Therapy Tutor Session

Therapy Tutor

Jenny walks into the writing center, looking upset and tired. 

Jenny:  Hi, can I see a tutor that might be able to help me with my final paper. 

Secretary:  Sure, just fill this out (hands Jenny a piece of paper) and take a seat and someone will be right with you. 

Jenny:  Okay, thank you.

Secretary:  Not a problem. 

While waiting in the chair Jenny fidgets around and can’t seem to sit still.  She can’t stop thinking about her grade depending on this paper, and how much she is struggling with it.  She zones out replaying the events that have occurred the last few days in her head and she begins to feel herself get upset.  Her tutor comes out of the back room……

Tutor:  Hello, you can come with me I’ll be tutoring you today.  Let’s go find a table somewhere and get to work. 

Jenny:  Okay sounds good to me.

Tutor:  This looks good right here.  Take a seat and let’s get to work.  How are you?

Jenny and the tutor take seat.

Jenny:  I’m good thank you, extremely stressed and this paper is adding to the stress.  I’m just having a really hard time getting my thoughts together and an even harder time getting them down on paper. 

Tutor:  Okay, well my name is Janelle and let me see what I can do to help you regarding this paper.  Do you have the prompt from your professor? 

Jenny:  Yes here it is.

Janelle:  Give me a sec, let me read over the prompt and read your paper.  Then we can see what we can do here. 

Jenny:  Fine, it’s really not that great of a paper seeing how I was up with my daughter all night with my daughter the last few days because she’s been sick.  And I just have a lot going on in my life right now.

Janelle:  No worries, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure something out together.  Sometimes it helps to have someone collaborate with you. 

Jenny sits in the chair looking very nervous and anxious.  As the tutor reads her paper, she looks on read it as well.  She is so embarrassed by her work. 

Janelle:  Okay so there some really great things going on in this paper.  Your thesis statement is excellent and so are some of your supporting ideas.  We have to work on maybe coming up with some better supporting ideas and also expanding the ones you already have down. 

Jenny:  Yeah I sort of rushed this paper.  I am definitely much more capable of producing better than this, but recently there have been a lot of things going on in my personal life, that I haven’t been able to concentrate. 

Janelle:  That is totally understandable.  Unfortunately our personal lives can’t be put on hold in order for us to concentrate on other things.  But let’s take this time right now, and see what we can come up with together. 

Jenny:  Yeah but you don’t understand, how difficult my life is right now.  I have a sick child at home, I just lost my job, and I’m barely able to make ends meet.  I just don’t think I can do this right now. 

Janelle:  Sure you can.  We are going to do this together