[0:01]Hello, Lucille Latorre? Yes. Hi, how are you doing? I'm good, how are you? Come on in. I'm Melanie Patterson. I am your social worker. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Well, before we even get started, um I'm going to go over some confidentiality forms with you. Okay. Let me This form right here um just states that whatever we talk about stays between me and you. It will not leave this room, okay? If you want to read through before you sign, you can do that. Okay.
[0:45]Have any questions or anything about the form? Uh no, I think I've I think I've got it all. Okay. Thank you. Now, what brings you in today? I was referred by my um daughter's school.
[1:05]Um They've seen a change in her and um I really don't know what's going on with her. She won't talk to me. Um I guess we just really need to just get some help as a family. Okay. Change, what type of change? Decrease in her grades, her socialization skills have been not the same. She just won't talk to anyone and tell us what's going on. Okay. Um give me a little family background history. Well, um my daughter, she's 14. I have a son named Angel. He is 21. Okay. Now, Angel, he is um he's special. You know, he just has some some issues. Um special. What are you trying to say about special? I mean, he's just um He's been in the hospital a few times. You know, um he hallucinates.
[2:24]He will just disappear sometimes and I don't know where he went. He's just not happy. Okay. So um has he been diagnosed with anything? Well, He's trying to escape the devil.
[3:04]And I just I don't understand what's going on in his in his mind. So um are these more like hallucinations? Yes. Um It's just like a spider war inside his head. Has he been violent towards you, your daughter? What are some things that he has done? I mean, he's just easily agitated. I mean, I can just say something one day and it just rubs him the wrong way and he's just he's just violent. He throws things, he he yells, he screams. And what is that doing to you seeing your son go through those um type of behaviors and having that diagnosis? It hurts because he's my son and I love him but I can't do anything to help him and I just I hate that he acts that way because it tears up the family. Now, what about Mr. Latorre? How How does he feel about your son, Angel? How does he feel about him? He just doesn't I think he loves him. He's just so angry with him for treating us so badly. Okay. So how is um tell me a little bit more about you and Mr. Latorre? Our marriage is It's falling apart. I'm just so focused on my kids and trying to get them well. I've let myself go. Mhm. My marriage, my physical appearance. I just everything's just so It's just so bad right now. I see that you're you're very, you know, sad about this situation and that you're upset and it's it just seems like it's kind of breaking your heart a little bit about your son leaving the home, being gone for several months and then your daughter. Sometimes I don't even want to get out of bed. I just want to lay there.
[5:48]Just waste away.
[5:52]So, what is a typical day for you? I get up. I get my daughter ready for school on the bus. I pack her a lunch and I get ready to go to work. Okay. I work. I come home. I clean. I cook. And then everybody goes to bed and I'm still up. Cleaning and then I go to bed and it's just every day. I don't do anything for myself. Okay. Now like I said before, I know that you're referred by um the school. And um because she is having some some problems there.
[6:51]What do you feel like she's going through and maybe what she needs? I think maybe the kids are are teasing her at school. I don't know. I mean, I I really don't know what it is. I mean, she was so so just a bright child. She just would light up any room. And it it just changed. Everything just changed. So you're saying that um at first, you know, she was just your typical young girl, teenager girl. Um she enjoyed life, good grades and then all of a sudden it just just changed. Just changed. Around what time did you notice a change? It was really, you know, um over the summer right before she turned 14. Um you know, I thought maybe it was puberty.
[7:55]I just I don't know. Was your son Angel at the home during that time? Yes. Was there um a incident that maybe occurred that maybe declined her behavior?
[8:17]I don't know. She won't talk to me. I just don't know.
[8:26]So I just want to make sure that I I get all the facts. Did you say that Angel was there the beginning of the summer? Mhm. So how is his behaviors there over the summer? I mean it it was just he was himself. You know, you know, the hallucinations, the you know, he's angry. He's an angry child. I mean, he's not a child anymore. He's an adult. He's 21, but
[9:00]He loves his sister. I don't think he'd ever do anything to hurt her intentionally. Has he put his hands on her? I mean, there was one incident where we were just trying to get him to calm down and, you know, he did kind of push her down. And I think she'd be really hurt that her brother did that. But he did not mean it. He didn't mean to do it. But right after that, that next that school year after the summer, is that when she started having problems? Mhm.
[9:49]Um, have you talked to your daughter about how she feels about her brother? Mhm. And what has she said about him? She loves her brother, but she doesn't really want him to be be there with us anymore.
