Case Study from Mosac Clinical Services Manager:

Here is such a story from a Mosac Clinical Services Manager…

Client C is a 32-year-old woman and mother of one. 

Client C had approached Mosac after her daughter had been removed from her by a court and given to her ex-husband who was also the biological father and the alleged abuser of her child.

Client C was allowed supervised access weekly to her child. 

The courts and social services had determined that the mother, Client C, was not telling the truth and that her accusations were malicious and untrue. 

The initial counselling assessment was highly charged, and client C was in severe distress although still able to give a detailed account of what had led to her contacting Mosac. 

I assessed Client C and found her to be a warm, intelligent thoughtful person and agreed therapy could take place immediately with an experienced counsellor.

The Therapy: 

Client C was offered a year’s therapy (our standard offer) at Mosac attending sessions once a week during term times. 

During the initial few weeks of therapy it transpired that her child was making fresh allegations to a teacher at school regarding her father. 

Both the experienced therapist and I found Client C to be trustworthy, thoughtful, and determined to place her daughter’s needs above her own. 

During what was an incredibly challenging time when her child was revealing further abuse, including allegations of the father raping another woman in front of the child, Client C worked through her difficult feelings with her therapist in an emotional, open and undefended manner. 

The client’s counselling sessions leading up to the Christmas break were extremely difficult, as the child was due to be interviewed again by the police.

And social services had by now, recognised that the father’s home was an unsafe place to be. 

They placed Client C’s 6-year-old child into foster care, pending further investigation and social service reports. 

This meant that the child was in foster care over Christmas and the New Year.

The bond created by the therapist with Client C was important and extremely holding. 

It became a safe space for her to talk through all her fears, worry and trauma. 

This allowed her to be stronger when she saw her child and to be more resilient when talking with her lawyers and attending all the court dates that she had to endure. 

A few weeks after Christmas and after many lengthy court dates to consider the case, the judge in family court issued a very rare apology to Client C and returned her daughter back to her with full custody.

Client C returned to the therapy room after the two weeks away at legal proceedings.

She was able to recognise that although she had her child back, the repercussions of the last few months were so huge that her need for the therapeutic space was greater than ever. 

To have a place to work through her feelings, to be able to begin the difficult work of integrating her extremely traumatised and vulnerable child back into her family home, was not going to be an easy task. 

However, our therapeutic support helped Client C to fully help her child and begin the long journey of recovery together.