Assessment Description: Case Studies are an effective way of diagnosing client issues and formulating a treatment plan. In the following Case Study you will be required to formulate a number of components in developing a case plan for working with an addicted client. The aim of case studies is to give students a sense of working with an ongoing client. It is important to note that whilst there are no right or wrong answers the client has a number of issues that will need to be identified if not addressed.
Assessment Brief
Program
Bachelor of Applied Social Science
Subject
Working with Addicted Populations
Subject code
COU301A
Name of assessment
Assessment 3: Case Study
Length
Words: 2500
Learning outcomes addressed by
this assessment:
B, C, D, E
Submission Date:
End of week 11, Sunday 11.55 pm
Assessment brief summary:
Expand on the summary below and use hypothetical ideas when
conceptualising a treatment plan for the case study client.
Total marks
50
Weighting
50%
Students are advised that any submissions past the due date incur a 10% penalty per day, calculated from the total mark e.g. a
task marked out of 40 will incur a 4 mark penalty per day.
Students must attempt all tasks in the unit to be eligible to pass the unit
More information can be found in Think Education Assessment Policy document on the Think Education website
(http://www.think.edu.au).
BASS COU301A
Page 1
Assessment Description:
Case Studies are an effective way of diagnosing client issues and formulating a treatment plan.
In the following Case Study you will be required to formulate a number of components in developing a case plan
for working with an addicted client. The aim of case studies is to give students a sense of working with an ongoing
client. It is important to note that whilst there are no right or wrong answers the client has a number of issues
that will need to be identified if not addressed.
Case Study
Brad is a 22 year old male who has been referred to you by a mutual friend of his mother who has asked if you
could have a chat with him as he seems to be getting into more and more trouble which she believes is due to
his excessive drinking. He has also recently lost his drivers licence for high range drink driving.
You agree and are contacted by Brads mother Sandra: she is clearly very anxious and distressed about Brad and
she gives you a blow by blow list of his negative behaviours over the past 2 years.
Sandra reports that Brad was diagnosed with ADD at age 9 as was his sister Samantha who is a year older. He
has been failing at University over the past 12 months and has become verbally aggressive at home in particular
towards herself; he is coming home at all hours and will often sleep all day unless she nags him to get up. She
believes Brad is becoming an alcoholic just like her father was and that he needs someone to make him see that
he is ruining his life. She states that Brad was such a lovely young man before his drinking escalated with the
world at his feet. She also believes he needs to talk about an accident he caused 4 years ago whilst driving drunk
on a friends farm which has left one of his mates with a permanent brain injury. She goes on to say we have
given him the best private school education and supported him in whatever he has wanted to do scholastically.
He was top of the school in rowing and has been studying law at University after a gap year in England.
She says Brad is willing to talk to you and sets up an appointment.
Brad attends his first session; his mother has dropped him off and is waiting outside in her car until hes finished.
Brad appears well kempt and healthy: he is over six foot tall and a good looking young man. He initially seems
reluctant to engage with you and has difficulty making eye contact; when you enquire as to why he thinks he is
here he says, Im not quite sure what did mum say
You state that his mother is concerned that he has a problem with alcohol but would like to hear what he has to
say about that. Brad goes on to defend his drinking by saying that its not that bad and that his friends drink the
same way he does and that his mum is just freaked out because her dad was an alcoholic which Im not!
You discover that Brad experiences memory loss frequently when drinking but he thinks thats normal as his
mates have had similar experiences. His mates have also told him that he can become aggressive and will often
start fights when out with them. He has a tendency not to believe this and thinks they are exaggerating.
He minimizes the drink driving charge as just bad luck and not being all that serious however he does appear to
be concerned when you describe the consequences of such a charge and he is open to seeing you again if you
can help with that.
