Wk 10 (67) - Essay Example

WK 10 (67) Assignment Beverly is a 45 year old "male to female" transgendered individual. She has gone through most of the reassignment surgery and like many transgendered individuals; her last surgery will be to remove her penis. Beverly comes to counseling because she is happy about this final move because it is finally happening. However, her wife is not. Beverly has been married fifteen years to her wife Sally as a man. Sally has no intention of being seen as a "lesbian" but she dearly loves Beverly. She has been with her and very supportive up to this time but as they move to this last surgery, Sally is either having long bouts of crying or she gets very angry with Beverly. Beverly is upset because her surgery is next week and although she will not stop it, she is not sure how to talk to Sally about this final situation.
Strategies
From the conversation it seems that Beverly is asking the counselor to help her help Sally. The first strategy may be to explore the idea that Sally is grieving the loss of someone she dearly loves. This final step is the last identification that Sally has with Beverly as a man. This is now going to go away and Sally is probably going through the various phases of grief; this would be something to explore. According to Carroll and Gilroy (2002) counselors must first understand this issue and move part their own transphobia (p. 235). Certainly a man who is turning into a woman who legally married a woman can be cause for concern for the counselor, so they would need to deal with their own problems with the situation before counseling Beverly. Carroll and Gilroy also suggest getting more information through novels, films, biographies and periodicals (p. 235). In terms of counseling a client centered approach seems to be best because many transgendered people have challenges with trust in someone who is not transgendered because of ill treatment in the past (p. 238).
Carroll, Gilroy and Ryan (2002) suggest that counselors should also have a growing knowledge of terminology that is evolving in the transgendered community along with "local, regional and national support networks (p. 134). This information can assist the client and give more information.
Assignment 2
Mark is a 35 year old male of mixed heritage. His father was black and American Indian and his mother identifies as "white" because her parents were Jamaican and Scotch Irish. Mark grew up in a home where he had no real understanding of any heritage because his family did not identify with any one group. As Mark grew older and left the family he has tried to interact with African Americans but he could not find a real way to fit in. Mark comes to counseling because he has been married twice to very successful African American woman and after a few years they want a divorce. He never really understands the problems, but he does feel that he wants to understand more. Reynolds and Pope (1991) suggest that biracial men may have more difficulty overcoming social barriers because they can appear more threatening than biracial woman. One strategy might be to talk with Mark about how he feels the oppression that he has been under. He may be feeling the affects of oppression without knowing it. "According to Afrocentric epistemology, self-knowledge is the basis of all knowledge" (Reynolds and Pope, p. 176). This could be an area that Mark needs to explore in order to understand himself better. Hurley, Jolivette, McCormick,. and Tice (2002) suggest that since the dominant culture creates all the "rules" and that many are aware of the problems of racism, classism and so forth, the do not do anything about these situation (p. 219). Mark may be having challenges in this area because of racism and classism but may not know it and this could be a bearing on his relationship.
References
Carroll, L., & Gilroy, P. J. (2002). Transgender issues in counseling preparation. Counselor Education & Supervision, 41(3), 233–242. Retrieved October 7, 2005, from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database. Accession Number: 6334785.
Carroll, L., Gilroy, P.J. and Ryan, J. (2002). Counseling transgendered, transsexual and gender-variant clients. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80 (2), p. 131- 139. Retrieved August 2, 2009 from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database. AN: 6815269.
Hurley, D.A., Jolivette, K., McCormick, K. and Tice, K. (2002). Race, class and gender: A constellation of positionalities with implications for counseling. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development. 30, Retrieved August 3, 2009 from Read More