Swanson, Sherry

Liz Wolf & Lauren Breen

Client: Sherry Swanson

4/21/2010 2:31 PM

F/F

Human Services Worker(s):

Parole Officer Hernandez, the primary human services worker, and Parole Officer

Murphy are the assigned human services workers on this case. Their duty is to monitor Sherry

Swanson’s progress and regression in regards to her drug use and daily living capabilities. When

she first gets out of prison she will be moving into the Genesis House which we located for her.

They must drug test her, to see if she is clean, if she comes up dirty then they must report her and

she will go to prison or another option would be to do outpatient or inpatient rehab depending on

the circumstances. It is also their duty to check with the halfway house that she is living at to see

if she is making curfew and if she is staying there, if she is not doing either of these things that is

also grounds for her to go back to prison. The primary goal of the parole officer is properly

integrated into society. While being on parole Sherry Swanson is required to retain a job, it is our

job to connect her to an employment office. Mr. Monroe is the employment agent that connects

Sherry with the job at the local Catholic day care center.

Demographics’ and Presenting Problem:

A 22 year old, Caucasian, Female whose name is Sherry Swanson reports that she needs

to see her daughter, Alexis, and get custody of her. In our opinion her presenting problem is a

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Swanson, Sherry

drug and alcohol problem. This resulted in her committing robbery to get money to buy drugs.

Without sobriety she will have nothing, including her daughter.

Background Information:

Family History:

Sherry Swanson is single and had Alexis Parks with Richie Parks, who as Sherry

describes him is “a low life scum”. Sherry’s father is Bob Swanson Sr. and is married to Marcia

Swanson, which is her step mother. Sherry’s real mother dies when she was a young girl. Sherry

reports that her father is inappropriate with her and touches her in a way that a father shouldn’t

touch a daughter; it is my assumption that the sexual abuse started around when Sherry’s mother

died. Sherry’s brother Bobby Swanson and wife Lynette are taking care of Alexis because Sherry

cannot do it. Lynette does not want Alexis calling Sherry “mommy”, both Bobby and Lynette do

not want Sherry to be a large part of Alexis’s life yet, and Sherry seems very upset by this fact.

Education:

Sherry Swanson has obtained her GED and has gone through several parenting training

programs. The training programs that she has completed are as follows; Parenting from the

Inside, Parenting Program, and Children’s Center.

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Swanson, Sherry

Legal/ Criminal:

Sherry Swanson just finished a 3 year sentence for robbery and is now on parole. Client

states that the she stole to get money for drugs i.e.: heroin.

Employment:

While being on parole client is required to obtain employment and live at the Genesis

House. The employment agency found Sherry Swanson a job at a local Catholic day care center.

To get this job client performed oral sex on the employment agent, Mr. Monroe.

Social Relationships:

The client’s closest friend is Dean Walker a man that remembered her from a bar that she

went to when she was underage and now they reunited again in AA. Client has a support group

that she attends on an infrequent basis which is alcoholics anonymous.

Medical:

Deferred

Mental health/ Substance Abuse:

Client states that heroin was the love of her life. Client also reports that she has been

clean for 2 ½ years, until she relapsed about a week after her release from prison. The 1st time

she drank alcohol and was competing for attention with her daughter Alexis, by singing “Eternal

Flame” but no one pays attention to Sherry Swanson they are more interested in Alexis, Sherry

states. The 2nd time was after Sherry’s father Bob Swanson Sr., fondled her, reports Swanson.

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Swanson, Sherry

Swanson used I.V. heroin. My assumption is that this is not the first time that her father has

fondled her and that there is a long history of this, causing her to have PTSD.

Strengths:

Sherry Swanson has quite a few strengths that have kept her alive and going for this long.

