Identify One Member Of The Vargas Family Whose Dominant Stor ✓ Solved

Identify one member of the Vargas family whose dominant stor

Identify one member of the Vargas family whose dominant story could use some rewriting. Read the workshop notes on Reauthoring Conversations. Part 1: In words, write a counseling note for the client’s file. In this note, describe any exceptions to the problem that you have identified and develop scaffolding questions to ask the client in your next session, one in their landscape of action and one in their landscape of identity. Part 2: Put yourself in the client’s shoes and, as the client, write a reauthoring version of their story that is words in length. It should incorporate the exceptions and responses to the scaffolding questions from Part 1. Use narrative language when applying this reauthoring technique. Please use new assignment templates for APA 7th edition. For journal articles, do not include date in references.

Paper For Above Instructions

Part 1 — Counseling Note (Client File)

Client: Sofía Vargas (pseudonym)

Date: [session date]

Presenting concern: Sofía, a 17-year-old daughter of the Vargas family, reports a persistent sense that she is “a disappointment” and “not good enough,” which she says drives social withdrawal, avoidance of school leadership roles, low mood, and self-critical internal dialogue. She attributes this dominant story to repeated negative feedback from family members and recent academic stressors. The dominant problem-story appears to be problem-saturated: Sofía’s identity is organized around failure and shame.

Session summary: In the current session I elicited Sofía’s description of the problem story, explored its origins, and used externalizing language to separate Sofía from the problem (e.g., “the critic” or “the disappointment-story”). We mapped exceptions to the dominant story by asking about times when Sofía acted differently or felt differently than the story predicted.

Exceptions identified: Sofía described several concrete exceptions that contradict the dominant story. These included: (1) volunteering to lead a small group at a school club last semester and receiving praise from peers for thoughtful facilitation; (2) calming a younger cousin during a family crisis by listening and offering practical help; (3) receiving a positive comment from a teacher on a recent essay about resilience; and (4) times when she resisted self-critical thoughts by reminding herself of concrete achievements (e.g., a completed community project). These exceptions suggest abilities and values (leadership, empathy, persistence) that are obscured by the problem-saturated identity.

Clinical formulation: Using a narrative therapy lens, Sofía’s dominant story (“I am a disappointment”) is a constructed narrative shaped by relational responses and internalized criticism; it is not an inevitable truth. Exceptions show that Sofía possesses skills and preferred qualities that constitute the beginnings of a preferred story. Reauthoring work can elevate these exceptions into an alternate narrative, consolidating agency and preferred identity (White & Epston, 1990; Morgan, 2000).

Assessment: Sofía is engaged, reflective, and able to provide concrete examples (exceptions). She demonstrates motivation to explore alternate narratives and is responsive to externalizing language. Risk assessment: no active suicidal ideation reported; no immediate safety concerns.

Intervention and plan: Continue reauthoring conversations, document exceptions, explore social supports that recognize Sofía’s preferred values, and plan small, scaffolded behavioral experiments to increase evidence for the preferred story (e.g., repeat small leadership tasks). Incorporate family sessions later to reframe family narratives that have contributed to the problem story.

Scaffolding questions for next session (to invite reauthoring and expand exceptions):

• Landscape of action (practical behaviors): "Tell me about the last time you stepped into a role and surprised yourself — what exactly did you do, and what did others notice? What steps did you take, even small ones, that made that moment possible?"
• Landscape of identity (who I am): "When you are at your calmest and most helpful self (for example, when you helped your cousin), who are you in that moment? What does that version of you say about the kind of person you are becoming?"

Therapeutic tasks for client: Record daily one small action or response that contradicts the ‘disappointment’ story; bring one written note from a supportive person (peer or teacher) to discuss in the next session; try a planned, brief leadership action in a safe setting and report outcomes.

Part 2 — Reauthoring Story (Client Voice)

I used to think I lived inside a glass box labeled “disappointment.” Everything I tried felt fragile and likely to shatter. At school, my voice would shrink in meetings; at home, I kept my praise to myself because I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging or, worse, fail later. That story had been rehearsed so long it sounded like truth.

But there are nights and afternoons that don’t fit that picture. Last spring I agreed, trembling, to lead a small breakout at our environmental club. I was nervous, yes, but I prepared questions, I listened to each person when they spoke, and I noticed how people leaned in. Afterward my friend told me I had made the discussion feel safe and interesting. That moment didn’t erase my fear, but it did show me that my hands can steady a conversation and that other people can feel better because I brought them together.

Another time, my little cousin was shaking in my aunt’s kitchen after a fight with a friend. I sat with him, asked what happened, and I didn’t try to fix everything — I just helped him breathe and find one small thing he could do next. He calmed down and hugged me. My aunt later said I had a way with him. In the rush of shame I had previously ignored that warmth, but it was real: I could help someone feel safer.

When I read my essay back to myself after my teacher’s note — "thoughtful reflections on resilience" — I felt something shift. I had written about falling apart and then finding ways to put things back together. That sounds like someone who knows how to rebuild, not someone who only fails. Those things are not accidents; they point to who I am: a person who listens, who prepares, who steadies others, who keeps going when things are hard.

I am beginning to see that the ‘disappointment’ label covers up other words that belong to me. Words like careful, dependable, and observant. If I had to name a version of myself I want to strengthen, it would be the one who shows up to small things and completes them, who practices leadership in tiny, doable steps, and who treats herself with the same patience she gives others. I am allowed to carry both fear and courage; they can coexist and teach one another. The moments I have led a group, soothed my cousin, or earned a teacher’s praise are not one-offs — they are threads I can weave into a different story.

From this new place I can try again. I can plan a short role at the next club meeting: prepare two questions and invite one peer to co-facilitate. If my heart races, that’s okay — my hands have held a conversation before. I can keep a small notebook of moments where I acted in line with who I want to be, and when the old critic says, “You’ll mess up,” I can show it the notebook. My life is not a glass box; it’s a patchwork of moments where I have been kinder, stronger, and more steady than I believed. That is the story I want to tell — not because it erases fear, but because it remembers the truth of what I already do.

Clinical rationale

This reauthoring narrative mobilizes exceptions into a coherent alternative story and scaffolds future actions that provide new evidence for identity change (White & Epston, 1990; Morgan, 2000). The landscape-of-action question prompts concrete behavioral experiments while the landscape-of-identity question cultivates preferred identity statements that support sustained change (Madigan, 2011; Denborough, 2014).

References

• White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. W. W. Norton & Company.
• White, M. (2007). Maps of narrative practice. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Morgan, A. (2000). What is narrative therapy? Dulwich Centre Publications.
• Madigan, S. (2011). Narrative therapy. American Psychological Association.
• Freedman, J., & Combs, G. (1996). Narrative therapy: The social construction of preferred realities. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Denborough, D. (2014). Retelling the stories of our lives: Everyday narrative therapy to draw inspiration and transform experience. Dulwich Centre Publications.
• White, M. (1995). Re-authoring lives: Interviews and essays. Dulwich Centre Publications.
• Andersen, T. (1991). The reflecting team: Dialogue and meta-communication in clinical practice. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Epston, D. (1994). Co-research: The making of an unlikely alliance. Dulwich Centre Publications.
• Carey, M., & Russell, S. (2003). Re-authoring conversations in family therapy. Dulwich Centre Publications.