Client Name: Erica Jones

Date of Birth: 21 August 1980

Cultural Background: Unknown

Family:

Erica lives with her partner Jim and two children Jemima (10) and Issac (2). Jim works full time on a construction project in Darwin. Erica and Jim relocated from interstate 12 months ago.  Erica works part time in a child care centre close to her home.

Presenting Issues:

Erica attended the local community centre on the advice of a friend as she had been feeling very upset. She recently discovered her partner was having difficulty at work and was on his final warning after testing positive for alcohol while at work and was sent home. Erica said she was angry with Jim as they couldn’t afford for him to lose his job and that he had been spending a lot of the family budget on alcohol, going out on the weekends to drink she had notice Jim being angry and frustrated often with the kids. Erica did not really want to tell anyone, but lately, it had started to get her down. Erica is not sure what she would like to do but has agreed to attend counselling on her own each week to talk more about it. 

YOUR TASK : What does the systems and ecological perspective assist practitioners to understand?

How could systems/ecological approaches be applied to working with Erica and her family?