Group Therapy Case Study Example

Introduction I was introduced to Susan, from a local homeless shelter. She is a 25-year-old Native American female who is currently homeless. The shelter she is staying at contacted me when they realized she was using drugs in their facility’s bathroom which is a violation of the shelter’s rules. The shelter did not want to call the authorities because they know she is on probation for possession of methamphetamines. Susan has two other arrests for possession of drugs in addition to the one she is currently on probation for. She also has tried inpatient treatment, but was not successful and left treatment after two weeks. The case worker from the shelter said that she believed she had also attempted NA and was successful for a few months, …show more content…
Once Susan decides that she wants to try to quit she will be moved from the housing she is currently in to sober living while she tries Intensive Outpatient Therapy (IOP). This therapy will include individual therapy with me because we have built a relationship at this point and Susan’s culture is not very trusting of new people. In IOP Susan can get the therapy she needs and help with relapse prevention, this would also be a safe environment to re-introduce her to group therapy. In one of her sessions she admitted that her sponsor tried to have sex with her and that is her reasoning for not wanting to participate in a 12-step program. The benefits of having Susan join an IOP is that she will feel she still has control because she is not inpatient, she will step up or down as her recovery progresses or if there is a relapse, and she will only have to commit to 90 days (Pita, 2015). I feel that this is a safer way for her to go through her recovery and after 30 days of sobriety mental health professionals can reassess her to see if she is still feeling anxiety, paranoia, and voices. If at that time, she is having symptoms the DSM-V can be used to diagnosis any mental health disorders and receive proper treatment if