Healing Blueprint for Williams Family - Case Study Example

The Williams family, like many other families is facing a difficult time whereby, Jeff and Sandy despite having been married for 21 years do not find fulfillment in their marriage, which has led Jeff to turn to drinking. Their children Leo and Jacob each have their own frustrations with Jacob having Asperger’s syndrome thereby feeling misunderstood and alone and Leo having grown accustomed to being neglected by his family learns how to avoid being hurt by avoiding the family. Sandy is also frustrated and realizes the need for an intervention in the family and thereby seeks it. The paper proposes a possible plan that would address the root issue of communication within the family by presenting them an opportunity to first know who they are as individuals and their feeling towards the family so that they can engage in efforts towards restoration in the family. It also proposes ways to help the family to understand each other and Jacob mostly so that they can be able to relate well. It offers a solution to very serious family problems that lasts for less than six months and does not cost much but presents the much required healing. Case Treatment Plan for the Williams Family Introduction Jeff and sandy who have been married for 21 years have two children, Jacob who is 18 years old and Leo who is 15 years old. Jacob suffers from Asperger Syndrome and it has alienated him socially. He is generally depressed and always sad. Leo is frustrated and resents his family. Jeff runs a car business that has not been doing so well of late because of the economy. When he is not at work, he is at home, drinking. Sandy is a teacher’s aide at a local elementary school where she has worked for 10 years. The family is experiencing financial difficulties probably due to the decline in business for Jeff, but most likely due to poor financial planning. Every family individual is angry at the rest and unwilling to think of the others. Communication within the family is basically low. The parents are unable to keep their relationship with each other, let alone that with the children. Jacobs’s condition does not make it easier for them either. He needs special care that the family is clearly not providing. Leo is frustrated and feeling neglected by his family. He has other friends, which implies his ability to maintain relationships but has no healthy one with his family members who he tries to avoid. He seems not to show any concern about it. The family is really disturbed and not in any way how a family ought to be. The root of the family’s problems appears to be the parents’ inability to maintain relationships and lack of information and initiative on how to do so, which is necessary in every family setting. Parents who are not able to maintain relationships for their family create disasters without their knowledge and is always the root of many problems that are associated with a family setting. However, it is evident that an intervention is necessary and is urgently needed. Services that will be provided Individual counseling sessions For the first three months, each of the members of the family will be required to attend a one on one counseling session with a counselor, for one hour, once every week. This results to 12 counseling meetings, and will be enough to start solving the family problems that threaten its unity existence. The number of meetings is adjustable depending on the progress that is being made with the family member. They can be reduced to a minimum of 6 meetings or increased until when the sessions are seen to yield the required results. The main objective of the meetings is to help the family members and it does not matter the number of meetings provided the original aim of the meeting is achieved. Each member will basically be required to talk about themselves, the things they like and dislike and their ideas of ideal society, friend and/or family. Expressing yourself plays a significant role in determining how the counselor will help the affected individual and the best way to approach the person in a professional way. The sessions will be aimed at causing the individual family members to think of themselves as persons and try to determine their self-worth, or rather, how they value themselves. When an individual starts to evaluate their worth, they become rational in their thinking and these plays a major in role on how such an individual relates with other people in the society and the kind of decisions they are likely to make to affect their relationships. After that has been achieved, with consideration that the time taken by each of them to get there varies, they then will be taken through several other sessions to determine what they like or do not like about their families. They will basically be discussing how the individual members view their families and trying to establish their opinions. This kind of approach helps the individual in appreciating the family setup, see the mistakes they made, and how best they can correct them based on what they like and dislike. The purpose of these sessions is not so much in informing the counselor so that they can determine the cause of action as it is to cause the individual to take a reflective look at themselves and their family and measure its performance against what they deem as ideal. At the end of the estimated three months, the family members ought to have come to a point whereby they can clearly and honestly articulate what they think of their family and each individual family member and recognize the need for an intervention. For Jacob, a specialist on the disorder will be involved who will be facilitating the process. Marriage counseling sessions These sessions will be for Jeff and Sandy, the couples must be helped to bring back life in their marriage. They will be aimed at helping them to reflect on their marriage to try and determine the possible causes for their loneliness despite their being in a marriage set up where they are supposed to be companions. They are to begin even before the individual family member counseling sessions are over. The counselor will present to them their opinions of each other as they said in the individual sessions. They will then be required to comment on these opinions. The aim of this will be to let them see what the other thought of them, not to provoke anger, but to prompt understanding. The counselor will help them to follow through their arguments so that they do not just hurl words at each other without a possible good end. They will be helped to look back at the memories they have of their marriage, and to trace back to determine why they got married in the first place. They will be required to do at least two things together maybe go on a date or share a sporting activity and then report to the counselor how it went in all honesty and truth. Family retreat This will be catered for by the firm as an incentive. However, a counselor will accompany them, not to offer any advice but just to observe how they go about in their activities. This retreat will last one day. The family will be required to play at least one game of their choice (while considering most Jacobs interest) that demonstrates their working as a unit. The counselor accompanying them