Discussion 1: Mental Health and the Family
The unique pressures of young and middle adulthood—financial and career ambitions, building a family, caring for older relatives—can contribute to mental health and substance use issues. It is important to remember that these issues affect not only the individual but also loved ones living in the same home such as partners and children.
In cases of mental health and substance use, social workers can use psychoeducation with family members to provide information about a mental health issue and treatment. When using this intervention, social workers must adapt it to the specific family members, accommodating their cognitive level and age.
For this Discussion, you analyze a case in which a returning soldier, who is also a husband and father, experiences mental health symptoms resulting from combat.
By 12/18/2021
Respond to two colleagues by critiquing their strategies for applying psychoeducation and providing suggestions for how to approach the situation differently. Additionally, share at least one community resource in your area that could help Marcus and his family.
Use the Learning Resources to support your posts. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.
Discussion 1 Colleagues1: Kenchelle Wells
In what ways has trauma impacted Marcus’s daily functioning? Trauma can occur to anyone and at any time and this is especially true for military families (Herzog et al,2020). Marcus’s trauma comes from him being deployed multiple times in battle zones overseas. His daily functioning has been tremendously impacted because of the deployments. He is having issues adjusting to daily life since returning home. Marcus is having a hard time connecting with his wife and son the way he would like to. He loves his wife but doesn’t know how to connect with her anymore and he also is having a hard time being an attentive father. Marcus is also having a hard time staying motivated in life. He wants to find employment and continue his education, but he just can’t find it within himself to do those things that he has a desire to do. Marcus’s trauma also has him staring off into space at times, as well as difficulty sleeping because of nightmares. He has lost weight and feels as though as he has a short fuse and could go off at a moment’s notice.
Describe how you as the social worker would integrate elements of psychoeducation with Marcus and his family.
As the social worker to Marcus and his family the elements of psychoeducation that I would integrate would be trauma-informed care. Trauma-informed care also known as TIC, “can be conceptualized as the contextual framework in which trauma impacted individuals are treated” (Herzog et al, 2020). The goal of working with Marcus and his family is to get them both to understand how the other is feeling and how to work together to help the other. In order to do this, each person must identify that there is trauma in their lives. Once this has been accepted by everyone than I can move on to helping them with what they are going through. Educating Marcus and his family on what he is going through and how it affects him as well as them is key to their treatment.