My student, let's call him Jim, is a 10 year old boy with bipolar disorder, ADHD, severe depression, and PTSD. His microsystem consisted of a mom on drugs, a dad in and out of jail, a grandmother who was trying her best but struggled with her own mental illness, an older brother who was taken by DCF, peers who are equally troubled, and a teacher who was willing to look beyond that. Jim's exosystem was his neighborhood which is covered in trash, and riddled with gang members and violence. The media Jim is exposed was local news showing the negativity of the neighborhood he lives in and the people he considers "family" were constantly being shown on the news as having committed a crime. His mesosystem was parent who never came to scheduled parent/teacher meetings, who spoke badly about the teacher that Jim actually adored and felt loved by, and school that was so frustrated with his mother leaving him at school that they began calling the cops at 2:30 to take him home because mom was not showing up. His macrosystem was very damaged. His family were not law abiding citizens and neither were their friends. The only values instilled in Jim were that no one is going to look out for you so do what you need to no matter the consequences. Lastly, his chronosystem was filled with events such as death, arrest of loved ones, contact with drugs, and a teacher who for four years never gave up. Jim had all the cards stacked against him at only 10 years old, and there were plenty of times I felt like giving up on him. I saw Jim make some good progress and even worse upsets. I wish I could say that my influence was enough to help Jim but the truth is it was not. His external and biological influences were against him, no matter how hard he tried at times. Jim is now in middle school with an arrest record and several baker-acts.
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