Strengthening Family Resilience
Family resilience can be described as the successful coping of family members under adversity that enables support and cohesion within the family (Walsh, 2006). According to the research, resilient families typically have many of the following protective factors: positive outlook, spirituality, family member accord, flexibility, family communication, financial management, family time, shared recreation, routines and rituals, and outside support networks (Walsh, 2003). These protective factors not only serve as a function within the family structure, but are a factor in the therapeutic process. The family resilience perspective in therapy shifts away from a deficit-based lens that views struggling families as
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Lester is entrenched in his beliefs that he is a loser and his wife and daughter contribute to his beliefs with their current state of hostile communication. In sessions it will be important that as the therapist that it does not appear that I am aligning with any particular family member as I work to draw out their strengths. Additionally, it may be difficult for the family members to identify strength-based goals that apply to the family as a whole, as opposed to goals that infer an individual needs to change. Lastly, one drawback of this process can be with the therapist. The intention of a strength-based perspective in therapy is to not mollify our dialogues, but to find respectful ways of having difficult conversations about family members (Zie, …show more content…
This approach utilizes a stance of “not knowing” which allows the therapist to have curiosity about the family. Hence, each family is viewed to have their own individual culture and to fully understand family complexity, the therapist must learn as much as possible about each family’s particular culture (Madsen, 2009). Collaborative family therapy also addresses social justice issues as the therapist must remain aware of social discourse. According to Madsen (2009), the therapist should remain curious about cultural assumptions and be aware on how they shape interactions and how discourse contributes to the construction of identity and constrains alternative
Jordan, J. V. (2008). Recent Developments in Relational-Cultural Theory. Women & Therapy, 31(234), 1-4. doi:10.1080/02703140802145540
Having a family is no easy task, especially when you are faced with many challenges that are unforeseen. Sometimes one imagines or hopes for an ideal family. The ideal family would consist of a spouse, one or two kids and live happily with little to no conflicts. The reality is that even if one tries to avoid conflict by all possible means, conflict is inevitable. Stressors and strengths within a family can be seen in almost every situation. Although stressors tend to be more noticeable than the strengths. Some of which will be discussed later on, although it will be mainly focused on the strength and stressors faced after a divorce for children. But if one focuses on the stressors more than the strengths, one will only see stressors rather than solutions.
Fred, Wilma, and Rose present an interesting perspective when looking at their family through a Structural Family Systems Theory. When trying to work with the family a social worker will utilize Functional Family Therapy in order to understand their structure and maybe ameliorate some of the family’s problems. Using Rose and her family as the clients it will be able explain what interventions we can use when we learn the constructs of the theory.
Structural Family Therapy offers a framework that provides order and meaning within the family connections (Nichols, 2013). Divorce for a family is considered a significant transition for all parties involved. When counseling a family going through divorce the structural family therapist’s job is to build an alliance with the family and obtain information about the structure. The structure of the family consists of the roles, interactions, organization, and hierarchy. Family therapy yields the belief that changing the organization of the family leads to change in the individual members. The structural family therapist often will try to become part of the family to gain a perspective of their issues as whole so not to place the focus on one individual. Joining is an empathetic approach in helping families explain and break down their individual stories without uncomfortable challenge or unnecessary confrontation (Nichols, 2013). It is important to note that family dysfunction that often leads to divorce is not attributed to one individual, but the entire family system. In structural family therapy, part of dealing with the issue of divorce in the family is to focus on the interactions between all the family members both positive and negative. Through these interactions the therapist can discover where the conflicts arise, which will in turn help the therapist understand how these negative interaction affect the family. Family therapy in these cases allows for repair of long-standing interactional patterns in which divorce is just one of a series of ongoing transactions that are disruptive to the child’s development (Kaplan, 1977, p.75). The structural family therapist often has the family play out these family interactions via enactments so that he can get a firsthand look at maladaptive patterns, roles, and
According to the Merriam Webster online Dictionary, the word “family” means a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head. The Walls family fit under that characteristic but they were far from the average family. The Walls children had to endure numerous hardships in life which later on enabled them to become successful and productive members of society. Although some people might argue that the Walls children would have been better off if they were removed from their home and placed under foster care, actually it was in the children’s best interest to grow up with their parents even if this meant having to overcome difficult times because of their parent’s lack of parenting skills.
