CHCMHS005: Provide services to people with co-existing mental health and alcohol and other drugs issues
Assessment Task 2: Case Studies
Client 1: Lucas Chatham
15 year old male
You are seeing a mental health worker at the school. You were referred by your Year 8 homeroom teacher who notices you seem to be having trouble settling in and making friends. You are detached and disinterested in making friends at school. At first you are not sure why, but if prompted you are of the opinion ‘why should I make friends, I’ll just leave again anyway’.
About you:
15 year old boy living a residential care setting with 3 other boys your age
You were removed from your third foster care placement after assaulting the foster father when you came home and he was asleep on the couch.
The placement in the residential setting demanded that you needed to change schools for the third time in two years.
You have a history of abuse as a child that you do not want to talk about because you can’t remember a lot of it. You are prepared to share that you were raised by your mother until that age of 12 when she took her own life by overdosing on sleeping pills and alcohol.
You say that you ‘’fly off the handle’’ quickly and you notice that little things seem to set you off.
You used to take money from your foster mother’s purse to buy ADHD medication off another student at your previous school. You say you were addicted to the medication and that you are angry that you cannot get it anymore.
There is another contact you have (whose name you are not prepared to disclose) who is supplying you with marijuana. You say that you are using this to help keep your temper under control and to stop thinking about the ADHD medication.
For assessment task instructions relating to this Case Study, please refer to “Assessment Task 2” on StudentWeb.
Client 2: Rosemarie Agarti
38 year old female
You are a 38 year old female who is presenting at an intake appointment at and women’s refuge. You are accompanied by police. You have your 4yo son Andre with you. He is not present in the room for the interview; he is with a social worker outside the room and is busy playing with toys that have been donated to the service.
It is 4:30am and you are seeking emergency admission to the women’s refuge.
You are in a same sex relationship and your partners name is Eliza. Your are Andre’s biological mother.
At 11:30m pm the previous evening, Eliza returned home after using ICE. In a very paranoid state, she began accusing you of infidelity. This escalated to the point where Eliza assaulted you by punching you multiple times. You attempted to escape with Andre, but Eliza came at you with a kitchen knife and threatened to kill you if you left. Concerned neighbours called police and they arrived at around 12:45am. They forced entry to the property and arrested Eliza. The police noticed your injuries and took you the local hospital for treatment.
Andre witnessed all of the violence and was also with you when you were treated at hospital for a broken jaw, fractured right arm bleeding from the ear.
You disclose to the intake worker / counsellor that you have been attempting to escape this family violence situation for around 3 years. The family violence commenced when Andre was 6 months old and has slowly escalated from there. Aside from physical violence, there is also financial control and Eliza forbids you to keep contact with your mother in Italy who is a widow and suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
You feel that you are to blame for your current situation.
About you:
You experienced sexual abuse as a child. Although you do not like to talk about it, you will disclose it if asked.
Prior to the birth of Andre, you have struggled with depression and attempted suicide by hanging when you were 20 year of age
You are addicted to prescription pain relief medication and you use this to numb the pain of the traumatic memories and current lived experience of family violence. You are worried that the doses you take leave you in a state where you are unable to adequately care for Andre
You are desperately frightened of losing Andre and you are willing to do whatever it takes to keep him with you.
You say you are terrified of Eliza, especially when she has been using ICE. She has threatened to kill Andre if you leave her.
For assessment task instructions relating to this Case Study, please refer to “Assessment Task 2” on StudentWeb.
Client 3: Bijan Abedini
24 year old male
Brief for client:
You are a 24 year old male, Bijan or Iranian origin. Your parents immigrated to Australia prior to your birth. About 5 years ago, you became the victim of severe bullying at your school. You experienced racism and physical and verbal assault from your peers who called you a ‘terrorist’ and ‘son of Saddam’.
You never told your mother about this as you did not want to hurt her. You told your father, who told you that is was not masculine to let taunting of this nature affect you. He said that you should be grateful that you were born in Australia and was dismissive of your concerns. The taunting and bullying continued.
About half way through year 11, you began to smoke marijuana heavily. This led you failing and quitting school. Your father beat you repeatedly for bringing shame to the family. He finally asked you to leave the family home when you were 18. You had nowhere to go and a drug habit and some debts associated with that.
You made a group of loyal friends who were also homeless. This group taught you about life on the street and you also picked up some skills in relation to obtaining money, including petty theft and breaking and entering. You tried heroin for the first time at age 19.
For the last two years, you have been struggling to support your heroin habit. You were admitted to a psychiatric facility on two occasions when you were found at Flinders street station threatening to take your own life and explaining to all bystanders that you had been summoned by God. While you were hospitalised, you were diagnosed with schizophrenia.
You are presenting at crisis accommodation in St Kilda as it is a cold night in Melbourne and storms are on the way.
About you:
You are not taking medication for schizophrenia at the moment
You are using alcohol frequently
You are interested in making some changes in your life, but you don’t believe it’s possible.
For assessment task instructions relating to this Case Study, please refer to “Assessment Task 2” on StudentWeb
