Essay Example on Alex & Shirley: A Tale of Family & Strength

The story about Alex and Shirley: a story about family focus and family strengths was written by Karl W. Dennis, and Ira S. Lourie in the book known as everything is normal until proven otherwise. The authors narrated about Alex, who was always involved in fights as a child. After being sent to Juvenile for beating staff, the workers thought he had a mental health problem; hence he was sent to a mental health facility later to the social services. The people in the juvenile and social services thought that Alex could only be saved professionally. However, Karl helped Shirley, Alex's mother, to change her son's behavior. This essay will reflect the story about family focus and family strengths.

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One of the facts that the author wants to explain is the importance of a family. The author mentions that Shirley was a caring mother because she always visited her son twice every month, even though she had to take three buses. Karl's intervention to work with Shirley on helping Alex indicates that he understood the importance of a family in a person's life. The author wants the readers to know that the family can only solve some problems. This is because neither the Juvenile nor the social services solved Alex's mental health problem. The agencies ignored the fact that family is important because they did not see Shirley as a caring mother who was stressed by an ill boy and a heartless boss. However, they only thought that she could not control her son. Karl did not care about Shirley's past ineffective reactions towards her son's character or the negative feedback he received from her. Still, he focused on the family strength displayed by Shirley's frequent visits to Alex. The author indicates that family strength is essential. That is why Karl supported Alex through the only person that cared for him the most.

Also, another fact displayed in the text is the anticipating conduct that parents or other caregivers should show towards a disturbed child. As indicated, the caregivers should be prepared instead of anticipating the behaviors of the child. Karl normalized Alex's behavior to convince Shirley to let her son come back home. This is because most children fight, and Alex failed to change because the programs were not helping him to improve; instead they were blaming him. On the contrary, Karl credited Alex for being himself and used his methods to prevent him from hitting people. The methods included bringing huge people to avoid hitting people and enable him to learn suitable techniques for expressing his feelings. The author's emphasis is that we should be obliged to helping children understanding and meeting the requirements that underlie their characters.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the author wants us to understand that wraparound interventions are slow but useful in helping people of such character. The basis of wraparound interventions is to realize that people with mental health problems take longer to change. Additionally, I believe that family support plays a significant role in changing the behavior of an individual that is suffering from a mental health problem. This is because Shirley was the pivotal factor in aiding her son's recovery. The treatment plan that Karl and Shirley established exhibit that wraparound interventions majorly utilizes family focus and strengths as a way of healing.