Personal Narrative: Father Son Relationships

The client met with his counselor on 05/06/2017 for his one on one session to discuss his treatment plan goals. the client has been on track with his goals and is working on his second step. the client discuss one of the things that his currently working on and that is acceptance. the client explained that he is having a hard time acceptance certain situations and things that happen in his life, and most of the time it result in him resulting to using drugs. the client as well talked about being disappointed in himself for relapsing after two years of being sober. the client reported that he didn't use the tools that were given to him from his last his was in the program, getting a sponsor and learning coping skills. the client reported that

By consolidating what these men learned in this group, we will be able to understand where each member stands. In this group, members should have learned how to deal with their stress levels and find meaning in their diagnosis. Ethically, I need to recap during the last sessions with the clients to remind them what they have learned so the group experience was not for naught. Accordingly, I want to summarize with the group what they learned about the challenges of being HIV positive while encouraging them to use the skills they learned in the group outside of the group, while keeping the confidentiality of the group members.

The client is a 50-year-old, Latino who identifies as a gay male. Throughout this paper, I will refer to him as Jorge. He has been HIV-positive for 15 years and reports to have experienced problems with addiction to various substances since his mid-twenties. Within the past ten years, he has experienced cumulatively harsher consequences as a result of his drinking and drug use. He has been arrested 16 times, has been involved in 3 car wrecks, has received 3 DUIs, and at one point, served 6 months in jail. He reports that last Thanksgiving weekend he overdosed on heroin while thinking he was consuming crystal meth. Having survived that overdose has prompted him to seek recovery

Consequently, two days ago, my client overdosed and survived, he is currently at the “University of Pennsylvania,” in intensive care. His father called me asking me, “Where did we go wrong?” I explained to him; that the treatment was, “good but not good enough.” Never the less, I expressed my regrets and empathy to him, reiterating the fact that he did not have a “structured program with step work.” His father agreed with me; but then asked (what I consider) the deadliest question of all… “Maybe AA is not for him, isn’t there something else he can do in it’s place?” My heart dropped and my voice became very direct; “I do not know anything else that works as comprehensively and successfully as AA does.” I told his father that, “AA does work, if the person works it!”

Annoyed at this, I turned once again and lay on my back. I took a deep

Patients with chronic conditions are living with a disease that impacts every aspect of their lives; though many are able to live seemingly normal lives, anyone who is familiar with a diabetic or HIV+ individual understands the deep emotional and physical toll of dealing with the disease day to day. Despite diagnosis of these conditions being tantamount to a death sentence (albeit very far in the future), patients with

Reported “I changed a lot, and I am willing to continue to make progress in life”. Client is making steady progress in treatment utilizing learned

This let me know that the young lady is okay with where she is in her life and that the problem is everyone else’s. This brings me to the end of the initial phase and it is time to set goals with the clients. The client has identified that she is now sober and living on her own. She has stated that she has friends and attends some form of support group. The client has also identified that her pimp is dangerous and would try to harm her if she did something he didn’t like. The client is aware that her safety is an issue. I would ask the client her plans for when she is feeling the need to use again and what will she do to protect herself from harm. I will highlight her ability to be strong and the accomplishments she has made thus far.

Also, I used aspects of motivational interviewing as a basis to illicit the change process and focus on strengths based perspective during the session. Rolling with resistance client, expressing empathy. In self-reflection some identified strengths were level of comfort with the client; this is due to having worked with the client in group sessions prior. Also, I feel that I built a good rapport with the client making him feel comfortable about where he was in his recovery, he seemed uneasy about individual therapy as he no longer had issues with his substance use and felt individual therapy may be unnecessary but warmed up to the idea that it is another way to process some of the challenges and success in a more intimate setting, particularly since the client struggles during group settings to open up more emotionally. Client actively participates in group and engages in

Many of our HIV positive members are stigmatized; what’s more, many of them have to deal with denial and fear. Positive Pathways community outreach workers use their life experiences and stories to gain the members’ trust and help to “break down walls.” Our dedicated workers commonly babysit members’ children in the doctor’s office to allow the member to focus on his/her visit. Members are educated on how to take and understand their drug regimens. In fact, they are taught how to read their prescription and labs. Even more, we teach Positive Pathways members how to navigate the healthcare system. Ronette Moton, Community Outreach Worker, says “we will go with them to the doctors and sit in if they

A: Client appears to understand that being able to break out of the cycle of lies brought on by addiction is crucial to a lasting and successful recovery.

2. I had the pleasure interacting with an HIV-infected client during the lunchtime. He has been a member of the Boston Living Center for three years now. The client lives in a Robert McBride House located in the Fenway area of Boston and owned by the

"Never forget the past…because it may haunt you forever. Regret all the bad things…cherish the good things. Look ahead always…but don't let the bad things from the past get in your mind." As a young child, there were so many incidents in my life that made me become the person I am today. There were rough times as well as good times. If I were to tell you all of them, I would remember half of them. I think some of my incidents really had some impact, and some were just simple ways of life. To tell you the truth, the incident that had the most impact on me has to be when my real father left me at the age of three. I never knew my father. I mean being a baby, you really have no experience or recognition of somebody else.

Counseling a client who has or is at high risk for HIV/AIDS is different from counseling other clients with addictive disorders because HIV/AIDS clients need flexibility due to the importance to public health of keeping them in substance abuse treatment; they are likely to continue to put others at risk if they leave treatment and resume injection or other drug usage. Also, clients with HIV/AIDS and substance abuse disorders need more than the typical physical examination and TB test. Lastly, counseling a client who is high risk for HIV/AIDS is different from counseling other clients with addictive disorders when it comes to institutional linkages and medical referrals. Generating medical referral networks or institutional linkages is vital and must be a top priority for anyone working with a person with

In contrast, earlier that day she had shared her thoughts with a close family member, she expressed her need to ‘talk’ to her body and ‘love’ her illness away. She also shared that she really needed to ‘listen’ to her inner feelings.