Name: Draven

Background: LGBTQ+ youth of immigrant parents from Congo

Situation: Draven's struggles with rejection from family due to his identity, leading to substance abuse and worsening mental health.

Draven is still navigating the intersectionality of being an LGBTQ+, but not knowing what to exactly identify as; so he goes by queer. He is a youth with immigrant parents from Congo; his parents are at striking odds with his values. They believe he can be cured with the power of religion and possibly even an exorcism. The idea of this scares Draven to the core; as he knows who he is and since coming to Canada he has found out that there are millions of other people who share the same values as he does. This isolation from his parents does cause him to feel beaten down and sad - it triggers a downward spiral into substance abuse, his drug of choice is Xanax. Draven just started using but he has already had two instances where he miss-used and ended up in physically dangerous situations while driving and walking along the highway. His response to the concern about maybe dying from doing something risky while on Xanax is "it's been two years and there has been two instances... it won't happen again" - as if brushing it off. Draven wants to stop using Xanax but can't seem to find a better alternative. He says its nice to talk to likeminded people that he meets at school that bring him a sense of community - but he doesn't know how to find a queer friendly space that isn't also filled with partying and drug use!

What previous life/work experience do you have that helped guide your reasoning with regards to the given case study?