2 DISSUSSION RESPONSES

Working With Clients With Disabilities: The Case of Valerie

Valerie is a 56-year-old, heterosexual, African Ame rican female. She receives Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and works part

time at a credit card company as a telemarketer. Sh e currently lives in an apartment alone but receives home attendant services for 5 hours a day.

She lost her left leg when she was hit by a car and has a prosthesis. She uses a walker or an electric scooter to be ambulatory but generally

prefers the scooter. She is slightly overweight, wh ich makes using the walker more painful. She has be en prescribed Zoloft®

(100 mg per day) for

general anxiety and has been taking it for almost 3 years. Valerie has a history of drug and alcohol abuse, although she has been drug free for 15

years. She has a core group of friends she has main tained a relationship with over the course of her lifetime, and although she does not see them

as often as she would like, she keeps in touch over the phone and through email. She has no criminal b ackground.

Valerie came for services to address unresolved fee lings related to an abusive marriage. She continued to be in contact with her ex-husband,

John, although they had been divorced for almost 13 years. Valerie said that she and John had remained intimate since the separation and divorce

and that John texted and called her to meet for sex . She felt torn because she believed no one else wo uld want to date her due to her disability but

also felt John was using her. She also stated that although he had stopped hitting her, he continued t o be verbally abusive. She remained anxious

and depressed and felt hopeless about the situation .

Valerie said John abused alcohol and began using dr ugs in the first few years of their marriage. Unaware of his illicit drug use, Valerie arrived

home from work early one day to surprise him and fo und him using cocaine. John attacked her and forced her to use cocaine as well. She

relented due to her fear of continued assault. An o ngoing pattern of drug use and physical assault per sisted throughout their marriage.

Valerie lost her left leg when she was walking acro ss the street and was hit by a car, and she spent close to 9 months in the hospital

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transmitted without publisher's prior permission. V iolators will be prosecuted.

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