[10:09]She does love her brother. She's just I think afraid of him. So I I what do you feel like we need to do to help you all get back on the right track?
[10:33]I know you have said that your daughter's grades have been dropping. Um she you feel like that she's getting picked on at school and you said that your husband um is kind of really kind of done with Angel and that is that affecting you your relationship with your husband? Yes, because I don't I don't understand how he could be done with his child. You know, Yes, Angel has problems. Angel, he's caused a lot of pain, but you know, he's still my son and I don't think I can ever ever just give up on him. But my husband, he's so he just he just wants to give up on him. And I just can't do that. So yes, it's causing some some friction between the two of us. Well, this is the thing. I'm I'm I'm concerned that um that your your son pushed your daughter down and that did have some type of effect on her. And she needs, you know, definitely some type of counseling to get through whatever issues are going on in your home.
[12:00]So that is a concern that I I definitely have. And I feel like that you all definitely need some family counseling along with some individual counseling. Um and I just would like to talk to you about what are some goals that we can possibly to um what kind of goals we can develop to for you all to work towards? And I want to get your help on that and I want you to, you know, think of some things that you feel like that can help you and your family.
[12:37]Okay. Well, I mean, I know with my daughter. She is in the home. So she does hear all the fighting and the you know, the disagreements. I I mean, you know, I think that she feels like sometimes that we're fighting because of her. You know, we have issues with money and and everything. And I think that she's just taken on some of the responsibility for the fighting with me and my husband. So I think the first thing we need to do is you my husband need to fix us so we can stop fighting. Okay. So possibly you all can participate in some marriage counseling. Yes.
[13:26]What else do you feel like you need? I feel like maybe if she sees me take care of myself a little bit more and, you know, and I'm not so depressed and crying all the time that maybe, you know, she won't be that way. Um maybe if she sees that I'm happy, she'll be happy as well. Um I would like to spend some more time with my daughter. What are some things that make you happy?
[14:02]I don't know anymore. Well, think about the past. In the past, what are some things that that made you happy? Going on trips and vacations and everyone just sitting around and having a good family dinner.
[14:26]Us taking breaks and just walking around out, you know, at the park. You know, it's just little things. So why don't we do this? You like walking at the park, you like going on vacations and stuff like that to kind of clear your mind. How about you all set, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Excuse me, no problem. Um how about you all maybe set one day a week to go to the park as a family, you, your husband and your daughter or go to the movies or, you know, go to your gym and swim, you know, those things as a family, just try that once a week. And then um let's work towards planning a vacation. I know that um it could be somewhere small that's, you know, an hour, two hours away, but just a little quick getaway and we'll we'll start there to see how that starts to make you feel just getting away from your house because it just seems like you just stay in your house all the time. You go to work, you come back home. Yeah. Yeah. Um also um I feel like that you maybe need some individual counseling because there are some things that that you are you're dealing with. Um and in order for you to have the family counseling and work with those issues out, you need to also work your your own issues out. Yes, you're right. So we'll um we'll put that you'll participate, you know, in individual counseling. Okay. Anything else you feel like you or your family may need?
[16:11]I just don't know. Well, this is a start. This is definitely a start. Um so we have the marriage counseling. We we have that you'll um do some type of activity outside or into the movies um with your daughter and your husband. And then we said we would work towards maybe um planning a little small getaway because that's something that that makes you happy. Yes. Um about with your son, is your son, is he at home now or is he No, he's gone away right now. And and what we need to work on to your if you're son and we'll definitely talk about this in the next session, but if your son, your son is definitely has some type of of um of control over you and your family and how he's acting.
[17:15]So, you're going to have to kind of work out some ways to cope with how he's what he's dealing with because if he doesn't want help, then you know, you can't force him. You're right.
[17:30]So that's what we're going to talk about at our next session. Um is just finding ways to deal with your son and coping mechanisms um to deal with his hallucinations and um behaviors and we need to talk about if you want him to continue to live in your home. because I know I don't know if your husband wants that or not. So we we're going to have to tackle that issue. Okay. Do you have any questions or anything like that for me? No, ma'am, I don't thank you. Okay. So what we're going to do, you're going to once you leave here, I'm going to um I'm going to type all of this up where I our next session. We're going to go over our goals um that we talked about and then I'm going to give you a copy we're going to sign and I'm going to give you a copy of it. And then you're going to go out to the receptionist and her name is Carla and you're going to set your family up um for well, you and your husband, you all are going to be set up for marriage counseling. And then you're going to schedule a date for um for your individual counseling. Okay. And we'll go from there. This is a great start. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
