Joining
What come first into your mind when you hear the word joining? Yes, there is something to do with the connection, unity. Joining means bringing closer to one another, comes together with in an individual. Joining is one of the key elements that has been discussed for a family therapy. The process of joining begins with the first family contact and continues as the foundation for effective family therapy. Rather than an event, it is more a process of understanding and building rapport with each family member. General psychotherapy models share the goals of empathy and positive regard for clients. So why do you think the General psychotherapy models share these goals? Simply , because along these goals, family therapy integrates with systemic thinking, so that the result is a type of systemic empathy in which the clinician identifies and describes the unique roles and dilemmas experiences by each family members.
Methods of Joining
Each family has a unique blend of characteristics that serves as interpersonal cues to family. Additionally, each family has a complex structure that provides roles for interaction among members with the outside world. Family therapist places a high priority on being attentive and responsive to family members. Why do you think family therapist place a high priority on being attentive and responsive to family members? Simply, to have adequate understanding in every individual, about their characteristics and so to respond accordingly. So, joining is about an attitude and skills. To connect with the family members, the therapist must convey acceptance as a family members and respect for their way of seeing and doing things. The therapist must let the family know that they are understood and their views are important.
Family members must be encouraged to express their feelings and views and to understand that these feelings are normal.
The therapist can join with the family members in the ff. ways :
1. Greet each members of the family by name.
2. Make friendly contact with each member. The therapist should ask each members what he/ she does, where they live, to share information about children
3. Respect the family hierarchy. The therapist must begin with the parents when asking each member about his/her view about the problem.
4. Acknowledge each member’s experience, position and actions. ( So, Ms. Brown , you think your son runaway because he was angry with you )
5. Normalize experiences, views and actions. (It is common for people in t\your situation to feel the way you do.)
6. Validate positive things you can say about family members whenever possible. (Ms. Jones, I know you have tried your best to help your son. It shows that you care him.
Selective Joining
It is a process wherein the therapist may often choose to affiliate with the most peripheral members in the family or, in some cases, make some efforts to get closer to the family member who will most likely bring the family to therapy.
There may be occasions when the therapist is unable to join with the family, because it is difficult to join with family in which members have difficult from the therapist personality while these feelings are understandable, therapist must find way to engage the family if they are to be effective in altering the situation. That is why Milton Erickson developed the process called utilization to address this issue. He learned to use, rather than challenge, a person’s way of relating. For example, he would think f hostility as honesty and encouraged the client to use it in solving the problem. He would reframe detached personality as cautious or careful and search for a context in which this behavior would be advantageous. Family members must feel that the therapist is supportive and understand them before they change how they interact with each other.
One trend in family therapy facilitates the joining process by helping the therapist identify family strengths in spite of the severity of the problem.
Identifying Family Strengths
Knowledge of family strengths helps the therapist understand how families cope with problems and how they promote growth and development. Focusing on family strengths and resources contributes to the development of self- confidence, inspires hope and enhances growth within the family. Here are some guidelines that’s helps to identify family strengths;
1. Emphasize positive statements
2. Encourage family members
3. Note family interactions that reflect strength and competence
4. Emphasize times that family members enjoy together
5. Re frame problems and emphasize what families do well.
Exploring the Referral Process
The referral process includes interaction within the family and between the family and other system. When individuals are being interviewed alone, it is important to assess whether their motivation for counseling is internal or whether they have been sent by family or friends who want them “fixed”. Detailed questions about the referral process often help the family therapist expand the definition of the problem. If intake information has noted previous experiences in therapy, these should also be explored as part of the client’s problem-solving history.
Sometimes informal helpers become unrecognized influences on the course therapy unless they are identified during such discussion. This focus on the referral process often provides a micro view of diverse relationships that may have some bearing on the problem. As this larger context is taken into account, the clinician should then pursue more specific question regarding the potential structure of subsequent therapy session.
Deciding whom to involve
Certain questions provide the family therapist with the information necessary to determine the structure of the therapy:
- How did you decide who would participate in today’s session?
- Maybe you are more comfortable without _______ here. Are some reasons why you prefer to leave them out?
- What do you think might happen if______ were invited?
- If I became insistent about inviting them, would it be uncomfortable that you might consider dropping out of counseling?
The answers to these questions help the family therapist determine whether to insist on others’ attendance. Certainly, there are many situations in which a person’s own framework for help would be violated and such an insistence would be inappropriate. Conversely, there are times when a family therapist considers the attendance of others to be essential to a positive therapeutic outcome. To resolve this dilemma successfully, the family therapist should conduct a self-evaluation on these issues:
- Have I elicited and acknowledged fears the client has about inviting others to join?
- Have I illustrated to the client how can I orchestrate a constructive outcome when others are included?
- Do I know enough about these other people, and do I have the skills necessary to set goals that guarantee the outcome of such meeting?
- Am I ignoring messages from the client about what essential to them?
- Am I operating out of a model that narrows my perception of how I can be helpful?
- Does the client have important information to which I should defer than insisting on a certain structure?
The answer to these questions can help the practitioner weigh priorities and skills. In some cases, clients can be shown how inclusion of others is helpful. However, if clients are still opposed to inviting others after they have explained their reluctance and they have been reassuring explanations, it is imperative that the therapist accept the clients position.
Defining the problem
The definition of the problem evolves from the questions not only about the individual’s opinion but also his/her significant other’s opinion.
This can be accomplished through question that focus initially on family members’ opinions and then move towards the tracking of international sequences.
Assessing clients’ Definition of the Problem
To begin a dialogue about the problem with a family or individual, the family therapist might ask the following questions:
- What’s brings here?
- What would be helpful for us to discuss?
- Who first noticed the problem and how long ago was this?
- What led you (or another person) to conclude that this was a problem?
- Who else agrees or disagrees that this is the problem?
- Who else (inside or outside the family) as an opinion about the problem?
- Have you or anyone else thought of any other possibilities regarding what the problem might?
- Are there times when the problem isn’t occurring? What is going on at those times?
- What are the differences between times when the problem does and doesn’t occur?
- What will happen if things don’t change?
It is important to accept the family members’ description of the problem without criticism or premature advice. It is also essential to validate the importance of each member’ contribution. If family members interrupt each other, remind them that each will have an opportunity to express his or her view.
A therapist might use the following to help each family member clarify the problem:
- What do you mean by _____?
- Give me some examples of_______?
- Describe a situation when you_____?
- How does this affect you now?
- How does ______affect you?
- Tell me the last time ______happened
The goal is to help each family members be specific and concrete so that the problem defined more solvable.
Often, a family member presents several problems. In such cases, clinicians need to clarify the problem by providing questions that prioritize the person’s concerns:
- What needs to be changed now?
- So the first change we need to make is ______?
- What might happen if ______ doesn’t change?
- What do you think would happen if_____occured?
The therapist also wants to focus on times when the problem is not occurring:
- When you are able to handle the problem?
- What are you doing differently in these situations?
- What seems to be different when you are able to manage?
Group 6 members
Rachel Alajas Lerry Lamanilao
Cherry H. Billones Jennifer A. Murao
Recelyn C. De Quiroz Maria Love lee Obusan
Michelle A. Doong Lalaine P. Sibulangcao
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