conceptualize client situations and work with our clients and students. Each week, we will introduce you to a small handful of different theoretical approaches. For each weekly assignment (weeks 1-4) you will be provided a case scenario. You will also be offered the opportunity to choose which theoretical approach (covered in class that week) to apply to the case scenario. Ch 12 Narrative Therapy Ch 13 Solution Focused Brief Therapy Ch 14 Relational-Cultural Therapy