A presentation at Heritage University @ CBC Week 04 in in Pasco, WA 99301, USA by Jacob Campbell
Time: Wednesday’s from 5:30-8:15
Date: 02/03/21
Content: Work with Families I
Reading Assignment: Chovil (2009)
Due Dates:
I want to have us go through and do a simple activity that you can do either with one client, with a family, or even with groups.
National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (2007) CASA volunteer training manual. Seattle, WA. Retrieved from http://www.casaofsantacruz.org/documents/files/assets/basic-html/page79.html
Note 12 to 15 positive aspects of the household pictured.
[Discussion] What was difficult about this activity? [Discussion] Why would this be an important exercise?
Families continue to remain the foundation of most peoples lives. They can provide security, support, and intimacy people need. (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015, p. 329)
As you start to work with an individual who initially appears to have an individual problem…
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but you can look at this from a family’s perspective. We really need to start to view them in a larger context.
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The following are the generally described functions of families:
Chovil, N. (2009, April) Engaging families in child & youth mental health: A review of best, emerging and promising practices. Retrieved from http://www.forcesociety.com/sites/default/files/Engaging%20Families%20in%20Child%20&%20Youth%20Mental%20Health.pdf
Chavil’s (2009) paper lays out three types of family engagement that could be laid out on a sort of a continuum.
Family focused: more than working with just child, but whole family.
Family-centered
“Family-centered treatment is not simply a new technique that can be learned by frontline clinicians. Family-centered treatment involves the program’s philosophy, organization, financing, staffing, and many other policies and procedures.” (Ooms & Snyder, 2007)
“Family-driven means families have a primary decision making role in the care of their own children as well as the policies and procedures governing care for all children in their community, state, tribe, territory and nation” (Chavil, 2009).
“There are various ways to define families. One definition is ‘A primary group whose members assume certain obligations for each other and generally share common residences.’” (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015, p. 331)
Once the family has been identified as your client there are different dimensions in which to assess the family.
“Homeostasis is a systems concept that describes the tendency of a system to maintain or preserve equilibrium or balance. In essence, homeostasis is a conservative property of family systems that strives to maintain the status quo” (p. 255)
Homeostasis operates through a pattern of feedback loops to reinforce the status quo and to preserve the family structure.
“Boundaries, a central concept in family systems theories, can be likened to abstract dividers that function (1) between and among other systems or subsystems within the family and (2) between the family and the environment” (p. 256)
Family decision making power, hierarchy and power are important aspects for a social worker to be assessing and to be cognizant of. When we think abut these parts, the following are some ways that we think about them:
[Whole Class Activity] Discuss each topical area, and types of questions that you might ask?
“Roles are generally understood patterns of behavior that are accepted by family members as part of their individual identities.” (p. 259)
[Small Group Activity] With a partner, ask find out information about the members of their families, what types of roles people have, what are some of the values and norms. Remember to work on your interviewing skills as you are doing this fact finding.
Looking for patterns and styles of communication with in families is another important area to consider. This frequently means examining…
Congruence and Clarity of Communication, which includes verbal, non-verbal and contextual.
[Whole Class Activity - Discussion] What are some of the types of things that we are looking for verbally and non verbally (as discussed in micro skills last semester)?
Especially in working with families, we are on the look out for patterns
Looking for patterns and styles of communication with in families is another important area to consider. This frequently means examining…
Insoo Kim Berg Solution-Focused Family Therapy Video. (2009, June 29). Insoo Kim Berg Solution-Focused Family Therapy Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fe8D0hAQh0
PsychotherapyNet. (2009, June 29). Insoo Kim Berg solution-focused family therapy video [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/6Fe8D0hAQh0
We are going to watch a short video clip of Insoo Kim Berg doing family therapy. We are not watching necessary for techniques, but what do you observe about the verbal / nonverbal communication of the family.
One way of looking at a families stage in their own life cycle
at each of these stages families face various different tasks to complete.
The explicit and implicit rules found in a family system may be either flexible or rigid, depending on con- text and time.
[Whole Class Activity] What are some rules that families might have?
Social environment is also an important aspect to look at.
Think about all of the different contexts and applying ecological perspective to a family.
Talk about client communities (Iraqi, Cuban, etc.) that I’ve worked with
“The adaptive capacity of any given family refers to the extent to which the family can achieve its functioning goals, given the demands of family and social life. As the family faces demands from its environment and challenges from its members, its capacity to adapt is a central property of the ability to maintain itself as a cohesive unit.” (p. 267)
Family Strengths and Resilience
Week four, we move away from talking about groups in general and discussing a specific type of group, that of working with families. Students are expected to read Chovil (2009). We will also be talking about the dimensions of family assessment. These include (1) Homeostasis, (2) Boundaries and Boundary Maintenance, (3) Family Decision Making, Hierarchy, and Power, (4) Family Roles, (5) Communication Styles of Family Members (6) Family Life Cycle, (7) Family Rules, (8) Social Environment, and (9) Family Adaptive Capacity (Stressors and Strengths).
The agenda for this week is as follows:
Reference
Chovil, N. (2009). Engaging families in child & youth mental health: A review of best, emerging and promising practices. The F.O.R.C.E. Society for Kids’ Mental Health, 44 pages. Available at https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/resource-guide/cac_engaging_families_in_child_and_youth_mental_health.pdf