Client Analysis
Part 1: Client Profile
An area of discussion
The area of discussion is chronic alcoholism, which is a severe form of a drinking problem. As such, an individual cannot control the desire to take alcohol, making them not engaged in other obligations and responsibilities, including work and care for the family. As a result, the individual may have withdrawal symptoms, which may lead to suicidal tendencies. The individual will depend on alcohol and cannot carry his or her daily activities without drinking. Alcohol dependency may cause a severe workplace issue, as the individual risk falling into arguments and fights with their co-workers. Harmful drinking will be difficult to stop after becoming a habit. As such, it is challenging to identify the signs and symptoms of chronic alcoholism by clients. They will lack interest in their work; they will also appear intoxicated most of the time when they are in the workplace. They will want to drink more to achieve similar effects. People with chronic alcoholism problem seems tired, irritable, and unwell and cannot control their desire to drink alcohol. Hence, they will end up having mental issues like depression and anxiety. Because of this, the client analysis will analyze the life of a patient who has presented herself to a healthcare facility with a chronic alcoholism problem. The client’s profile will involve questions to ask the client and the response provided.
Profile
Name, age, gender, and race
What’s your name?
Client: Ivy Goodwin
Interviewer: What’s your gender?
Ivy Goodwin: Female
Interviewer: What’s your age?
Ivy Goodwin: 32-year-old
Race: African American
Profession
Interviewer: What is your profession?
Ivy Goodwin: Waitress
Educational Level
Interviewer: What is your educational level?
Ivy Goodwin: High school dropout
Interviewer: What was the reason why you left high school?
Ivy Goodwin: Because of the alcohol abuse problem.
Family History
Interviewer: Are your parents still alive?
Ivy Goodwin: No
Interviewer: Are you married?
Ivy Goodwin: No, but I am separated from my spouse because of an alcohol abuse problem,
Interviewer: How many children do you have?
Ivy Goodwin: I have one child named John, who lives with my aunt.
Interviewer: How old is he?
Ivy Goodwin: seven years and he has been living with my aunt for the past three years.
Interviewer: How often do you meet him?
Ivy Goodwin: Once a month.
Interviewer: What’s the reason why you are not living with him?
Ivy Goodwin: A child support agency took him because of the alcohol drug problem.
Interviewer: Did you experience any child abuse and neglect problem?
Ivy Goodwin: Yes, my father was an alcoholic and abusive parent. He became abusive after taking alcohol. As such, he ended up divorcing my mum.
Occupation
Interviewer: What is your occupation?
Ivy Goodwin: Waitress, and I have been working at the Chimes Restaurant for three months. Before that, I have lost three jobs at the neighboring restaurants in the past twelve months.
Religion
Interviewer: What is your religion?
Ivy Goodwin: Christianity, even though I have not attended a church service for the past twelve months.
Interviewer: What are the activities you do for leisure?
Ivy Goodwin: Drinking and watching TV shows
Interviewer: Are you taking any other drug?
Ivy Goodwin: I have only used cigarettes at parties. Just one or two sticks
Support System
Interviewer: Do you have any support system?
Ivy Goodwin: No
Ivy Goodwin: Why not?
Interviewer: I have always felt that the alcohol problem has never been an issue affecting my life; however, my boss insisted that I seek social support services. If not, I will be sacked from my job, affecting me because I have lost other jobs in similar circumstances.
Interview: Is it the primary reason for presenting yourself to my office?
Ivy Goodwin: Yeah.
Development of a story
The events that are occurring in the client’s life
The client is being affected by an alcohol abuse problem, as she has become overdependent on alcohol. As such, she cannot carry her regular duties like working in the restaurant, as evident by the fact that she is about to face a sack. However, Ivy has received the manager’s support, who has advised her to seek social support services, improving her current situation. She has been sacked in the previous three jobs, and she acknowledges that the alcohol abuse problem has been affecting her life. Even though Ivy has a kid, she can only see him once a month. As such, the alcohol abuse problem is also affecting her relationship, as evident with the fact that she cannot attend to her child’s needs. She is also separated from her spouse because of the alcohol abuse problem. Besides, the alcohol abuse problem has been a severe challenge to Ivy even though she has not been engaged in any support system. Lastly, it seems that the types of child abuse and neglect she experienced during child abuse are one of the reasons why she started using alcohol as a coping mechanism. It creates the need for the social health worker to provide an intervention to improve her situation.
The reason why she sought counseling
The primary reason why Ivy sought social support services is that she has an alcohol abuse problem, which is affecting her daily duties, like working in the Chimes Restaurant. There is a possibility that she will become jobless once again, as she has been sacked from the neighboring restaurants. Ivy wants to have sought counseling to address alcohol dependency, affecting her at the workplace. Besides, the counseling process may be useful in improving her relationship with family members, as she will find a coping mechanism that she will use to address the problem. As such, it will be a preventing a social issue of family problems experienced in society.
The rationale for Picking the Client’s Profile
The alcohol abuse problem is based on race, education level, family history, support system, and religious beliefs. The alcohol abuse problem is one of the primary social issues affecting Americans, as it causes joblessness, family issues, poverty because it wastes money, lifestyle conditions, and mental illnesses.
