Discussion Question WK 4

Georgia

Georgia is your newest and most outspoken client. She is 60 years old and a self-professed product of “the system” due to an early history of traumas. As a young girl, Georgia was sexually abused by her father. In her teens, this sexual abuse was carried on by her brother, resulting in an abortion and a two-year psychiatric hospitalization. This time away from her family was described as a “happy time” by Georgia. Hospital auspices allowed her to finish high school, where she promptly decided to move away and attend college. Georgia went on to pursue her graduate degree and her hard work and academic achievements earned her a position as a college professor. As Georgia excelled in the professional world, her personal life continued to silently crumble. Her past made her hesitant to initiate any form of intimate relationship with the opposite sex, making her attempts at dating fail after a few awkward dates. She tried to bury feelings of loneliness by consuming herself with work, but that gave way to binge drinking and inconsistent patterns in her diet. Georgia’s breakdowns became severe when students reported her as either showing up drunk or not at all for her classes. These breakdowns led to multiple hospitalizations, forcing the college to relieve Georgia from her position indefinitely.

You visit with Georgia at the group home where she has lived for the past year. She is not working and is living off Social Security benefits. She has no problem sharing her distrust of government agencies with you, giving detailed examples of how each one cares only about the best ways to help itself.

After talking with each of the agencies that affect Georgia’s case, you find that her perception of the situation is not too far off. Each agency admits that it is having trouble directing care for this woman. Social Security would like her to keep working so welfare payments do not have to be made. State rehabilitation services believe that past behaviors and a recent double diagnosis of depression and diabetes make her too incompetent to work. An employment service has had trouble placing her in a job because of her age and the fact that she is overqualified for most positions. Her doctor believes that Georgia should not even be thinking of work and should be focused more on controlling her aggressive behavior and taking her medications. As a case manager, your task is developing a service plan for Georgia. Think about her current needs and how you might coordinate services among multiple agencies.