Intimate Relationship

As a human service professional, please review the following case and answer the required questions. Reggie is a 24-year-old African American man. He is currently unemployed, homeless, and has charges pending for writing a number of bad checks. Reggie reports that both of his parents were drug addicts and alcoholics. He experienced verbal, physical, sexual and emotional abuse while growing up in the hands of both parents. His father died of liver disease last year at the age of 40. Reggie reports he was kicked out of his home when he was fifteen because his father suspected that he was gay. Although they all live in a small town, he has not had any contact with his parents since they kicked him out. He did not attend his father’s funeral. Reggie has one older sister he sees “once in a while if I run into her”. Reggie is not currently in a steady relationship but does have a large group of friends from the local gay community with whom he stays off and on. When he was kicked out of his parent’s home, he survived by becoming involved in sexual relationships with older men, many of whom were also abusive. He has had numerous sexual partners (both male and female). He has traded sex for drugs and money, has had sex under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and has been made to have sex against his will. Reggie identifies himself as bisexual, not gay. Reggie is a poor historian about his alcohol and drug use. He does state he started drinking and smoking pot when he was 12. He has used inhalants, marijuana, amphetamines, and cocaine. Two months ago he started smoking crack. He drinks alcohol “whenever” and reposts getting drunk at least twice a week. He is seeking help now because of a recent overdose when he was clinically dead for 2-3 minutes. He states he wants to “turn his life around before he dies”. Answer the following questions: What are the positives in this scenario? What are the negatives? Discuss. What are your first concerns? In what order would you address these concerns? How would you begin to address these concerns? Are there services or community resources that would be supportive of this situation where you live? Are there any ethnic/cultural/ethical considerations that seem relevant? Discuss why or why not. Write 5 open-ended questions that you would ask in this situation. Who would you address these questions to? (You can address these questions to more than one person in the scenario if applicable.) Identify any possible transference/countertransference issues that you might deal with in this situation.