Assignment 4
Write an APA 5-6
page report on the case study “Thomas” available in the course
content. Respond to the questions below in your analysis of this case:
What
stereotypes and myths are perpetuated in this case study?
What issues and
concerns are raised in this case study?
Describe how
you would use motivational interviewing with this client. Where would you
begin? How would you get him to consider change?
How would you
work with this client from an ecological, structural, critical, and Aboriginal
perspective?
What supports
or resources would you refer Thomas to? (This can be very specific to your
community.)
What course of
action would you take to support Thomas in this situation? Give reasons for
your choices.
Note: the
supports and resources will vary from community to community. It is interesting
to note the differences but these can also be opportunities for you to work
towards getting needed resources in your own community.
Thomas
is a 19 year old Cree youth, original from a First Nation near Cochrane,
Ontario. When he was 5, Thomas and his three siblings (two brothers, one
sister) were made wards of the Children’s Aid Society because their alcoholic
parents were neglecting them. Thomas was adopted by a non-Indigenous family who
were evangelical Christians of German descent who had Thomas baptized into
their faith. He was sent to a small Christian school where he was the only
Indigenous student.
When
he was 12, he ran away from home. He was found hitchhiking on the highway by
the police, who returned him to his adoptive parents. At age 13, Thomas began
to drink and use marijuana. He began to steal from his parents in order to buy
drugs and alcohol. Several times he was caught and punished by his parents, but
the punishment did not deter him from continuing to steal and abuse alcohol and
drugs. At age 14, he ran away again and his parents, unable to cope with his
behaviour, did not try to find him. Since that time he has been on his own. He
has not seen his natural parents or his siblings since he was adopted at the
age of 6.
Case Study
At
age 16, Thomas spent six months in a young offender’s unit for stealing food,
cigarettes and money from a convenience store. His social worker helped him to
obtain welfare and, when he was released, find a room in a rooming house. She
also helped him enroll in a special Indigenous program at a large secondary
school in Sudbury. Although he does well when he attends, Thomas missed about
half his classes and has been suspended twice for getting into confrontations
with his male teachers. He has threatened them with physical violence, although
he has never followed through on these threats. His English teacher, with whom
he gets along very well, believes that Thomas is by nature a gentle person who
threatens people only when he himself feels threatened.
Thomas
spends most of his free time drinking and playing pool with some older friends
who are also unemployed. He has a girlfriend, who is also Indigenous and a
street kid. Recently she found out she is pregnant. She and Thomas are
discussing the possibility of getting married since she wants to keep the baby.
Thomas is not sure what he wants to do. He likes the idea of having a family of
his own, but is afraid of the responsibility of a family. As well, he has fears
that he will repeat his own parents’ abuse and neglect. Thomas recognizes that
he has a drinking problem, but seems unwilling to do anything about it. He tends to believe that his drinking problem
is due to the fact that he is Indigenous.
Thomas
tells his school counsellor that he wants to graduate from secondary school and
become a carpenter, since the classes he enjoys most are the shop classes he
takes. He admits that his attendance is a problem, but he can’t seem to get
motivated to attend school long enough to obtain the credits he needs to
graduate. He also complains that the teachers treat him like a kid, when they
should recognize that he’s been on his own for almost three years now, and they
should treat him more like an adult. Thomas has agreed to see the Indigenous
counsellor who works in the special school program for Indigenous youth in
order to try to get his life together.
References
Duran, E. &
Duran, B. (1995) Native American postcolonial psychology. Albany: UNY Pres.
Hodgson, M.
(1997). Cross-addictions of gambling, alcohol and drugs in Aboriginal
communities. Native Social Work Journal, 1, May. Sudbury: Laurentian University
Press. 25-32.
Leland, J.
(1976). Firewater Myths. New Jersey: Rutgers Centre of Alcohol Studies.
National Native
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (2015). Retrieved from:
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/canadian-drugs-substances-strategy/funding/national-native-alcohol-drug-abuse-program.html
Prochanska
Report of the
Royal Commission on Aboriginal peoples, Vol. 3. (1996). Ottawa: Canada
Communication Group Publishing.
Rollnick S.,
& Miller, W.R. (1995). What is
motivational interviewing? Behavioural
and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 325-334.
Smillie-Adjarkwa,
C. (2009). Aboriginal alcohol addiction in Ontario Canada: A look at the
history and current healing methods that are working in breaking the cycle of
abuse. Indigenous Policy Journal. December 16, 2009. Retrieved from:
Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). What We Have Learned, Principles
of Truth and Reconciliation. Retrieved from:
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/trc/IR4-6-2015-eng.pdf
Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada: Calls to Action. Retrieved from:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/indigenous-people/aboriginal-peoples-documents/calls_to_action_english2.pdf
