Case Study: Addressing Jim’s situation – Traumatic Brain injury
Humanities
Jim, 28, had suffered traumatic brain injury. Although this is technically not a developmental disability because injury occurred after age 22, it still illustrates concepts commonly addressed when working with people who have developmental disabilities. While residing in an independent living center, Jim initially sought help with financial planning. While his counselor, an MSW student, helped him with budgeting issues, it became apparent that Jim was also experiencing difficulty in his marriage. Because Jim did not specifically seek help concerning his marriage, the student decided not to interfere with those issues. Because of his head injury, Jim lacked insight into the depths of his relationship problems. By the time Jim began to understand how badly his marital situation had deteriorated, his wife had divorced him and retained custody of their adolescent daughter.
- How might Jim’s social work counselor have addressed Jim’s situation differently?
- What would you have done?
