One time when my cousin was 18 years old, he was living in the
Richmond, VA area, and started to go crazy saying he was going to kill
his mom and said he wanted to go live with his dad (his parents are
divorced); shortly after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He ran
away from home, and ended up on a bus from Richmond to
Philadelphia, PA. Once he arrived in Philly, he made it to a homeless
shelter and gave me a call to let me know what happened and where
he was. I urged him he needed to seek the proper treatment and see
someone to help with the thoughts he was having. After living at the
homeless shelter in Philly for almost 1 year, he eventually moved back
home to the Richmond area. Once he returned home, he took my
advice and went to counseling and even started on a medication
regimen. Now, he is living with his mom again and has a steady job.
This situation is similar in a few ways to the Helping Process by way of
listening to my cousin when he needed to talk (and when he ran away)
and also by offering advice. It is also similar to the process by offering
intervention strategies such as seeking treatment and counseling
services to help with the schizophrenia. Lastly, it is similar by ending
the client services/termination.
Describe a time when you helped a friend or family member.
Recently I had a friend approach me with a problem. He told me that a
friend of his is dealing with addiction and that it's affecting his family,
job, and his overall life. My friend understands that I'm in recovery and
have been for the past three years and that I've been through
counseling and been to peer specialist training/course and that I'm
going to school to become a counselor. My friend asked me about
some advice that I can give him so that he can help his friend. First, we
recognized the problem which is affecting this individual. Second, we
discussed some of his problems to the best of my friend's knowledge
addiction has affected his life. Third, I discussed some of the resources
I use such as High-Country Behavioral health and gave him the phone
number to the office. The problems that we both identified are:
1- Addiction to alcohol and some drugs.
2- The addiction is affecting this individual's overall life.
3- The individual understands that his entire life is being negatively
affected by his addiction to alcohol and some drugs.
Understanding that my friend's friend is suffering through addiction and
that it's been a problem for quite some time. Wanting to help my friend
with this I began to explain the resources that I know will help him. I
mentioned High Country Behavioral Health the agency that I'm
associated with. I mentioned AA and NA meetings and provided the
times and places that these meetings take place in the community. I
mentioned High-Country Behavioral Health and gave him the direct
number to their office.
Describe how your process of understanding the problem and
offering assistance compared to the different phases of the
helping process described in chapter 7 in the textbook.
In our text it explains that "The helping process occurs in both formal
and informal settings" (Woodside, McClam, 2019, p.158).
Understanding that helping can be both formal and informal. In this
situation is more informal and not having some of the tools mentioned
in the text. I went on my past experiences and some observational
learning and some tools I've learned in peer specialist training. Using
motivational interviewing trying to get some of the main issues by
asking questions, trying to relate and get to the point of the issue and
recognizing that this individual needs help.
Stages in the helping process.
1- Preparation
2-The Client Arrives
3-Exploring the problem
4-Intervention Strategies
5-Ending client services
Since I am trying to help my friend in a more informal setting, I ask
about how his friend is doing and try to help every way that I can. I
know that helping individuals in an agency or professional atmosphere
is definitely more structured in the helping process but identifying the
process I have a better understanding of how I can help direct my
friend's friend in receiving the help that he needs.
Woodside, M., & McClam, T., (2019). An Introduction to Human
Services. (9th. ed.). Cengage.
