2-2 Journal: Personal Reactions to Joe Smith
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2-2 Journal: Personal Reactions to Joe Smith
HSE-350 Substance Use: From Screening
Southern New Hampshire University
Wanda J. Prince
January 16, 2022
2-2 Journal: Personal Reactions to Joe Smith
Reading Joe's story hurts me to my soul. I just want to give him a hug and tell him that
everything will be okay, and he can recover. Joe is stuck in a cycle of drug use where he believes
that there is no way out for him. He believes that it is easier and more beneficial to him to sell
drugs than it is to get a job. He believes that there are more people at NA and AA meetings using
and selling drugs then there are sober. Joe has a distorted perception of things due to his past
traumas and experiences.
Joe's culture of abuse began at an early age. His mother is a daily drinker, his father treated him
poorly and his uncle sexually abused him. Because of the abuse he endured Joe began to believe
that he deserved the treatment and abuse. Joe reported the abuse to a counselor and the counselor
reported it to DCYF and this led to Joe having mistrust and bias against counselors. Joe felt that
it was better to sustain the abuse than to report it. This is sad and unfortunately how a lot of
people feel. Joe's attitude towards past counseling is that he cannot really trust counselors and
that counseling does not work. He feels this way because he felt betrayal from the counselor that
he confided all his secrets in then turned around and reported it. This left Joe with a bad memory
because it did not seem to change the course of abuse and in fact in Joe's opinion it only made
things worse. Having this traumatic experience happen leaves Joe to feel like counseling is a
waste of time and will not do him any good.
Joe has a good chance of recovery. Joe recognizes his issues and seems to genuinely want to stop
using drugs. This is a noticeably big and crucial step. Joe is not being forced to get help he is
actively seeking it on his own and recognizes that drugs are his weakness. This is an important
realization to make. He also recognizes that he does not handle stress well, so he has a good
2-2 Journal: Personal Reactions to Joe Smith
chance of being able to be taught some healthy coping skills and different ways to handle stress
and this can aid in his recovery. Joe may experience a relapse along the way but that is a part of
the disease of addiction. I think he should be taught not to beat himself up over it and introduced
to a good sober NA sponsor and group and he will do well in recovery because he wants it.
The biopsychosocial assessment is straight forward, and I understand all the assessment. The
assessment is thorough and