Assessment Brief
Program Bachelor of Applied Social Science
Subject Evaluating Approaches to Counselling
Subject code COU303A
Name of assessment Assessment 3: Case study and reflection
Length 2500 words
Learning outcomes addressed by this assessment: A, C, D, E
Submission Date: End of week 11, Sunday 11.55 pm
Assessment brief summary: Students are required to write an essay based on one or both of the provided case studies exploring the choices available to persons seeking support for mental health issues. Students are to reflect on the social construction of psychotherapy and what the issues raised in the provided case studies mean for the professional role.
Total marks 50
Weighting 50%
Students are advised that any submissions past the due date incur a 10% penalty per day, calculated from the total mark e.g. a task marked out of 40 will incur a 4 mark penalty per day.
Students must attempt all tasks in the unit to be eligible to pass the unit.
More information can be found in Think Education Assessment Policy document on the Think Education website (http://www.think.edu.au).
BASS - COU303A Assessment Brief 3 Page 1
Assessment Description:
Students are required to write an essay based on one or both of the provided case studies exploring the choices available to persons seeking support for mental health issues. Students are to reflect on the social construction of psychotherapy and what the issues raised in the provided case studies mean for the professional role.
In this essay you are required to reflect on the social construction of psychotherapy as a profession. Who gets left on the margins in terms of access to services and appropriateness of provision in Australia today? What does that mean for you as a therapist when you are faced with clients whose experience is different from your own?
Marking Criteria:
Max. in category Your points
Answering the question and responding to the topic 30
Links to theories and concepts 10
Number and choice of appropriate references 4
Word count, readability, and structure 3
In-text references and reference list, accuracy and use of correct referencing style 3
Total: 50
Comments:
Case Study 1
Rodney is very satisfied with himself. He has a successful practice as a psychologist, a beautiful wife and two loving children.
His practice is expanding but he thinks he can do better. He just went for a walk in the trendy part of town. His practice is located nearby and he notices a lot of gay friendly places. He starts thinking that if he can make his office ‘’gay friendly’’ he can increase his visibility in the community and gain more customers.
So he talks to his secretary, Miss Lurie, about his idea. Maybe they should advertise in gay friendly newspapers? Put rainbow stickers on the door? Subscribe to a few magazines that can be of interest to the LGBTI community?
‘’What do you think Miss Lurie?” he asks. Miss Lurie nods, smiles and thinks… ‘’these are all good ideas but if he wants to be LGBTI inclusive why doesn’t he start acknowledging my partner, Rose? Why doesn’t he stop telling homophobic jokes at the Christmas Party and stop talking about bisexual people as if they would have sex with anybody? Until he starts recognising the importance of increasing his knowledge of LGBTI people he will not get any returning clients’’… but ’Great idea boss’’, she says.
Case study 2
Sandra has been a counsellor for 4 years and she really loves her work. She has done some training around LGBTI people and is a member of the community herself.
Three months ago she accepted a new client, Akan, a 22 years old woman from Burma. Akan has challenged many of Sandra’s beliefs and made her realize that we never stop learning.
Akan came to Australia 8 months ago as a refugee. She has lived most of her life in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. She is a Rohingya and has known persecution and hardship all her life.
Akan was referred to Sandra by a social worker from a settlement service. She is uncertain about her sexuality and has previously seen another counsellor but the experience was not a positive one. Akan did not want to see a counsellor from her own community (even in the event that one could be found) and did not want an interpreter present.
Akan has mixed feelings about sexuality and sexual attraction and Sandra has had to learn a lot about Rohingya culture in order to understand. After many sessions it becomes clear that Akan has an attraction to both man and women but because of her beliefs and background finds this difficult to accept. She has a boyfriend and at the moment does not wish to change this situation. Sandra has had to improve her own knowledge of bisexuality and of Akan’s culture in order to offer effective counselling.
Her humble approach to the case and the knowledge that she did not know everything has contributed to her success. Sandra consulted books and did extra training to bridge the gaps in her understanding of bisexuality and spoke with refugee advocate and other refugees to understand where Akan came from.
These scenarios are excerpts from the following document:
Mars, M., Morris, S., Marchesiello, B. (2013) Cultural Competency Implementation Framework: Achieving Inclusive Practice with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex (LGBTI) Communities, National LGBTI Health Alliance. Sydney, Australia.
http://www.lgbtihealth.org.au/sites/default/files/Cultural%20Competancy%20Implementation%20Frame work.pdf
What we want to see:
The work must be fully referenced with in-text citations and a reference list at the end. We recommend you work with your Academic Writing Guide to ensure that you reference correctly. You will find a link to this document on the main page of every unit, under the 'Assessments' section. Correct academic writing and referencing are essential tasks that you need to learn. We recommend a minimum of ten references.
Referencing: References are assessed for their quality. You should draw on quality academic sources, such as books, chapters from edited books, journals etc. Your textbook can be used as a reference, but not the Study Guide and lecture notes. We want to see evidence that you are capable of conducting your own research. Also, in order to help markers determine students’ understanding of the work they cite, all in-text references (not just direct quotes) must include the specific page number/s if shown in the original.
Researching: You can search for peer-reviewed journal articles, which you can find in the online journal databases and which can be accessed from the library homepage. Reputable news sites such as The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/au/health), online dictionaries and online encyclopedias are acceptable as a starting point to gain knowledge about a topic. Government departments, research institutes such as the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and local not for profit organisations such as the Cancer Council are also good resources.
Formatting: The assessment MUST be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format. Other formats may not be readable by markers. Please be aware that any assessments submitted in other formats will be considered LATE and will lose marks until it is presented in Word.
What we don’t want to see:
Plagiarism: All sources of information need to properly be acknowledged. Please refer to the plagiarism website on blackboardi. By clicking the 'Upload this file' button you acknowledge that you have read, understood and can confirm that the work you are about to submit complies with the Flexible and Online plagiarism policy as shown in the JNI Student Handbook. Like other forms of cheating plagiarism is treated seriously. Plagiarising students will be referred to the Program Manager.
Word Count: Marks will be deducted for failure to adhere to the word count – as a general rule you may go over or under by 10% than the stated length.
Late Submissions: Students are advised that any submissions past the due date incur a 10% penalty per day, calculated from the total mark e.g. a task marked out of 30 will incur 3 marks penalty per day.
No submission: Students must attempt all tasks to be eligible to pass the unit.
More information can be found in Think Education Assessment Policy document on the Think Education website.
Resources Available to YOU:
1. Academic writing guide link https://laureate-
au.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_20163_1&c ontent_id=_2498847_1&mode=reset
2. Writing & referencing: The link to the Learning and Academic Skills Unit (LASU) is on the left pulldown menu on the blackboard home page:
https://laureate-
au.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_20163_1&c ontent_id=_2498847_1&mode=reset
LASU also provides a series of academic skills tutorials. Please contact Caroline Spaans (cspaans@laureate.net.au, 02 949 232 14).
3. Researching: A guide to researching is available on the library page http://library.th nk.edu.au/research_skills/.
Please contact the online and Pyrmont librarian for Health, Dawn Vaux
(dvaux@laureate.net.au) if you would like further help or a tutorial on how to do research this way.