Reference no: EM133293635

Assignment:

I'm Carl, I'm here because somebody told me you could help me. I'm on the verge of being homeless because I can't stop using heroin. I wasn't always like this. I didn't grow up wanting to shoot heroin. I actually grew up pretty responsible and had a good job most of my life, but now my family's ready to kick me out. A couple of years ago, I had an accident. It wasn't my fault. Somebody else hit me. It wasn't  fair. They didn't have insurance and I ended up having some surgeries.

Doctors put me on painkillers and I discovered not only did the painkillers help with the physical pain, but it also kind of helped me with a lot of the how upset I was with life. You know, my wife had left me about a year before that and I felt, you know, the whole situation of not having anybody reimburse me for my car, having all these bills piling up, medical bills, and things like that just had me really angry and I was a lot calmer when I was, you know, using these painkillers, but the doctors then said, you know, about a year into it, they said, well, okay, that's all. No more painkillers really without any warning and if you've been on anything like that, you know you get sick physically when they stop prescribing. So I had to find a way not to get sick. I knew some people who sold different things and I was able to start buying some painkillers and then somebody introduced me to heroin.

They said, you know, this will cost you less money and you get a lot more bang for the buck and the first time it was like oh my god. So I was so-- I got so stuck on it, I couldn't stop, I couldn't afford to live in my own place anymore. I couldn't work anymore, and family members, they didn't know what was going on, but they knew I needed help and they let me move in and I moved in with my brother and I found myself starting to steal and then all of the sudden I got caught stealing from family and they were pissed. So I was all remorseful and I wasn't going to do it again, but they ended up catching me again and now they said, you get help or you move out and so I'm here. I want to stop using heroin, you know, I liked using it, but I don't really like it anymore. At first, it was fun. It's not fun anymore. So help me stop using heroin and help me get my life back.

1. Do you have any questions about Carl's story? Do you think he might be misrepresenting anything? If so, what and how might you ask about it?

2. How could you use questions in order to assess the strength and depth of Carl's motivation for change?

3. As you think about Carl and his situation, what do you see as the advantages of open-ended questions? What are the advantages of close-ended questions in your interaction with him?