Mitchell Family Integration Model

Integration of Models: Family Therapy with the Ávila/Mitchell Family
Jared Ávila is a 16-year-old high school student, his aunt Lila Mitchell became concerned with his anger issues, they have sparked much debate in the home of late and she has stated that she has no idea why he behaves in this manner. He stated he sometimes finds it difficult to focus, he suffers from anxiety, the possible origin of his constantly sweating palms, and all this adds to his anger and miscommunication with his aunt. His grandmother Estella Mitchell, Jared’s legal guardian, who has never been present for our sessions because of her illness, was diagnosed five years ago with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD and the condition left her all too sickly to …show more content…
They also have Early Head Start and Head Start programs for eligible families. Although services are typically offered to low/middle-income families, usually brought to our attention by Pioneer, a local specialty hospital. However, any one can request services with us, such is the case of Jared, his aunt having seen us while driving down the street decided to give us a call to see if we could offer her some help in the form of counseling for Jared. In her request she firmly stated that she would like for her nephew to be counseled by a man, she figures because he hasn’t had much of strong male influence in his life that having such a counselor might have a positive effect on her nephew. His grandfather’s influence was never a strong one as he had been sick for much of the time Jared was in his grandmother’s care. The agency, being extremely focused on person-centered everything took the request and honored it and in a week’s time Jared will be seeing Jake, one of the agency’s child …show more content…
It would seem that Jared has had ADHD throughout his life, but simply adapted until it began impeding his school career, thus leading to lower grades and a lack of interest. He also has some relational and communications issues with his informal guardian, his aunt Lila as evidenced by his outburst when dismissed by his aunt during their interaction with the counselor. He has displayed symptoms of depression and low self-esteem as well. As with person-centered planning, Jared chose his goals which include: the improvement to his emotional regulation, the improvement of his overall physical, emotional and mental health as well as devise methods to improve his academic performance. With a combination of individual and family therapy, offered biweekly and weekly, we will be working on problem solving, anger management and communication. Support will also be offered to Lila as