African Americans have experienced social issues like poverty and drug abuse problem (Delker, Brown & Hasin, 2016). Similarly, using a support system can help improve an individual who is experiencing drug and alcohol abuse problems. The individuals with a reduced level of education may not be able to make informed choices in their lives than those who have achieved a higher education level. Religion also acts as a factor barring individuals from taking drugs. Family history has also been used because child abuse and neglect can cause adverse child experiences (ACEs), making individuals start using alcohol and other drugs to cope.
Part 2: Analysis of Recorded Interview
How it felt to be interviewed
The client felt desperate while she was being interviewed. It is a feeling that is common among most clients when they are presenting their issues to the social worker, as they provide challenges that they are have been feeling in their lives. They need the social worker to think for them and provide adequate solutions to improve their health and well-being. In this case, Ivy Goodwin felt desperate while providing how the alcohol abuse problem has been affecting her life and made her lose the previous jobs. Besides, she is about to lose her current job even though the restaurant manager is supportive and advised her to seek social support services. Also, the desperation is evident when she provides her relationship issues with her spouse and children. In this regard, she is determined to get adequate solutions, which will prevent her from facing such issues. It is a feeling that will enable the social worker to understand her challenges and provide a solution to her problem.
Secondly, the client is feeling frustrated because she has not been able to control her alcohol urge. As a result, she is overdependent on alcohol and cannot control her desire for it. She presents herself in the workplace while drunk. Besides, the other reason causing frustration for Ivy is that she is about to lose her fourth job within a year because of the alcohol abuse problem. Alcohol abuse is a social problem known to cause mental health problems among individuals who are overdependent. As such, the client is at increased risk of injuries and accidents, which are other social problems in society. It will also increase family problems and medical problems (Jones, Latchford & Tober, 2016).
The client was feeling stressed out during the interview. It is evident by the fact that she was about to lose her job. Alcohol dependency is also associated with stress problems, making an individual continue using it as a coping mechanism. During the interview, I saw that the client showed signs of stress like dangling legs, wiping sweat from her arms and face, and having scared feelings on their face. It was essential to calm the client down and convince her that she has come to the right place, where her issues will be adequately addressed.
Besides, the client was feeling impatient during the interview process. It is not a new feeling to those who have carried interviews before, as it is a client who may feel annoyed or frustrated during the interview process. Hence, there is a need for the interviewer to request her to be patient. The feeling was because she was waiting for the interview. After all, another client was being attended to. As such, she thought that the interview was taking too long to begin. During the interview, the client was feeling agitated, which is because of impatience during the interview. The interview process involves inquiry of a client’s life. Ivy is forced to respond to personal questions, which she was not feeling comfortable answering. In this regard, it may cause annoyance and agitation (Cooper et al., 2015).
How it felt to interview the client
Excited- It is essential to become excited when you are addressing the challenges experienced by a client. After learning about the issue that may be facing the client and taking steps to ensure that she can resume everyday life, there is an excitement because you feel that you have been able to address the social challenges. There is a lot of excitement when a social worker feels that you have been able to seek the issues that may affect an individual’s life. Providing a solution implies that an individual can bring challenges experienced by an individual to an end. Secondly, the client’s answers may cause embarrassment, as they involve a process of inquiry where she was providing social issues affecting her life. As such, there is a need for the interviewer to control himself, as this will be essential in enabling the interview’s success. Equally, there was frustration when the client could not answer some questions, as this will be curtailing the interview’s progress. Besides, there will be a feeling of pride after interviewing the client and providing a solution to her problem.
Observations from the interview
First, I observed sweet coming from the client’s face and hands, as this indicated that she was stressed out because of the fear of losing her job. Secondly, the client had dangling legs because of fear. On the face, she indicated a scared expression. As the interview progressed, the client became confident, as depicted by her ability to provide prompt answers when asked questions and explain events in her life. Also, it was evident from her voice, where she was no longer trembling.
Strengths and Areas of Improvement
The strengths that I depicted from the interview include becoming empathetic about the client’s issue, being knowledgeable about alcoholism and social issues it is causing, having received adequate training, listening attentively, and showing a stable personality in the entire interview process. However, there are areas that I need to improve. They include reduced confidence during the interview, too many details, impatience when I could not get prompt answers and being too emotional when listening to the client’s story.
References
Cooper, M., McLeod, J., Ogden, G. S., Omylinska-Thurston, J., & Rupani, P. (2015). Client helpfulness interview studies: A guide to exploring client perceptions of change in counseling and psychotherapy. Unpublished manuscript retrieved from https://www. research gate. net/profile/Mick_Cooper.
Delker, E., Brown, Q., & Hasin, D. S. (2016). Alcohol consumption in demographic subpopulations: an epidemiologic overview. Alcohol research: current reviews, 38(1), 7.
Jones, S. A., Latchford, G., & Tober, G. (2016). Client experiences of motivational interviewing: An interpersonal process recall study. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 89(1), 97-114.