Lanisha Haygood is a thirty-nine-year-old African American female with no kids. She is homeless and a heroin addict. Lanisha’s addiction problem is what needs to be addressed. To help my client, I first assessed to help me understand her better. This information will be useful in enabling me to: solve her problem, evaluate progress, and recommend the proper interventions and programs.
- Identify the related needs based on the identified problems.
Heroin is an addictive drug, and to identify the client’s needs, I would start with an assessment and ask open-ended questions. The evaluation will help determine the needs, strengths, and weaknesses for intervention. It also helps with clarification and makes sure that I understood their needs. Additionally, it is vital to identify the needs and strengths to determine the best alternative in treatment that will help the client to have a successful recovery.
- Describe how you would utilize client strengths when selecting a strategy for intervention.
When selecting a strategy for my client’s intervention, I would conduct a family therapy session. Family therapy is essential when helping a loved one deal with a substance abuse problem: families can be a support system that brings on changes and growth in individuals.
Also, I will remind the client that she acknowledges she has a problem with heroin and that she wants to receive help. I will warn Lanisha about the potency of heroin addiction, especially in destroying lives and families. Treatment plans are very imperative to have when dealing with any substance abuse case. Since she does not have any children, the best method for her would be inpatient programs and outpatient. The plan will give us both a sense of direction of our work together.
- Create at least one measurable objective to meet each goal.
Inpatient rehabilitation will help eliminate the outside and social environment that will make it hard to stay pragmatic. To help keep her engaged, the patient will have therapy seven days a week, for thirty days and activities to keep them focused on their goal. We will focus on mental health, exercise, and yoga to help in recovery. Moreover, detox is essential because heroin withdrawal can be severe. Many people use the drug to cope with life and to relieve pain. Additionally, I will recommend a medication detox that will be supervised by a physician to help with the withdrawal symptoms.
After the inpatient program, we will continue an outpatient program where the client will have to attend the sessions six days a week to make sure there is not any relapse and to deal with any life issues she may encounter.
- Explain the specific action steps to achieve objectives.
To achieve my goal of ensuring Lanisha recovers successfully, I will check in with her regularly. During my visits, I make sure she is continuing to practice the tips she learned from the inpatient facility. Furthermore, I will make sure her family is there to support her during inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to achieve her goal of complete recovery. The family can have a sit-down with Lanisha to explain their expectations for her after the rehabilitation. This will also prepare the family members in their role to enable Lanisha’s journey to be successful.
- Discuss evidence from the research literature that supports your intervention choices.
I have set clear goals, as according to Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2018), “Several benefits result from setting clear goals with clients. First, establishing goals helps ensure that clients and workers agree on such matters as problem definition and the changes that must occur to produce a suitable outcome. Making specific treatment goals are clear will serve the client in a time of critical need to his or her success in returning to a healthy functioning life with friends, family, work, and society. Objectives are behaviourally specific regarding what is to be achieved and how success will be measured. (Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2018). Objectives are imperative to have because they have you reach measurable targets. The social worker and the client understand what is expected and what needs to be achieved.
- Describe what information is important to document in a treatment plan and explain why.
It is crucial to document vital information when working with clients such as date, time, name, interventions, plans, assessment, follow-ups, and last date of treatment. According to Kristie and Hull “Recording your work with a client simply provides proof that such work has been done.” Documenting treatment plans makes sure that the social worker and client are on the same page. It also helps both to make sure they are moving in the right direction and progress. Documentation can also help the social worker refer back to he or she notes if treatment has been modified or not working. Every client needs a treatment plan. Any client with an issue requires a program specially designed for them to meet their needs for growth and recovery.