Donna’s Case study (Essay Sample)

Donna’s Case study
Student’s Name
Department, Institutional Affiliation
Course Code: Course Name
Professor’s Name
Date

Donna’s Case study
Question 1: Donna’s Story from a Problem-Solving Perspective
Describing Donna’s story from a problem-solving perspective requires identifying her challenges, problems’ source, and solutions to these issues. The problem-solving perspective defines a problem, identifies its source, and identifies, selects, and implements the most appropriate solution (Turner, 2017). Donna is a Cree woman who is a former drug addict and a prostitute from Canada (Cuthand, 2001). She started prostitution at her young age, and at 17 years, she engaged in drug abuse (Cuthand, 2001). By her 34th birthday, Donna had six children and two granddaughters who she brought up alone after a divorce from her husband (Cuthand, 2001). Additionally, her mother is a former prostitute who underwent counseling to overcome stress related to her difficult life experiences. The difficult life that Donna and her mother experience originates from their wrong choices and inadequate income sources. Additionally, Donna’s challenges originate from her poor upbringing and abuses that she faced as a child (National Film Board of Canada & Films for the Humanities (Firm), 2003). Indeed, Donna became a prostitute and a drug addict because of her wrong choices, poor upbringing, and abuse that she experienced.
If I were a social worker and Donna’s co-worker, I would help her to set and implement goals that could improve her life and help other people with similar issues. For instance, I would recommend Donna to start a counseling program for prostitutes, drug addicts, and struggling parents. She could use different approaches to resolve their issues. For example, based on the contingency management intervention, which Petry (2011) defines as a “type of behavioral therapy in which individuals are reinforced or rewarded for evidence of positive behavioral change,” Donna could reward prostitution and drug addiction victims for their positive behavior change. Alternatively, Donna could establish a charity foundation to support prostitutes, drug addicts, and their families to adopt a decent life by helping them to abandon prostitution and drug addiction. For instance, Donna could apply cognitive-behavioral therapy to help drug addicts and prostitutes to change their deviant behaviors. Cherry (2020) states that “cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people to learn how to identify and change destructive thought patterns that have a negative influence on behavior and emotions.” Donna’s foundation could financially support drug addicts to attend rehab centers to overcome drug addiction and fund businesses for reformed prostitutes and drug addicts to protect them from financial hurdles that could drive them to revert to deviant behaviors. The resources that Donna would require to implement the goals include an office, conference room, money, rewards, and donors to support prostitution and drug abuse victims and their families. Indeed, Donna could establish a counseling program and a charity foundation to help prostitutes and drug addicts to abandon their destructive behaviors.
Question 2: Donna’s Situation from a Strengths-Based Approach
Based on the Strengths-based approach, Donna portrays various capabilities to rediscover her life and overcome the prostitution and drug abuse influences. The strengths-based theory discusses individuals’ strengths and determination to overcome adverse conditions that they experience (Steiner, 2011). The approach provides the right conditions and environment to control the change processes. Moreover, it promotes individuals’ thought processes and open communication to determine values and align their strengths during the change process (Rashid, 2015). In Donna’s story, strengths and resilience to change her life and her family’s life are evident. For instance, she is honest, understanding, courageous, and kind, and empathetic. She demonstrates her kindness by helping others to overcome their prostitution and drug abuse behaviors. Donna’s empathy for other people facing her situation leads her to become a counselor to help to overcome such destructive behaviors. Additionally, she demonstrates her commitment and resilience to continue changing, growing, and learning to become a respected individual. Besides, the ex-drug addict understood her husband when he divorced her and did not blame him for her struggles. Donna knew that she would face stigma from other people from her past destructive behaviors, but her courage maintained her determination to transform her life (Cuthand, 2001). To this end, Donna reveals her resilience and strengths to transform into a better person and help others to change, which are strength-based approach tenets.
I would use Donna’s strengths and resiliencies to create a plan to work with her, and I would apply a problem-solving perspective to help people. For instance, I would set up conferences for youths struggling with drug addiction and prostitution and invite Donna to inspire such people. I would encourage Donna to share her drug addiction and prostitution experience with such youths and inspire them using how her courage and resilience helped her to overcome the problem (Cuthand, 2001). Furthermore, I would refer drug addicts and youth prostitutes to Donna to help them to cope with life and overcome their issues because she has transformed several people’s lives through her counseling programs. I would apply a problem-solving perspective instead of a strength-based approach to help people to overcome their destructive lifestyles. Through the problem-solving approach, I would identify their problems, problems’ causes, solutions to overcome such challenges, and implement such solutions (Jonassen, 2011). The problem-solving approach is better than the strength-based approach because it identifies the problem source as opposed to the latter (Jonassen, 2011; Rashid, 2015). Therefore, I would invite Donna to share her story, refer youths struggling with prostitution and drug addiction to her, and apply a problem-based perspective to transform people’s lives.
Question 3: Evidence of Voluntary and Involuntary Professional Relationships
During counseling sessions for drug addiction, social workers experience voluntary and involuntary relationships with drug addicts. In voluntary relationships, social workers interact with individuals who willingly want assistance to overcome their addiction problems (Greene, 2017). However, involuntary relationships occur when legal orders, parents, employers, and spouses coerce individuals to work with social workers to overcome their addiction issues (Healy, 2014). Social control mechanisms are applied to individuals with deviant or undesirable behaviors to help them to conform to societal norms (Peguero et al., 2011). Additionally, social workers improve people’s wellbeing using social care interventions, such as counseling, child fostering and adoption, community work, and early days’ childcare (Smith, 2020). Individuals mostly involuntarily seek counseling to overcome drug addiction because they experience pressure from drug abuse withdrawal challenges (Jacobsen, 2013). Social pressure (involuntary) and desire to overcome drug addiction (voluntary) led Donna to involuntarily seek treatment for her drug abuse problem. During her childhood, Donna lacked social care interventions, such as early childcare and fostering, which according to Cuthhand (2001), prevent vulnerable children from adopting deviant behaviors. Therefore, Donna’s withdrawal from her deviant behavior was voluntary because she willingly looked for counseling help and involuntary because she opted to change due to societal pressure.
Question 4: Child Welfare
Child welfare is evident in Donna’s story when child welfare services facilitate her firstborn child's adoption to assure her child’s wellbeing and safety. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway (2018), child welfare maintains children’s safety and assesses if families have adequate support and resources to provide their care successfully. Child welfare agencies prevent child neglect and abuse, arrange for foster care, provide family assistance, and support children’s wellbeing. All Canadian local municipalities have child welfare agencies with legal obligations to investigate child neglect and abuse cases and take the right actions to provide child protection (Government of Canada, 2018). The child welfare evidence occurs in Donna’s story when child welfare service puts her firstborn up for adoption due to her incapability to assure her child’s wellbeing and safety. The incident motivates Donna to end the generational domestic violence cycle and drug abuse problem that affected her family to prevent her children from experience similar risks that she faced as a child. From a child-protection approach, Donna’s situation could have been different if child welfare services existed during her childhood. The child welfare services could have saved Donna and her siblings from their abusive mother and uncle. In this case, Donna would not have resolved into prostitution and drug abuse (Cuthand, 2001). Indeed, child welfare is evident in Donna’s story when child welfare services put up her child for adoption, and Donna could have had a different life if such services were available during her childhood.
Question 5: Structural Argument of Donna’s Situation
Structural issues contributed to Donna’s drug addiction and prostit...