will be taking notes and designing possible solutions to communication problems he observes, or any other problems for that matter. Family counseling sessions These will be carried out after the retreat and the individual counseling sessions and while the marriage counseling sessions for Jeff and sandy continue. At this point, every member is predicted to be able to voice their opinions and listen to those of others even though they do not agree. Listening to each other will be the biggest thing to happen to the family because they will learn each other from different perspectives. The main focus for the first and second session will be the retreat, which is aimed at increasing the family bond. The family will be guided by the counselor through the analysis of the retreat to determine how each of them felt about it, and how relevant it was to their relationships and relating to each other in the family. At the end of the sessions, they will suggest ways in which they think the retreat could have been improved. They will then be given assignments to write down the things they like and those that they do not of the other family members and this information will be discussed in the meetings that proceed. The sessions are to last for 2 months. Special education A specialist on the area Asperger disorder will be involved who will serve to offer information to the family concerning it, how it occurs, how to handle someone with it and how not to. This session will be carried out at the period during which the individual sessions are taking place, and in the absence of Jacob. They will be required after this to determine how they have been handling him and compare it with the suggestions put forth on how they should have been doing it (Heru & Drury, 2007). Also, the family would be advised to enroll Jacob in a school that caters to his special academic needs. Recommended services Special counseling for Jacob Due to his condition, Jacob could attend counseling sessions with Dr. Nabil Rezk of Astoria New York who is specialized in the area, and is best placed to him understand different dynamics when someone gets married. He would be able to provide quality counseling for Jacob as well as assurance that he is not alone. His experience with other many similar cases would offer a basis for competency, and the success rate of the patients he has handled would go well to vouch for him. Medical attention The family would be advised to seek medical attention for Jacob at the Asperger Syndrome Center in New York where they would be able to access Jacobs’s condition and present medication that he can use together with a social skills therapy program. The medication provided do not cure the syndrome, but issues that come with it such as anxiety, depression and obsessive behavior (Stoddart, 2005). Support group There are several support groups in the locale that deal with people which have the disorder and their families. Joining a support group would be important in providing for them a framework for support. They would be able to see and learn from families and people who have faced similar challenges and have been able to make it through. An example of such that they can contact is the Asperger Syndrome and High functioning Autism Association that deals with different support groups, offers information for school age and adult issues and offers seminars and educational newsletters. Financial advice Jeff and Sandy would be advised to involve a professional in their money handling plans, so that they are able to balance between what they earn and their expenses so that they can live comfortably. This would probably involve cutting down of their expenses and involving other business ventures in order to have an extra income. The ‘Premier Financial Advisors’ who offer free consultations are recommended for this service due to their reputation that precedes them. Addiction counseling for Jeff Jeff clearly has an issue with alcoholism that is hurting his family in more ways than he cares to admit. The ‘psychiatric and addictions services’ or the ‘Psychiatric addiction service’ of Queens are highly recommended for the quality of services that they offer at reasonable costs. They offer 28 day programs that are known for their effectiveness. All through the programs, the individual is exposed to others who have the challenge or have already overcome the addiction and so they are encouraged. Conclusion For any family, regardless of the length of time which they have been, communication is of key importance, as it is for every marriage. Whenever the parents in a family lose touch with one another and forget the very reasons that they are married, problems begin to ensure that can only be solved in going back to the basics. Going back to the root issues of a problem is thus very vital to ensuring that the problem is adequately solved (Senter, 2003). This is the basis for the whole plan that is proposed. The major problem for the Williams family is basically communication, as is the case with many other families out there, when communication fails many things in a family fail. After having begotten Jacob and unable to figure out how to handle his condition which they had not anticipated caused them to have tension between them. They did not seek knowledge on how to treat the situation and continued as though everything was as it ought to be. Leo was born in an already malfunctioning family even if it may not have seemed so from the beginning. He grew up not getting attention from his parents and brother and thus learnt from a very early age that he could not depend on them. He learned to avoid them in order to protect himself from hurt. Jeff, in order to cope with the distance that came with his wife and family turned to drinking to offer him consolation. Sandy could not understand either of them but had a deep desire to see things work in her family. She tried engaging in conversations with Jeff but they could not yield much as he was always drunk. The whole family needs help but only Sandy realized it and thus the need for a program that will first help them realize this need and gain hope for a better family so that then, they could work towards it. That is to be served by the counseling sessions individually and later as a family and the activities that they engage in together offering them a glimpse of a better life. Engaging themselves with a support group helps in showing that the goal is achievable. References Attwood, T. (1998). Aspergers syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Heru, A. M., & Drury, L. M. (2007). Working with families of psychiatric inpatients: A guide for clinicians. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Ingram, B. L. (2012). Clinical case formulations: Matching the integrative treatment plan to the client. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Jacobsen, P. (2003). Asperger syndrome and psychotherapy: Understanding Asperger perspectives. London: Jessica Kingsley. Senter, H., & Institute of Leadership & Management (Great Britain). (2003). Solving problems. Oxford: Pergamon Flexible Learning. Stoddart, K. P. (2005). Children, youth and adults with Asperger Syndrome: Integrating multiple perspectives . London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Read More