Social Support
The first goal is to help families that are working to recover from substance abuse to develop social support in their efforts to change. Those who abuse substances have their social interaction mainly centered on using. The sources of social support and customary activities will be disrupted by making efforts to stop usage. The efforts by the clients to change may also be threatened.
A better way of dealing with this is to enhance social support and recreation by helping clients and family members that are affected in devising events that are not associated with use of drugs. Drug-free activities may already be part of the clients’ agenda and counselors can find out from the families regarding the things they used to be actively involved in before they got engaged in substance abuse. In other cases, nearly every aspect of the client’s life is attributed to substance abuse, and for such situations, new activities are supposed to be devised (McCollum & Trepper, 2001, p. 111).
Helping the clients get employment
The other goals are: giving motivation to the clients to look for employment, teaching them how to ask for job interviews from potential employers with efficacy, and obtaining employment. Research shows that individuals who abuse substances are likely to quit their jobs compared to those who do not. These individuals also find it difficult to get jobs that are fulfilling and those that are in line with their treatment program. There are several steps to the fulfillment of these goals. First, there is an assessment to verify the interest of the client in getting a satisfactory job. If this is the case, the client is requested to explain how important the satisfying job will be while the MHP checklist has information that reinforces the significance of the job. It is normally important to implore the aspects of a career and its related benefits (Donohue & Allen, 2011).
Another thing worth inquiring in meeting these goals is the contribution of the client towards making a dream job come to pass. This entails how to deal with hindrances that may hamper the attainment of a dream job. The purpose of these queries is to motivate the client to pursue a job opportunity client that have been referred for employment often lack.
Another thing that clients are made aware of is that job getting helps them to effectively get ready for interviews. This also includes skills that are in line with being interviewed for the jobs. It is also vital to let the clients know that classified adverts contribute a small percentage of jobs and that besides using it they should also embrace telephone networking with their prospective employers. Moreover, “clients are told that job getting has been successful in achieving employment for others and they are asked to indicate how job getting would be helpful to them” (Donohue & Allen, 2011).
Conclusion
Designing goals for the intervention plan of a family with substance abuse requires a clear understanding of the clients. The first goal is social support. This entails devising drug free activities that will substitute the ones they were using previously. The other goals are motivating clients in seeking employment, teaching them how to secure interviews from prospective employers and getting employed. These goals are geared towards helping the clients get into employment. This is done by motivating them to pursue their careers, know how to get jobs, win interviews and get them to appreciate the value of being employed.
References
Donohue, B. & Allen, D., (2011). Treating Adult Substance Abuse Using Family Behavior Therapy: A Step-by-Step Approach. NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved on 20 May 2011.
McCollum, E.E, & Trepper, T.S., (2001). Family solutions for substance abuse: clinical and counseling approaches. NY: Routledge. Retrieved on 20 May 2011.