Multitheoretical Assessment of an Alcoholic

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Introduction
The client of focus is a twenty-seven year old, African American male who suffers from severe alcoholism. In order to protect the confidentiality of my client he will be referred to as Johnathan throughout this paper. Johnathan has a daughter that is 5 years of age who also suffers from the consequences of her father’s actions. Before interviewing I explained to Johnathan that anything he shared with me would be completely confidential, and that he could stop at any time during the interview if he felt uncomfortable. I also explained to him that the purpose of my paper was to simply assess his real life situation based on multiple theories in social work. To begin the interview off I went on to seek the root of Johnathan’s drinking problem. Johnathan shared with me that he doesn’t really know why he started drinking but, he knows why he continues to drink. He then expressed to me that he feels as if the ones he considers closest to him, including friends, and family judge him based on his lifestyle. He feels that he cannot make anyone proud, including his daughter.
About 4 years ago Johnathan was in a tragic car accident due to drinking and driving. He fell asleep at the wheel and drove his car underneath a parked 18 wheeler on the side of the highway. Johnathan not only put himself in danger, but also a friend of his that was passed out in the backseat. This caused Johnathan to have to have massive facial reconstructive surgery. Johnathan’s friend suffered minor injuries since he was lying down.
You would think that after this experience he would change his ways, if not for himself, but for his daughter. Johnathan still continued to drink heavily after this which put a toll on his relationship with his daughter ...

... middle of paper ...

...s environment as the engine, and I myself as the mechanic. I used the metaphor to describe how Johnathan has no motivation within his self, how his family (environment/engine) don’t support him, which leads to him having no self-confidence in himself. Metaphorically, he’s been without the engine for so long, he forgot how what it feels like to drive. My job as the mechanic is to get him to drive again by getting him to believe in himself even if nobody else does. My job is to make him his own support system and not alcohol

Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2014, from Alternatives for Alcoholism: http://www.alternatives-for-alcoholism.com/holistic.html
Forte, J. A. (2007). Human Behavior and The Social Environment. Belmont: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.
Wikiquote. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 25, 2014, from Systems Theory: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Systems_theory

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