1.Question
Instructions
Explain your answer using Times New Roman, 12 Font with double space.
Please make sure you explain your answer in detail using in text citation from credible sources and reference in the end. Use proper APA format for writing the assignment.
Case Study
Kelly’s Story
“There’s a couple different ways that obsession happens. Some obsessions are just unwanted, repetitive thoughts – they feel like a really intense craving. Then there’s the type that happens but doesn’t have that feeling behind it. It’s just a thought. For me, I could be driving down the road, completely sane, thinking, ‘Oh I’ll just stop for a couple beers.’ And it could end up ruining my life.” kelly’s road to recovery has been long and difficult, but in the end, rewarding. His substance use began when he was a teenager. And like many types of progress, his improvement did not always happen in a straight line.
“I got in a fight with a cop at 16 years old. My first rehab was at 17, got kicked out of it after 10 days, then back in there 3 months later. I had 6 or 7 months sober, maybe even a little bit longer. Then I went back out and drank.
“I got sober again when I was 24. During that period of time I had 11 years’ sobriety. At 35, my wife and I went through a divorce – and a lot of stuff happened. I just drank. It would take me 10 years to get more than 30 days sober.”
“I was in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous, that was constant. I would go to meetings and nothing would happen, I would still want to drink. Really bad obsessions. That went on for about 10 years. I lost everything. I lost a really nice house, my car was repoed, and my 401k was gone.”
Even though Kelly had hit bottom after bottom, he was unable to stay sober. Eventually he decided to ask for help from his father, who had 28 years sobriety.
“I showed up at my dad’s house with two gym bags. I finally said, ‘This is it. I’m spiritually broken – I can’t do this anymore.’
“I was able to stay sober for 9 months – meetings every day, praying every day, really in the middle of the program. But the day came when I drank again’.
“I went into rehab for about 10 days, and I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I’ll do anything, please God, I do not want to drink ever again.’
“After rehab, I went to another meeting. A guy there recommended I go to someone’s house that was having a Big Book study. I went to the house, and he started talking, and everything he was talking about, I was like, that’s me – he knows what I’m going through. So he started taking me through the Big Book and the steps, and I started to get freedom from stuff that was causing me to drink.”
Maybe the most striking part of Kelly’s personality is his acute self-awareness. It’s a trait that he sharpened while in recovery, and it’s a significant reason why he’s finally found so much success staying sober.
“It was primarily my self-centeredness, my ego. And I don’t mean like egotistical. I mean selfishness, resentments, fear, the things that engulf people with drinking problems. The steps are designed to look at that from a different point of view. There’s got to be that internal surrender for sobriety to happen. It helps for you to be other-centered. Gets you out of yourself. It keeps you really connected to other people.
“I’ve been going pretty regularly for the past year or two into jails to meet with people who have a drinking problem. Even though I was never in jail, I can relate to some of them who are near low-bottom with their drinking. When I talk, I describe my experience and what happened to me with my recovery. I say to them like I say to my sponsees, ‘We’re going to go through this book. Line by line. Page by page. And we’re going to have a load of work to do.’
“I get a lot of contentment from helping other people. Companionship. Because of that, I have freedom from my addiction.”
Kelly found freedom by surrendering, taking the steps through the Big Book, and clearing the path for his relationship with God. By doing so, he reclaimed a part of himself that was missing while he was drinking.
“It starts with surrendering. And the first thing in surrendering is asking somebody for help. Whatever that help is. And hopefully you get to a place that can offer the help you need. It’s worth it.”
Though you see that Kelly has gotten help but if you were to plan his relapse treatment plan then how will you do it with the Kelly case.
Create a Relapse Prevention Plan using the materials provided in D2L with this assignment and Extras folder.
Here are some ideas for what to include in your plan:
Triggers
- People, places and things that trigger cravings
- How to avoid triggers
- How to manage high risk situations that cannot be avoided
Managing Cravings
- Relapse
- Emotional
- Mental
- Physical
Useful Tools
- Gratitude list
- Relaxation techniques
- Stress management techniques
- Support
- People to call when you have cravings or stress
- Mental and physical wellness
Recovery Program
- 12 Step work
- SMART
- Refuge Recovery
- Moral inventory/character defects
- Ways to make amends
Life Improvement
- Family relationships
- Spousal/significant other relationship
- Support/friends
- Legal issues
- School
- Employment
- Finances
- Housing
- Basic needs
- Mental health
- Spirituality
- Purpose
2. Question
Instructions
Explain your answer using Times New Roman, 12 Font with double space.
Please make sure you explain your answer in detail using in-text citations from credible sources and references at the end. Use proper APA format for writing the assignment.
ETHAN comes to the attention of the counselor through the employee assistance program at the factory where he works. He was referred because of absenteeism and what his supervisor considered “mood swings.” Ethan says that he is having a lot of stress at the plant. He has worked there for 12 years and believes he is good at his job. He says that his boss, who was transferred there from another location two years ago, is giving him a great deal of trouble. The two have had so many conflicts that Ethan thinks his job is in jeopardy. Ethan says that every morning the boss gets on his back about something. Ethan wants to fight back, but he knows that he has to avoid trouble. Recently, he has been spending each morning seething. By the time the lunch break comes, he wants to explode. What he does instead is go to a neighborhood bar with a group of co-workers who have been going to the same place for years.
Lately, Ethan has found that he is drinking more beer than usual at lunchtime. Twice the supervisor said he smelled beer on Ethan’s breath in the afternoon. The second time, Ethan was declared unfit for duty and sent to the medical office. Most of the time, Ethan feels as stressed in the afternoon as he does in the morning. As he puts it, “I can’t wait to get home, put my feet up, smoke a couple of joints, and drink enough beer so I can go to sleep and start the whole thing again the next morning.” Matt is interested in making some changes because both his job and his marriage are close to being over. He feels limited in what he can do, however, because of his belief that the supervisor is the problem.
Given Ethan ’s situation, how might each of the following behavioral interventions be useful? Explain each of them in detail and how it is done.
- Identifying high-risk situations and discovering better-coping strategies for dealing with them
- Relaxation training
- Contingency contracting
- Assertiveness training
In general, how would you help Ethan make changes in his substance use behavior?
Behavioral self-control training has been used to help people achieve moderation in their alcohol use. The idea of controlled drinking has become controversial, at least in part because people try to generalize about whether it is possible as an outcome. The question can be addressed most rationally if we think about individuals and the goals that might be right for them.
o In your own experience, have you worked with or known a person for whom moderation, rather than abstinence, might have been an appropriate goal?
o What characteristics did this person have?
o In contrast, what characteristics would make a person a poor candidate for moderation and a good candidate for abstinence?
