For many years, people who had mental health issues were locked away in institutions and spent their lives within the confines of that setting. There was little hope of ever having a normal life let alone a productive one and family members accepted the fact that their family member was substandard. Today that belief has been has been destroyed and millions of people with mental illness are contributing positively to society while enjoying their life. The changes that have taken place within the field have allowed professionals to diagnose mental illness and treat many of them on an outpatient basis. Just as alcoholism is considered a disease(Davis, 1998), so is mental illness. The key to success in this endeavor is careful, accurate diagnosis and consistent treatment plans.
             The agency that will be included as the focus to the case study will be Health and Education Services Inc. This is an agency that provides a wide range of community based mental health and substance abuse assistance. Its location is the Greater North Shore area of Massachusetts as well as the Lower Merrimack Valley area.
             I am a student intern from Boston University. My primary intern responsibilities include the provision of individual and family therapy sessions.
             My role in relations to the client is that she was assigned to me to interview and provide a preliminary diagnosis based on her narrative and her symptoms.
             The client is a female who is currently 48 years old. She is heterosexual though she did participate in a homosexual relationship during her college years. She has three children who are 10, 12, and 15 years old and she is married.
             She is white, does not identify with any particular culture at this time and is in the upper middle class income bracket. She and her family have been Catholic her entire life though her husband is Protestant.
             Until recently the client worked full time in the insurance industry as a licensed insurance agent...