Special Population

Question 1

Anita is a 23-year-old international student from India. She comes from a middle class family in South India. Anita has just completed her first semester in a social sciences program at a mid-sized university in the southern United States. Anita lives alone and finds herself in tears a lot. She is the first member of her family to come to the United States for higher studies. Her parents and her cousins helped to pay for her application fees and other expenses, such as an airplane ticket to the United States. The only reason she was able to attend the university was that she was offered a full scholarship with tuition waiver. Since her arrival at the university, Anita has found that she feels very lonely. She is not sure to whom she can talk. She happened to mention her “crying” to one of her fellow American students in passing. The student suggested that Anita use the university counseling center.

The concept of counseling is somewhat foreign to Anita. Because she has no one to talk to, she has decided to make a visit to the counseling center. She is very apprehensive about talking to a stranger about her problem. In addition, she is also afraid that the “American” counselor may not understand her concerns. Anita is even afraid that communication, due to language and different accents, might be a problem. During her first meeting with her counselor, who is a European American male, Anita is asked to share personal information about her relationships and whether she is sexually active. Anita finds these questions to be very inappropriate and is somewhat offended and embarrassed by them.

After considering Anita’s situation, prepare a 1-2 page written response to the following:

1. If you were Anita’s counselor, what strategies would you use to build rapport with her?
2. Describe key characteristics of the case as it related to South Asian values.