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Walking in Their Shoes: Analysis of Mental Health Consumer’s Experience
Chosen Book 
Armstrong, S. C. (2009). 
Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat: A Story of Bulimia
Not all black girls know how to eat: a story of bulimia.20% of Grade
*** This is a signature assignment that all MSW students must complete to meet the program’s curriculum requirements
The goal of this assignment is to critically apply the topics, theories, and interventions that have been presented in class to the lived experience of a mental health client or consumer.
Please select one first-person mental health consumer narrative from the approved list to analyze. Students who want to use a narrative not on the list must obtain pre-approval from the instructor. Utilizing course readings, journal articles, and your personal and professional experiences, address the following questions in your paper, which should be at least 10 pages in length. Please use APA format when citing references in your paper.
Introduction: Please introduce the person you are analyzing. What book did you use? What is the name of the person? Why did you select this person? What do you hope to learn by analyzing this consumer’s experience?
Presenting Problem: Please describe the onset of symptoms for your consumer. Were the symptoms precipitated by a life stressor or environmental trauma? Were the symptoms constant or intermittent? How did your consumer initially manage the symptoms? When did the symptoms come to the attention of others? Describe the impact of the symptoms on your consumer’s functioning.
Environmental Setting and Context: Analyze your consumer’s initial presentation as reflected by the views of their family and friends, local community, mental health providers, and society at large. Discuss the intersection of culture, gender, race, and class. Describe experiences of mental health stigma by applying the concepts from the mental illness stigma framework article (Fox et al., 2018) article from week 2.
Diagnosis and Case Conceptualization: What DSMV-TR diagnoses would your consumer meet criteria for? If your consumer meets criteria for several diagnoses, how would you prioritize these problems? Did the diagnoses evolve over time? Did your consumer find it helpful or harmful to be given a diagnosis? Utilize the “P”s from the Macneil case conceptualization article (week 2) in your analysis. What were the predisposing factors, precipitating factors, perpetuating factors, and protective/positive factors?
Engagement in Treatment: Analyze your consumer’s experiences with treatment and with those in the helping professions. How did the treating professionals try to engage the consumer? Were motivational strategies utilized? Were cultural and other differences identified or respected? Did your consumer experience involuntary treatment? If involuntary treatment was used, what were the ethical issues and safety concerns? Did the consumer have any advocates for their care (mental health provider or supportive friend or family)?
Treatment Interventions: Analyze the treatment interventions that your consumer received. From class discussions and readings, discuss if your client formally or informally received the best practices for their mental health symptoms. Were they offered psychotherapy, medication, psychosocial rehabilitation? How did your consumer respond to the interventions?
Recovery/Medical Approaches: Analyze the treatment approach that your consumer experienced. Did the approach integrate recovery concepts? Were medical interventions used? If medical interventions were used, were they necessary or excessive? What kind of messages did the consumer receive about their illness and recovery? Was there a specific treatment intervention, relationship, or event that facilitated your consumer’s recovery process?
Reflections & Critical Race Theory: How would you feel working with this consumer? What issues might come up for you? Which areas or biases would you need to monitor continuously based on your privileged or subordinate statuses and social location? Are any of your biases related to race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, immigration status, perceived abilities, or other statuses? How so? Considering this consumer through the lens of Critical Race Theory, what would you do to prevent further marginalization of your consumer? What systemic barriers did your consumer face that were the result of systems of oppression (e.g., ableism, ageism, racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc.) and their positionality?  How might you have advocated for them?  
Helpful Tips for this Assignment:
The subject of your paper is the author of the book. For example, if the author of your book experienced abuse and trauma from caregivers with mental illness or addiction, your task is to analyze the recovery process of the author. Specify how the subject of the book was impacted by the caregiver’s mental health issues.
Do not worry if your narrative does not include all the experiences listed in the questions listed above. For instance, if your author was not psychiatrically hospitalized or did not take medication, state that in your paper.
Important note: This assignment is intended to promote new learning and reflection. Please do not select a diagnosis that you know well from your professional, personal, or academic experiences. Please do not re-use former assignments that focused on this diagnosis.