Topic: Assessment 2- Essay (Case study)
Read the three scenarios of Jamie, Angela and Amy and develop your response.
Scenario 1 – Jamie (aged 15)
Jaime is a 15 year old girl who left a dysfunctional and unsafe home environment and stayed with friends for 6 weeks until she was referred to an adolescent community placement program. Jaime has now been living in the transition house for 3 months with 3 other young women and a lead tenant.
The organisation’s policies and procedures dictate that the young women must be engaged in education or employment
programs while living at the transition house and there is a maximum stay of 12 months, which means that the young
women must find more sustainable and long term housing during this time. Another rule outlines that the residents
cannot use drugs while at home (both legal and illicit).
Jaime begins to miss school and invites a group of her school friends to come and hang out at the house, while the other
young women are at their jobs and schools. This is when Jaime is first offered a bong by one of these school friends.
After a month, Jaime and her friends are now regularly drinking and smoking during the day and the friends make sure they leave before the other residents come home. At the monthly house meeting, one of the other residents complains about the bong smell coming from Jaime’s bedroom and a big stain (of bong water) on the carpet in the hallway. Jaime admits to the other residents and the lead tenant that she has been using marijuana every day at home, while everyone is out during the day. The lead tenant knows that if she reports this substance use to the organisation, then Jaime will receive an eviction notice for breaching the rules of the house.
Scenario 2 – Angela (aged 16)
Angela is a 16 year old indigenous female who was living in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services in a residential care setting. Her mother was an alcoholic and Angela had 9 brothers and sisters. When Angela was 14 she called the Department of Health and Human Services herself and asked to be removed because she could not handle the situation at home with her mum drinking and being violent. Whilst living in residential care for 2 years Angela had become involved with drinking herself and had dabbled in marijuana use. She had become sexually active whilst in placement and when she got drunk she would be very abusive towards her boyfriend and vice versa. She was missing school on a regular basis. Angela would often not return to her placement and when she did she would be rather violent towards staff because she was hungover or still drunk.
When Angela turned 16 she moved into a lead tenant situation where the guidelines state that young people must be either attending school or working or actively seeking employment. When in lead tenant with the volunteer mentors, the same situations would occur. Angela would not return for a couple of days, she would be violent and aggressive towards the volunteers. This situation was unsafe for the volunteers and other young person in the house so Angela was removed and placed back into residential care until she was 18 years old.
Scenario 3 – Amy (aged 13)
Amy has recently returned to live with her Mum after 10 years of living with her maternal grandmother on a Court Order. She and her older brother had been removed from their parents care due to problematic substance use and domestic violence when they were three and five years old. Her dad is no longer on the scene.
Last year her brother, John (aged 15), moved back in with Mum. He is permanently excluded from school and involved
with the local Youth Program (YSAS) for young people disengaged from school and using substances. John smokes
cannabis daily.
Since returning home, Amy’s school attendance has deteriorated and she is frequently truanting and staying out all night with older peers. She is experimenting with alcohol and cannabis. Amy does not want to return to living with her Gran as she is ‘too strict’. Her mother appears to be stable on a methadone script but is suffering from depression, lacks motivation to keep the home tidy and organised and smokes cannabis daily.
The family is on benefits. Amy is now sharing a bedroom with her Mum and her four year old half-brother, Kalim, as there are only two bedrooms and her older brother will not share with anyone. Maternal grandmother lives nearby and continues to offer some support but at age 70 is less active now. Currently professionals consider this mother to be struggling to manage the care of the three children and the home environment is deteriorating.
TASK:
In this assessment, you will work individually to interrogate an AOD scenario.
LENGTH 1500 words
Use the short scenarios of Jamie (aged 15), Angela (aged 16) and Amy (aged 13) to focus your response.
Select and critically review one of the 3 scenarios.
Use the code of ethics that is applicable to your field of study to interrogate the chosen scenario and determine any ethical considerations.
Propose an AOD assessment and treatment plan as relevant to the selected scenario.
Design relevant therapeutic interventions.
Justify your position using relevant literature.
