Dorothy, at the time of referral, was a 19 year old Caucasian woman who was referred to the program by the Health Department. She was six months pregnant and living with the father of her baby. At the age of 13 she left her mother in West Virginia and went to live with her father in a trailer park in Virginia Beach.

During her teen years, her relationship with her mother and her mother's sister who lived in Northern Virginia, was sporadic. When she was 17, her father married again and his new wife insisted Dorothy must move out. She came to the Fairfax area, got a job in a fast food restaurant, entered into relationship with one of her co-workers and eventually became pregnant.

The referring public health nurse was concerned that Hosea, the father of the baby, was abusive to Dorothy. The public health nurse felt Dorothy lacked common sense and good coping skills, and that she didn't have a basic knowledge of what constituted good nutrition.

The volunteer assigned to this client was Gail C. She took Dorothy grocery shopping and helped her to select nutritious foods and taught her how to prepare these foods. She gained Dorothy's confidence and learned that Dorothy loved Hosea very much, but that he was abusive whenever he drank too much. She helped Dorothy understand that she didn't have to take this abuse. She helped Dorothy develop a safe plan for when Hosea became abusive.

When Dorothy and Hosea separated, Gail helped her enter a church sponsored housing program where she could take computer classes that would improve her job marketability. She gently and persistently urged her to reconcile with her mother and her aunt. Eventually these relationships did improve. Dorothy had a healthy baby and with time she and Hosea reconciled and moved out of the area. A year later she contacted Gail and told her that she and Hosea were going to be married. They wanted Gail to be a guest at their wedding.