The family dynamic offers multiple perceptions and needs, these may require addressing matters individually as well as on a group level. There may be matters such as domestic violence or substance abuse which requires both individual and family counseling and resources. In times of crisis families need education and coping strategies in order to regain their lives back. The necessities of the family may entail emotional and medical support requirements depending on their situation. When there is a possible case involving violence the focus may turn to more than medical and emotional support and possible removal of the children from the home may be required.
A therapist will face problems, issues and client troubles everyday. The professional must understand how their client relates to the world around them. These feelings and ideas affect how the client sees the problem and how they respond to their situation. Their actions, in turn, have bearing on individual thoughts, needs, and emotions. The therapist must be aware of the client's history, values, and culture in order to provide effective therapy. This paper will outline and provide information as to the importance of cultural competence and diversity in family therapy.
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking is used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self.
Structured Family Therapy (SFT) refers the mere undesignated rules that structure how a family interacts with one another (Walsh, 2010). The family unit is composed of systems or parts, and the parts must be unified to compile a whole unit to create homeostasis (Broderick, 1993). SFT therapy is warranted when dysfunction enters the family unit, and creates a deficiency of adaption by the individual which disrupts the family structure (Boyle, 2000). The family structure is composed of major components such as: subsystems, executive authority, boundaries, rules, roles, alliances, triangles, flexibility, and communication (Walsh,
Family is the fundamental group of people that hones each individual into a social being and trains each person into a being that complies with various changes that may occur in one’s life. It aids in developing a person’s skills and attitude in relating to other people. If not for the family, growing and developing one’s self is a difficult and an almost impossible task to accomplish. In the article by Joan Patterson, known as Understanding Family Resilience, it had highlighted various information and explanations of how a family responds and should opt to act during times of adversity, or also known as family resilience. It is defined by McCubin, H and McCubin, M. as “characteristics, dimensions, and properties which help families to be resistant to disruption in the face of change and adaptive in the face of crisis situations.” Since change occurs on a daily basis and is entirely inevitable, the trait of a family to be flexible in adjusting is necessary. Events that may trigger changes are various crises and challenges or internal and external forces. Such occurrences that arise and are experienced by the family may draw most families to become hopeless and disoriented. In Patterson’s work, a clear explanation and citation of various instances to prove that such misfortunate events that could lead to the disorganization of a family can be avoided and be used as an opportunity to further strengthen the relationship founded in the family.
The techniques used in marriage and family counseling can be different. For instance, counselors will sometimes handle family therapy in different ways than they would couples or marital therapy. Both family and marriage c...
The more anxiety one person or one relationship absorbs, the less other people must absorb. This means that some family members maintain their functioning at the expense of others. People do not want to hurt each other, but when anxiety chronically dictates behavior, someone usually suffers for it” (“Nuclear Emotional Family Approach”, 2014). The Moore family appears to be a cohesive family during periods of non-transition in the life cycle stages, however the family is in transition and this transition within the family is marked with increased stressors due to a history of trauma within the family.
Moreover, the foundational approach to structural family therapy are that families’ are views as psychosocial systems, attached within social systems, which operate in a transactional patters. The transaction patterns are how, when and whom to relate, and reinforce systems. As a result each family duty are carried ou...
As a clinician I feel that self-awareness is crucial in a therapeutic session. Hence, I try to be attuned to my client. As an ethnic minority therapist, I believe in being respectful of other’s culture and values. Understanding the client’s view point through their cultural lens is needed in therapy. At times, therapists from cultures different from the client’s may interpret the latter’s viewpoints based on their own cultural background. In such a situation, a therapist should let the client know what his or her interpretation is and ask the client to reflect on the counselor’s interpretation. The art of therapy lies in integrating the belief system of the client and the cultural understanding of the counselor and presenting it to the client.
The book Child Development by Douglas Davies indicates “Some children developed serious disturbances, some were moderately or only mildly affected, and some even seemed to use the challenge of the stress to become stronger. Those children who had good outcomes in spite of exposure to risks to development were called “resilient”. (Davies, pp 61). Further, the resilience is presence in each child differently, sometimes make them stronger or weaker to the point the children are not able to cope with anything in their life. In the point view as a family the resilience will help the family to overcome any difficult situation that will prompt during the difficult process of adaptation.