Lisa Description: Lisa Is a Twenty-Three-Year-Old Italian-American

Lisa Description: Lisa is a twenty-three-year-old Italian-American female. She is currently living at home with her mother. Lisa is single, and has dropped out of community college. She has dated several boys slightly older than herself in the past year. Lisa has regularly abused heroin since she was sixteen years old. She says she began because one of her boyfriends in school was a user. She has also abused alcohol and has a DUI violation on her record.

Other than her substance abuse, she has no other major chronic health conditions. Lisa was raised Catholic. She has been working as a waitress, and when 'clean' she has been able to find work. However, because of her convictions for substance abuse, she has not been able to 'hold down' a regular job. Critical events: Lisa's parents divorced when she was twelve years old. She has been living with her mother for most of her life and has no connection with her biological father.

Lisa says that unbeknownst to her mother at the time, she began experimenting with alcohol and smoking cigarettes as young as eleven, even before the divorce. She 'fell in with a rough crowd' in high school, after her mother and then-boyfriend moved to Florida. Lisa says she felt uncomfortable and shy because she did not know anyone and drug use became a way to connect with her peers. Family demographic and identifying information: Lisa's mother is age 49 and works as a paralegal.

Family and Household System: Lisa's mother expresses guilt over her daughter's substance abuse, and feels she was not 'present' enough in Lisa's life while Lisa was young. She also feels guilty about moving to Florida because the cost of living was cheaper. She feels that if Lisa had remained in her previous school in New Jersey, her daughter would never have used drugs. Lisa's mother is warm and emotional.

She expresses a belief in traditional family values, and but says she has difficulty talking with Lisa, who tends to withdraw when conflict arises. She says that at this point she is losing hope in the ability of Lisa to come back from her life as a drug addict, given that Lisa has gone through several court-mandated drug treatments. She believes that unless Lisa wants to get well, it will be impossible to do so.

Lisa's mother has few personal resources of her own, given that her parents are no longer living. Community System: Until recently, Lisa had a job as a waitress at a local restaurant, but lost her job because she was convicted of substance abuse and could not work while in rehab. Lisa has formed friends at her places of work, but this has been transient.

Most of her core friendships and relationships revolve either around friends and boyfriends who use or deal drugs, or people she has known from her stays in rehabilitation centers (some of whom have relapsed). The court system within Lisa's county has shown a belief she can be rehabilitated, given that she has been sent twice to treatment centers, rather than done 'hard time.' Presenting Problem/Issues of Concern: Inner forces impacting the character Emotional: Lisa has a lack of a secure sense of self-worth.

She says that she is not sure what she is interested in, other than drug use, and does not feel that people like her, unless she has drug use in common with them.

She does not feel competent in school, and although she has shown competence at her work, her sense of satisfaction that she derives from work is not strong enough to make her pull away from her social network of drug users Biological: Lisa is physically addicted to heroin, is an obvious, additional reason she has a propensity to continue to use the drug Spiritual: Lisa is familiar with 12-step programs, and says that she likes them and believes in them, but does not seem to have a strong sense of spirituality in terms of a religious faith.

She says she believes in God. Outer forces impacting the character Emotional: Lisa lives in a world where drug use is heavily stigmatized. A lack of self-esteem drove her to use drugs. However, now she is being further belittled by a culture that sees her as 'less than' because she is a user. This makes finding non-using boyfriends and friends difficult. Biological: There is a clear availability of drugs in the area where Lisa uses, which increases the temptation to fall back.