Angel Z. is a 17 year-old girl who moved here from Arizona 4 years ago with her mother, Juliet D., her step-father, Kenneth D., and her 8-year-old sister, Sharon, after Kenneth was offered a job with a restaurant chain as manager of two locations. Angel has been referred for assessment by her school counselor because of failing grades and because she was caught last week selling a small amount of marijuana to a classmate. She has been suspended from school and will not be allowed back until she shows proof of having completed a drug treatment program. Angel has been assigned to a therapist who has just started working at the agency, having graduated from a local university with an MSW only a few weeks ago. This is his first job, and he is eager to make a good impression on his supervisor and rapidly build a caseload so that he can earn as much money as possible to start paying back on bills that have mounted up while he was in his internship.
When Angel arrived for her initial appointment, she was accompanied by her step-father. When Kenneth introduced himself to the therapist, the therapist realized that Kenneth is his wife’s direct supervisor at the restaurant where she works. He didn’t mention this relationship to Kenneth or Angel because he was so eager to build his caseload and since he is currently separated from his wife and. He really didn’t think that his wife’s job could make a difference in his ability to do therapy with Angel. After he had explained to Kenneth that he would need to see Angel alone to do her psychosocial, Kenneth went back into the waiting room, and Angel stayed to complete the forms. He then set up an individual therapy appointment for Friday of the following week.
Angel did not show up for the appointment the next week. The therapist realized at the end of the day that he had not made the minimum number of direct-contact hours that his supervisor expected of him for the week. As he was driving home, he used his personal cell phone to call Angel (and another client who had not come in as expected), and left her a message on her phone to call him back. About 15 minutes later, she returned his call. She was crying hysterically and said that she had had a terrible fight with her mother and was now staying at a friend’s house for a few nights. She was so upset that the therapist asked if she was thinking about hurting herself, and she said yes. He asked where she was, and it turned out that she was only one block from his house. He decided to drive there and see if he could help her.
When he arrived, Angel had calmed down somewhat. Her friend’s family was there and there was no place they couldn’t talk in private. Since it was close to dinner time, he suggested that Angel go with him to a restaurant just around the corner. Because she had no money, he bought her dinner and they talked about the fight with her mother for about an hour. He then returned her to her friend’s house with a promise that she would call her mother to tell her that she was safe, and another promise to come in for an appointment the following Monday.
Angel arrived for the appointment on time. She entered the therapist’s office, crossed the room quickly and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She also handed him a box with a ribbon on it, saying that it was a thank-you present for being there for her after her fight with her mother. She cautioned him not to open it until she was gone, though, because she wanted it to be a surprise. He worked with Angel on her conflict resolution skills that day so that she might not get so angry when she disagreed with her mother. After she left, he opened the gift and found that it was a picture of Angel in a bathing suit. The frame was obviously expensive, and the suit was extremely revealing. He put it in a drawer under some papers and tried to think how to handle the situation when she returned to her next appointment the next week.
However, Angel didn’t wait until next week to see him. Instead, she and her friend who lived a block from the therapist came to his home on Saturday offering to wash his car. Both the therapist and the girls were surprised when he opened the door and found them there. They said that they were going door to door asking neighbors for work so that they could earn some money to buy some new clothes. The therapist felt that he should support an activity that showed that Angel was trying to earn money in a healthy way and so he said they could do it and he would pay them $20. When they were done, Angel and her friend rang the door bell. He came to the door with the $20, but Angel complained that they were really hot and asked if they could come in just to cool off. The therapist didn’t want to seem cold and impersonal and so he allowed them in and brought them some water. As they sat drinking the water, Angel looked around the room and commented that it was very cozy. She asked if he was married, and he acknowledged that he is currently separated. He also told her that it is a small world and that his wife actually works for her (Angel’s) dad. They laughed at this coincidence. She then asked if that was hard for him, being separated from his wife and having to work with people who had all sorts of problems. He admitted that at times he did find it difficult being alone after having married for seven years. When she asked what had gone wrong, he realized that he was revealing too much personal information and suggested they change the subject. Shortly afterwards, Angel and her friend left.
Later that night after he had gone to bed, there was a soft knock on his bedroom window. It was Angel! She asked him if she could come in and talk. He said no, and told her to go home immediately. She started crying, saying that she thought he liked her. When the neighbor’s light next door came on because of the noise they were making, the therapist quickly let her climb in the window. She immediately embraced him, but he told her that, as attractive as she was, she was simply going to have to leave. He said he did like her, but that having her in his home was inappropriate. With her continuing to cling to him, he escorted her to the front door. She begged him for a kiss, saying that if he didn’t kiss her she was going to go home and cut herself. He agreed to one kiss and then firmly pushed her out the door.
Angel came for her appointment on Monday as scheduled. The therapist explained to her that it was not okay for her to come to his home or for her to give him gifts, and he returned the picture she had given him. She said that she understood, and they went on to do some more conflict resolution work. As she left, Angel smiled at him and said that she thought he is “just the best therapist ever” and asked if would be okay if she called him when things got difficult with her mother again. He was very flattered that she found him to be such a good therapist, and he agreed that that would be okay, thinking that she would call his business line. However, she began calling him on his personal cell phone (she had the number since he had used it to call her that first week). Now, three weeks later, she is calling six or seven times a day. If he doesn’t answer his phone, she calls the office phone and complains to the receptionist that he is not returning his calls. Last night when he left work, Angel was standing by his car waiting for him. She said that she loves him and that she knows he loves her. When he denied a love relationship with her, she said that she was going to call his boss and tell her that he had invited her into his house and took her into his bedroom. In addition, she threatened that she was also going to tell her dad to fire his wife from the restaurant.
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