If Kat went to therapy...

I’m currently a grad student studying clinical mental health counseling, and my current homework assignment is to create a fictional counseling client and write about their symptoms, why they came to counseling, etc.

For your enjoyment, here are some of my notes about my “client” Kat, based on The Way Home :)

Kat sought out counseling because she has been experiencing distressing flashbacks to the disappearance and presumed death of her younger brother and the death of her father. She described the flashbacks as intense, as if she had “jumped back in time” to watch herself live through these events. Kat stated that she moved to the United States to avoid constant reminders of these losses, and since moving back to her childhood home in Canada, she has felt “haunted” by her past and the ways she might have been able to prevent both tragedies.

Kat also noted that the move to Canada has been met with resentment and anger from both her teenage daughter and her mother, with whom she has had limited contact over the past 15 years due to the constant conflict in their relationship since her brother’s disappearance. Kat reported feeling isolated, and because of her relational problems with her mother and daughter, she said that her only source of support is her next-door neighbor and childhood best friend, Elliot.