Denise is a 45-year-old Caucasian female who has a history of polysubstance dependence. Her drug of choice is heroin. She has been an IV drug user for the past 10 years. The client also abuses barbiturates, hallucinogenics, cannabis, and alcohol. She enjoys her drug use and considers it to be recreational, and states she is not addicted. However, she has not been without a fix for the past 5 years. Her physical health has deteriorated. She is severely underweight and she is losing her teeth. She has overdosed numerous times and has been near death in the past.

Denise has difficulty remembering past events and has little or no contact with her family. She has been homeless for the past 4 years. She has been in and out of homeless shelters. She has been offered food and shelter by others but has stolen from them. She is unable to work due to her fragile state. Denise understands that her lifestyle has deteriorated significantly in the past 10 years, and she expresses hopelessness in ever becoming a productive citizen again.

Denise is currently willing to engage in treatment but has very little hope that it will be helpful to her. She is skeptical and nontrusting. She would like to be able to get to the point where she has a job and a place to live, and would like to establish a positive social network of people that could be helpful to her. The client would also like to be reintegrated with her biological family.

Task:  Delineate a plan (with supporting reasons and illustrations) to assess this client using the following:

1.                  A verbal interview to elicit information

2.                  The description, scoring, and outcome of an assessment instrument to support your impressions