Diclemente's Transtheoretical Model: A Case Study

When viewing a client through the lens of an addictions counselor it’s important to utilize Prochaska & DiClemente’s Transtheoretical Model, or the stages of change to gauge how much the client is invested into his/her treatment. The stages are precontemplation (Not Ready), contemplation (Getting Ready), preparation (Ready), action, maintenance, and relapse. When using this model as a measure of Mr. L’s readiness for treatment we can place him in the precontemplation stage because of the following. Mr. L makes it clear that he does not fully accept the abstinence model of drug treatment. He verbalizes viewing marijuana smoking as comparable to cigarette smoking and views the utilization and selling of drugs as a business. Mr. L also states that as a Hispanic male in a lower income neighborhood selling drugs was the only opportunity he was given and smoking weed is recreational and a God given right. He states his only reason for not smoking marijuana as MTC and the subsequent arrest he will receive for a positive toxicology. As therapy progressed with Mr. L revealed that smoking marijuana initiates a cycle of heavy spending on alcohol, gambling, strip clubs, and increased substance abuse followed by criminality to support the expenses, i.e., selling crack which

L reminds me of Plato’s allegory of the cave and how people are chained to their environments by factors such as race, stereotypes, economics etc. that hinders them from seeing the possibilities of other outcomes. Mr. L’s childhood was not a garden ripe with choices he was programmed to see life one way, but treatment at Odyssey house and PCO has slowly reconfigured the way Mr. L views his function in the world and has opened up possibilities never before imagined. I am very faithful when viewing the progression of Mr. L’s thoughts concerning drugs and the culture he was once deeply rooted that he will one day be able to break the chains he’s been placed into by circumstances out of his