two counseling solutions success stories

Maria
Maria came to Counseling Solutions four months ago after telling her family doctor at a local health center that she is overwhelmed, anxious and sad all the time. She had been up late every night for months worrying and crying. In her waking hours, she found it difficult to focus on the simplest of tasks and when her mother and others tried to help, she became so angry, she could not stop herself from screaming insults at them. Maria also had no energy or patience for her little girl, and relied on her busy mother to take care of her most of the time. She was so embarrassed by her lack of self-control that she was afraid to leave the house. A twenty-three-year-old single mother with a two-year-old child, Maria had never held a job and felt like a prisoner in her home. Maria had never envisioned herself to be so dependent on her family.

Maria's therapist immediately set to work helping her to identify ways to relieve some of the stress in her life. With help from Counseling Solutions and the other WSEM Centers of Excellence, Maria received psychiatric treatment and counseling for her depression, enrolled her child in Head Start, and completed a one-month customer service training program at El Barrio. Maria has found a part-time job and is now looking for her own apartment. She hopes to move out by the fall. Maria's problems are far from over, but she knows that she can turn to WSEM again whenever things get out of control.

Dorothy
At sixty-eight, Dorothy did not expect to be raising three school-age children, but she had a good relationship with her grandchildren and was willing to step in and help when her daughter, a single mother, went to prison on drug charges. Within three months, the children were out of control. Janae was a rebellious teenager who had done very well in school until her mother left. She refused to follow her grandmother's rules and was blatantly disrespectful to her. She had not gone to school at all in almost a month and the younger siblings, Marcus and Jonah, were beginning to follow her lead.

Fed up, Dorothy decided to give Janae a good spanking to teach her some respect, but that backfired. Janae called Child Protective Services and reported her for child abuse. Fortunately, the county investigators saw no evidence of abuse or neglect, but did see that Dorothy needed some help managing Janae's behavior. The family was given a case manager at the Department of Children and Family Services, who made a referral to WSEM for Family Preservation.

The Family Preservation Program at Counseling Solutions is set up to provide five-hours per week of family therapy and community support for eight weeks to families like Dorothy's. Desperate for help, Dorothy welcomed a WSEM therapist into her home, who used a technique called Brief Solution-Focused Therapy to help them resolve their conflict. The family began their work by imagining that a miracle had occurred overnight and the problems that brought WSEM into their home had been resolved. They each shared their vision of what things would be like when life returns to normal. They discussed the sadness and anger they all felt regarding their mother's drug problem and imprisonment. After going through this simple process, they were surprised to discover how much they agreed and how quickly things could change.

Dorothy reported three months later that Janae is still back in school and ready to graduate in the spring. Marcus and Jonah were also on track and Dorothy could not be more pleased. “This is a wonderful service. I never knew about WSEM, but I'm glad I know now,” she said.