Third Key Principle Of The Collaborative Family Work Model

What we bring as a person to the counseling room determines the direction we take with our clients. Coming from what I describe as a dysfunctional family and my questions of why is my family the way it is, why do I behave or think the way I do I drown to the family counseling theory. Many people including myself have why questions about their family. Some of those why questions are, “why is my family like this, where did I get this habit from, will my family ever change? The family systems approach helps solve some of those why questions.

Family is something that plays a tremendous role in our life. Even though the structure of families has changed over the years, it is important to acknowledge that there many families out there whether they are traditional families, nuclear family, stepfamilies or others which tend to have different types of problems in their families. Therefore, many families attempt to go to family therapy in order for them to obtain help in solving the different types of issues they might have at home. As stated in the book Family Therapy by Michael P. Nichols (2013), “The power of family therapy derives from bringing parents and children together to transform their interaction… What keeps people stuck in their inability to see their own participation in the problems that plague them. With eyes fixed firmly on what recalcitrant others are doing, it’s hard for most people to see the patterns that bind them together. The family therapist’s job is to give them a wake-up call” (2013).

Experiential family theory is about the experiences that a family goes through in therapy and what it symbolizes to them. Experiential family theory is also well known as symbolic experiential family theory because the theory is about what the family takes out of the experience and what they use to describe their family. According to Smith (1998), the founder, Carl Whitaker, felt that it was the therapist’s responsibility to create these experiences in the sessions to help the family grow. Carl Whitaker accomplished this with impulse and creativity. He understood the family unit and knew that families could be cruel, but he believed the family had the ability to restore their family unit (Percy, 1990). The theory is not a traditional one,

Describe dilemmas or conflicts that may arise when working in partnership with families to support individuals

According to Minuchin (1985), six basic principles outline the Family Systems theory. Each principle describes the function in which a family and its subsystems operate and the inextricable relationships within the system. The first principle of Minuchin’s (1985) theory implies that each member develops and is enveloped within the family unit, while the second principle states that there is a continuous loop in which each member feeds the behaviours of another. Thirdly, family systems have homeostatic elements which restore the family back to its equilibrium when disarrayed (Minuchin, 1985).

Each family member will be taught on the importance of listening to the issues raised other members of the family. This will lay down the foundation for the future sessions. I will also coach the members of the Kline household on how to provide suitable feedback on issues raised by other family members. The session shall also entail a discussion of the expectations of each family member. It is a good point to begin instructing the family on the necessary required in order for those changes to be achieved.

The model to use with the Jacques family would be the cognitive-behavior. The cognitive-behavior therapy offers different treatment. These treatments include adjunctive interventions, communal needs, and aversive control (Wetchler et. al., 2015). The adjunctive interventions would be to look at their behavior interaction. This would include that the Jacques family becomes aware of their communication skills. Communal needs involve the Jacques family learning intimacy, nurturance, and

Family therapy is a technique that has many alternative approaches to every aspect of treatment which Nichols (2014), states may present a challenge when describing a basic technique. The two models of family therapy in which I feel that I would be most effective and comfortable with would be, experiential family therapy and solution-focused brief therapy. I feel most comfortable with these models because, I adapt to the role of the therapist of both therapies naturally. According to Nichols (2014), when families seek therapy they are stuck in a life-cycle transition, sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are not obvious. I’ve found that during the first session an excellent question is to ask the client why now so that they can

People develop problems for a variety of reasons and those problems serve various purposes according to the integrated family systems approach. A person can acquire emotional, behavioral or psychological problems due to family and social environment, abuse or genetics. In addition to that, being influenced by family systems a client’s presenting problem can be contributed to by their family. A person’s problem may serve a specific role in the family’s dynamics, the problem may also be inadvertently encouraged by the family, a family’s incompetence to be constructive especially during “developmental transitions” or be attributed to the family’s dysfunction (Corey, 2013, p.435) .This way of viewing problems is broad and allows to a person to be viewed as part of a family system. It is also beneficial to view problems outside of the individual because it allows the therapist to see the client for than just a medical issue to be solved. A person and their problems do not exist in a vacuum but in a world that who people especially within a family influence and impact each other.

Dr. Murray Bowen, a psychiatrist, offered us the family systems theory. This theory views the family as an emotional unit, further providing a thinking systems approach to describe the complex interactions in the unit. Bowen offered, “A change in one person’s functioning is predictably followed by a reciprocal change in the functioning of others” (Kerr, 2000). If one person within the family unit is having a difficult time, it effects everyone within the family unit. An example of this would be a father who is the primary breadwinner for his family suddenly loosing his job. Prior

‘I positions’ are defined as the ability to calmly share one’s concerns and act on ones beliefs without criticizing others beliefs or starting an emotional debate. This intervention works in a number of ways (Metcalf, 2011). First, it forces the clients to speak as individuals. For people with low differentiation, this works to reduce fusion in the couple by replacing their ‘other focus’ with ‘self focus’. Second to increase their differentiation and promote a solid self, ‘I positions’ promote each person in the family to state their individual beliefs, instead of simply agreeing or giving into other’s beliefs (Kerr, 2000). Lastly, the ‘I position’ is a way to for the couple to calmly share their thoughts about the anxiety their feel when they are apart, giving them an opportunity to process their feelings and fears. By calmly working through their anxiety of being apart and their concerns of distrust with the ‘I positions’, the couple can work though problems on an intellectual level instead of an emotional level, thus working to reduce emotional reactivity and

The use of mezzo-perspective is to focus on the group or family unit as a whole. Although the mezzo-perspective mainly focuses on a group or family unit, this type of perspective can also benefit an individual because it affects many different individuals at once. Research has shown that family units that are dysfunctional can benefit from structural family therapy. This type of therapy breaks down the family dynamics into subsystems. Each of these subsystems work within groups forming alliances, triangulations and boundaries with one another and others outside of the family. Furthermore, this type of subsystem analysis will be visible in the case study of the Clark family. Bob and Marie are parents of three children that appear to have a breakdown of boundaries both enmeshed and disengaged. Additionally, the parental alliance has fallen apart due to the discord around discipline of the children, over-bearing actions by Marie with her children, and intimacy issues. Lastly, triangulations appear to be repeating through generations, Bob and Marie actions display similarly to their own parents, that they wanted to avoid when having their own family.

Groupwork can be defined as a method of social work that is utilised in order to help individuals to enhance their social functioning through purposeful group experiences and to help cope with their personal group or community problems (Konopka, 1972). The role of groupwork places emphasis on sharing thoughts, ideas, problems and activities, allowing social action groups for instance, to “empower members to engage in collective action and planned change efforts to modify particular aspects of their social or physical environment” (Toseland & Rivas, 2014, p. 38; Pyles, 2009; Staples, 2004). Therefore, reflecting on the processes of groupwork is an essential mechanism for all professionals in order to develop better communication skills, conflict resolution and enhance future performance. This essay will reflect upon the task group processes that were conducted this semester, while evaluating my own role within the group and what was learnt working within a small group.

Working in partnership is a necessary component of social work intervention and practice (PCF 8). Working with other professional is a necessary component of intervention which is good practice and providing services for family to become independent (Fouché, 2015).

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