Max's Story

Max,* who was about to age out of the juvenile justice system, had been on house arrest for the past three years. Along with struggles of inappropriate interactions within the community, he suffered from borderline intellectual functioning, bipolar disorder, ADHD and obsessive compulsive disorder. Max was referred to A New Leaf PACTT (Parents and Children Teaming Together) and assigned a Behavior Coach, Anthony, to assist him in re-socializing back into the community as well as with much needed living skills.

Anthony noted that due to Max's behaviors at home, he may have to move out on his own once he aged out of the system, unless Max started making better choices.  As Anthony began his work with Max, he was able to address so many vital areas that Max needed to grow in such as:

·          Budgeting money  (Max held a part-time job with his father)

 ·         Grocery shopping

 ·         Apartment hunting for realistic expectations

·         Respect for others

·         Understanding

·         Goal setting to complete chores

·        Job skills i.e. interviewing, exploration, resume building etc.

·         Library resourcing

·         Health and well-being awareness

 

One of Max's greatest challenges was coming to understand that the word "no," which would generally send him into an outburst, didn't necessarily mean no forever. No could mean, no, not right now, or no, not quite like that. Max learned to work through compromise.

Max's therapy was intense and short-term but his improvement was significant. When paired up with the right service and professionals, and with support from family involvement and an invested team of social workers, by the time Max's birthday came around three months later, his parents felt he had grown tremendously and had learned to show enough respect for them that Max was able to live with them at home. Max is currently paying a small rent to them and being responsible for purchasing his own groceries while he finishes on-line school.

*Name has been changed for confidentiality purpose.