First I will mention her support systems; Bobby her brother, Alexis her daughter, Dean Walker,

and alcoholics anonymous. The client’s personal characteristics give way to someone who is a

survivor; she is resilient, loving, helpful, and honest, has courage, is self- reliant, is affectionate,

and always perseveres. But along with the positive qualities there are characteristics that my

client lacks and needs the tools to learn them. To make a full recovery from alcohol and drugs

she must find faith in something bigger than herself, she needs to learn how to cooperate, how to

forgive, become grateful/ humble/ reliable, and establish willingness. From our experience with

working with other addicts we have seen that when our clients acquire the necessary tools to live

a productive life that an addict will be able to accomplish anything they want because they will

be sober and without sobriety they have nothing. There is only three endings that can occur for

an alcoholic and drug addict and that’s either that they end up in jail, or in an institution, or they

die.

Assessment:

The drug and alcohol abuse is but a symptom of her issues she has from when she was a

child and continuing on until present time; the sexual abuse, the attention seeking, and the

multiple sexual encounters with random people to get what she wants in life. Swanson uses the

drugs and alcohol to numb the pain and forget all of the past and present, she doesn’t want any of

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Swanson, Sherry

it to be real and it isn’t as long as she gets high, she came become whoever she wants and

doesn’t have to look back.

Goals and Objectives:

1.) Sherry Swanson is to show up to my office at 8am on Monday

2.) Inpatient Rehab at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches for 90 days

3.) While at Behavioral Health Swanson will do the Trauma Program along with the

Alcohol and drug program

4.) After 90 days at Behavioral Health Swanson will move into Integrity Way’s Halfway

House for 1 year and follow all the rules

5.) For 30 days while at Integrity Way Sherry Swanson will complete the outpatient program

6.) While living at Integrity Way Sherry Swanson will meet with her therapist and

psychiatrist from Behavioral Health

7.) Once Sherry Swanson has completed the outpatient program at Integrity Way Swanson

will get a Full time job within 30 days of finishing the outpatient program

8.) Sherry Swanson will also attend AA meetings 7 days a week, and they must be at least a

1 hour meeting and must stay the whole time, we will know this by Swanson getting a

court card signed

9.) Swanson must get a sponsor who is a woman within 1 week of being at Integrity Way’s

Halfway House, men work with men and women work with women, and Swanson must

meet her at 1 meeting every week and stay for the whole meeting

10.) Sherry Swanson must work all 12 steps with her sponsor by the end of her stay at

Integrity Way

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Swanson, Sherry

Referrals:

We recommend that Sherry Swanson first go inpatient at Behavioral Health of the Palm

Beaches, Inc. in North Palm Beach. This is where she can do a lot of work on herself and see

why the drugs and alcohol were but a symptom of much larger issues in her life. There she can

do the alcohol and drug program along with being in the trauma program. At this recovery

treatment center they have a therapy that is very unique to offer people, especially those who

have encountered trauma in their life or who are depressed, which is Light Sound Neurotherapy.

In these sessions people can have an increase in concentration, a decrease in anxiety, become

less irritable with other people, and people can experience repressed memory recall sometimes

they are pleasant childhood memories and some involve childhood abuse which is a very

important part of getting passed the trauma because then the trauma survivor, not victim if

people start referring to trauma survivors as victims then they will have the victim mentality

which is “everything bad happens to me, and there is nothing I can do about it!”, can process the

what has happened and learn how to forgive, but over all people get a sense of inner peace when

they are finished. Our second recommendation is that when the 90 days are up at Behavioral

Health that Sherry Swanson moves into a halfway house, specifically Integrity Way’s Halfway

House in Palm Beach County. While she is a resident there we would recommend her do the

outpatient program for 30 days, which meets M,W, F from 6-9, and continue to see her therapist

and psychiatrist from Behavioral Health for the year that she is living at Integrity Way. After

outpatient is over we see it necessary for Sherry Swanson to get a full-time job to slowly

integrate her more into society and give her some responsibility. We will set her up with an

employment agency, Labor Finders which is located in West Palm Beach.

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Swanson, Sherry

Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches Integrity Way’s Halfway House:631 US Hwy 1 (561) 637-6629

Suite 304North Palm Beach, FL 33408 Labor Finders:

(888) 432-2467 1401 S Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33415

(561) 963-0563

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XLiz Wolf

XLauren Breen

XSherry Swanson