Treatment Plan
Treatment Plan for Amy
About the Client
This treatment plan is designed to address the problems faced by Amy. The client is a teenage girl under a lot of stress. Her father had had a stroke and is still in hospital while her mother just lost her employment. Apart from the problems at home, Amy also faces discrimination and bullying at school aggravating her level of stress. Amy is afraid of sharing her problems as she is afraid of retaliation and being regarded as a snitch.
Problems facing Amy
The first problem that Amy is facing is the chronic health condition of her father, which affects her mentally and psychologically. The second problem is communication problems in Amy’s family. Amy is also facing a problem of bullying in school where some girls consider her ugly and hence make it a routine to bully her, including threatening to beat her up. She, therefore, presents the problem of low self-esteem, insecurity, poor academic performance, panic attacks, mental distress, and a feeling of rejection.
Prioritizing the Problems
The situation with Amy is complicated because there is an array of issues she is facing. This is the reason why it is important to prioritize and organize the best strategies for a fast response. The first step in working with the client in prioritizing the needs is to get to understand the situation that they consider worst. Amy is facing different challenges, but there is one she feels is more distressing. This is the issue that should be discussed and handled first. The panic attacks she experiences are due to the stress she passes through when taken advantage of in school. Amy feels that she is being dominated and manipulated because she is threatened that if she exposes them, the punishment is severe.
The second approach is to deal with the symptom, which is the panic attack to help get the cause or the history behind the problems. This means that for Amy, all her fears should be considered first and deal with each until the root cause of the problem is understood.
Related Needs
From the problems identified, Amy must get social support. It is vital to link Amy with someone at school with whom she can share her problems. The feeling of rejection and being neglected requires that she be supported. At the same time, she needs to feel good and beautiful to avoid self-rejection. Low self-esteem is destructive. Intervention should help Amy improve mental strength and concept of self.
Using Client strengths
Using the client strengths helps to create resourcefully and resilience on the adverse conditions they are facing. This helps to have the outcomes based on the future set of strengths of Amy. Using the strengths of the client will enhance the intervention process. It will make the process more involving and centred on the client hence helping them work out of the issues on their own. It is possible to work on the positive attitude depicted to enhance the recovery. Amy is an intelligent girl with excellent communication skills. She is also open to helping others, including her brother. Amy also has a reliable support system.
Treatment Plan Goals
The first treatment goal is that Amy will implement a socializing behavior that promotes talking and sharing of her problems with her mother. This is meant to ensure she talks about why she feels neglected. Secondly, it will give her time to share what happened in school. She will also explain her feelings about the entire family problem due to the sickness of the father. The objective, in this case, is that Amy will make a list of times as well as issues hey discuss with the mother and how she feels after.
The second goal is to enhance self-esteem and self-love for Amy. This is a way that will help her overcome fear and the bullying she is undergoing in school. With self-esteem, she will be able to stand up her ground when told she is ugly. The objective will be; Amy will make a plan on how she is supposed to behave and how she feels when she meets the bullying girls.
Action Steps to achieve Objectives
In the first objective, the social worker will provide guidelines to Amy on how to have effective communication with the mother. Secondly, the social worker will provide materials for Amy to document her progress.
The second objective’s action steps include; The social worker will lead Amy into understanding that personality and appearance are as a result of self-acceptance. When she knows that she is beautiful, the bad words from outside will not affect her. At the same time, the social worker will provide the materials for keeping the plan.
Evidence on the Intervention strategy
According to Nguyen, Karney and Bradbury, in any circumstances where there is lack of communication, different issues arise in a social relationship (2020). This can be as a result of misinterpretation or misunderstanding. A person who can communicate assertively makes it clear and direct and expresses their opinion inappropriate ways. Therefore, with proper communication at home, Amy can overcome the stress related to the sickness of the father as well as express her concerns to the mother on what she is facing. Secondly, standing up and showing the bully that you are no longer afraid is one of the effective measures of overcoming bullying (Garner & Boulton, 2016). Amy will be able to learn how to remain calm and focused and not be controlled by fear.
Information to be Documented in a Treatment Plan
In a treatment plan, it is important to have information about the names, goals and objectives. This is important to show progress in a clear manner. When this information is available also, the writing of a progress note is easier for the social worker.
References
Garner, I. W., & Boulton, M. J. (2016). Adolescent’s unambiguous knowledge of overcoming bullying and developing resilience. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 9(2), 199-207.
Nguyen, T. P., Karney, B. R., & Bradbury, T. N. (2020). When poor communication does and does not matter: The moderating role of stress. Journal of Family Psychology.