ANSWERS WITH EXPLANATION STEP BY STEP You are the caseworker for a single mother (Mary) who has a 15yr old son (Toby). Mary is struggling with alcohol addiction and states she often smokes marijuana when her son is at school. Mary has said that she hasn’t worked since her son was born and had previously managed by doing odd jobs for friends and neighbors. However, Mary has said that now her son is older she would like to get a full-time job but is worried that she will not be successful due to her addiction. When ‘probing’ further into Mary’s addiction, you come to understand that she regularly has her first glass of wine with breakfast and states that without it she can’t ‘think’ straight. Mary said she found a half-smoked marijuana joint in her son’s room when she was cleaning, and she is worried that he may be experimenting with drugs. Mary states that she would like to be able to stop drinking and smoking marijuana but every time she has tried before it hasn’t worked.

1) What are the legal issues in this case study?

Part 3 – Critical Reflection

You have taken Mary’s case to your supervisor and your supervisor has asked you to spend time reflecting on your decisions and consider what worked well and what other options were available to you. Your supervisor has also requested you to consider your professional responsibility and accountability and asked you to put this into a mini report.

ANSWERS WITH EXPLANATION STEP BY STEP Part 1

Legal issues

Types of drugs

Mandated reporting requirements

Possible assessment and referral options

The most pressing issue for Mary is her alcohol addiction. She should be referred to an alcohol counselor or treatment program. Additionally, she should be given information about support groups for parents struggling with addiction. As it has been analyzed that Mary tried to stop drinking alcohol and also stop smoking marijuana but she was unable to do so. In this case, she requires special rehabilitation programs, so she must be connected to such programs, which help in providing the detox treatments to Mary and also conduct therapy programs for her. Further, it has been analyzed that Mary’s son, Toby seen consuming drugs. So, in this case, it is required that Mary should talk to her son about her addiction, for this it is important to encourage Mary for talking to her son. Along with this, it is also required that Mary should encourage her son to involve him in the rehabilitation programs. If Toby is experimenting with drugs, Mary should be referred to a drug counselor or treatment program.

ANSWERS WITH EXPLANATION STEP BY STEP Part 2

AOD and rehabilitation program

In this case, it is evident that Mary is struggling with substance abuse and is dependent on alcohol to “think” properly, and often smokes marijuana when her son is at school. This clearly indicates how to sever her addiction and dependence on alcohol (Galanter, 2014). Considering that she is a single mother and has a 15-year-old child, Therefore, a full-time rehabilitation program would not be suitable for Mary as she still has to look for her son. In the case of Mary, day rehab will be most appropriate, in this program person lives at home and would require to attend the treatment for 3-5 days a week for the duration of 6-8 weeks. This program is similar to residential rehabilitation, the only difference is that in this program the person can go home in the afternoon. This option is considered good for those who have commitments such as Mary as she is a single mother and she has to look for her child who is just 15 years old. Therefore, it is difficult to be away from home for a longer duration. Apart from this program, several other options can be beneficial for Mary such as being involved in alcoholic anonymous meetings, in which she will meet with other individuals, who also struggle with alcohol and drug abuse like Mary. Further, helps Mary to resolve and overcome her alcohol and drug abusive nature by discussing with other individuals with risky behaviors (Kelly et al., 2020). The engagement in the AA meetings alone, not only helps Mary, to alleviate her risky behavior, but for this, she also needs to receive counseling from the drug counselors, as they will guide Mary, on the way she can opt for healthy choices in her life and replace her risky behaviors and habits with it (Antunes de Campos & Narchi, 2022). The drug counselor helps to assist her with her drained emotional state and also helps her to connect with the other support networks which are relevant to her condition. Lastly, Mary must receive support from her family and friends, as well as from her case worker, to successfully overcome her alcohol and drug addiction.

ANSWERS WITH EXPLANATION STEP BY STEP Part 3

Critical Reflection

References

Antunes de Campos, E., & Narchi, N. (2022). The ‘wounded soul’: What alcoholism means to participants of a women‐only Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in São Paulo, Brazil. Drug And Alcohol Review, 41(4), 732-742. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13430

Bartlett, R., Brown, L., Shattell, M., Wright, T., & Lewallen, L. (2013). Harm Reduction: Compassionate Care Of Persons with Addictions. PubMed Central (PMC). Retrieved 27 July 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4070513/.

Kelly, J., Abry, A., Ferri, M., & Humphreys, K. (2020). Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-Step Facilitation Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Distillation of a 2020 Cochrane Review for Clinicians and Policy Makers. Alcohol And Alcoholism, 55(6), 641-651. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agaa050

Mahboub, N., Honein-AbouHaidar, G., Rizk, R., & de Vries, N. (2021). People who use drugs in rehabilitation, from chaos to discipline: Advantages and pitfalls: A qualitative study. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0245346. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245346