NAME: Alan Poirier

DATE: March 30, 2020

Integration of Theory & Practice (ITP) Loop Process and Write-up

RETRIEVAL -
On what I discovered, that evening, would be my final day in practicum at Adult
Addiction and Mental Health Community Services, one of the addiction counselors came
and told me that one of his clients, who regularly attends Living Sober, was outside and
wanted to speak with me. Having co-facilitated the group for that past six weeks I knew
this client relatively well. I went out and found him the seating area in the foyer outside
the office. At the time this client was living in the shelter and was begining to feel a lack
of energy and drive with having to vacate the shelter in the mornings and having
nowhere to go during the day now that most public spaces were closing to the public (in
the early days of COVID-19). He told me that he had ridden the city bus for four hours
the previous day so that he had somewhere to sit and get out from the cold. He was
typically very driven to get himself out of his current predicament. According to his
counselor, he was doing quite well until his addiction led to losing his child, his home and
his job.
The client told me that he went to the ER the previous morning, around 7:30,
because he threw up and had gastrointestinal “issues”. The nurse that he spoke with
apparently chided him for not staying home to isolate and when he told her that he was
living at the shelter she, allegedly, told him to get a job. He was then sequestered in a
mental health room where a social worker and doctor both saw him, apologized for the
treatment and sent him on his way.
On this particular day, when we met, he was looking for some help with laundry
services; so I spoke with the Independent Living Support Worker and referred him to the
old Dream Centre which has free laundry services. Unfortunately there is no bus that
goes there, so therefore he couldn’t get there. Chaplain [redacted] from Medicine Hat
College got in touch with one of her contacts, who met with the client right after we
spoke, to set him up with a hotel room for, I believe, two nights.
The client was visibly tired and his tone exposed his depressed mood. He
expressed his appreciation of a hotel room to rest and have some personal time to deal
with his mental health. Our meeting lasted perhaps fifteen minutes, before he received a
call and left to meet with this other person. I sent an e-mail to his counselor and, later,
had a brief discussion regarding the topic of our discussion with him.

REFLECTIONS -
My initial feelings, when told that the client was asking to speak with me, were joy
and excitement. I felt happy and excited that a client had requested me by name. I
believed that I must have made an impact or made some connection with him so that he
felt comfortable asking for me. This instance sticks-out in my mind as it was my first time
going alone, 100% all me with a client. In retrospect, I view it like a final assignment or
“exam” before wrapping up that practicum. How I handled this situation was going to
indicate, to me, whether I had grown, learned and developed over the previous weeks.
With these thoughts, I mentally prepared to be “a social worker.”
When I found the client in the hallway, I sat down two seats over (being
cognisant of social distancing protocols that had just been put in place) and assumed a
professional, yet relaxed pose/demeanor to maintain professionalism and to make the
client feel comfortable (i.e. back in the chair, yet sitting upright and not reclining).
Throughout our conversation I continually reminded myself to maintain
professional distance. Part of me felt as though perhaps the client was looking for a
friend’s help more than he was looking for a social worker’s help; and I remained aware
of this as I listened and responded to his questions while maintaining a professional
distance.

LINKAGE –
The client, as mentioned earlier, was homeless at the time. Knowing this, I
acknowledged the hard work that he was putting in to find a permanent residence,
employment and ways to deal with having nowhere to go during the day (everything was
beginning to close due to COVID-19). I tried to avoid any language (verbal or nonverbal),
physical cues or responses that may further add to the stigmatization that he had
already experienced (e.g. at the ER) and worked to build him up. I used listening skills,
repeating for understanding, empowerment, focusing on his strengths, Person-in-
Environmen, and the rapport that we had already developed through our interactions in
group meetings to provide him with the information that he had requested, and an
opportunity to talk to someone, which I sensed he needed.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSE –
I found much of what I did to be intuitive. Although I was thinking, a lot, most of
what I did came naturally. The thinking that I was doing was me trying to be aware of
potential faux pas (e.g. stigmatizing language, word choice, etc.) or stepping outside of
the parameters of what I could and could not do as a practicum student. As I debriefed
with my field instructor, she advised me that I had done everything right and expressed
her pleasure to see how I had put everything together that we had been doing all
semester. With more practice I could have been more relaxed and not as concerned
about “messing up.”