Summary
Summary Social work 478 - Family Counselling
- Course
- Social work 478 (SW478)
- Institution
- Stellenbosch University (SUN)
Social work 478 - Family Counselling
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MODELS IN FAMILY COUNSELLING In practice counsellors are apt to adopt an eclectic approach when working with
couples and families
Family counsellors come from varied professional backgrounds and thus have different
training – counsellors also practice is varied settings
Classification of schools
1. Psychodynamic school
Dynamics of personalities as focus
Aims – to enhance the insight of family members into selves and other family members
Bowen (life cycle model) – genogram – go back three generations in order to develop
insight
Satir – communication of feelings
Role of counsellor in this school is indirect – often difficult for beginner social workers
2. Behavioural schools
Patterson – power (coercive behaviour) – research with aggressive boys
Stuart; Lieberman – social learning approach – group work – we learn what we do in
our family of origin, and it is difficult to change this, to do this there has to be behaviour
modification in the family – focus is on change, modelling and the ID of behaviour to
change
3. Systemic approaches
Communication-interaction model – Bateson, Jackson, Haley and Satir – focus on
communication of feelings and communication processes in the family – how do they
communicate, not necessarily what is being said
Structural model – Minuchin – WHO is in the family, boundaries, how is the family
organised in terms of the execution of roles?
Strategic model – MRI-group & Haley – linked to the structural model; focus on
communication and power – who has the power and how is it executed?
Milan Model – Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, Prata – developed in Italy – looks at how
the system works and the systemic way they communicate
Ecological-systemic model – Ross and Bilson – this came after the other approaches
– focus on the environment – cannot see the family as separate from the environment
1
,A variety of Intervention MODELS
1. The experiential model
Experiential approaches have as their major theme the humanistic notion of free choice
and self-determination
This model is the least theory-bound of all the models – difficult for beginner
counsellors
Experientially orientated counsellor focus on the present – the here-and-now
Satir & Whitaker
Attempt to unlock suppressed feelings and impulses that block growth and fulfilment
Help family members to communicate more clearly, more directly, with greater clarity,
more honestly and effectively.
APPLICATION:
Focus is on communication and not the behaviour
Counsellor would urge clients to engage in straight talk about what works, what
does not work, and what both could give more to allow each to be more happy
– enable relationship to flourish
Followers of Satir would pay special attention to the communication styles
which the family has developed – would help them to distinguish between
indirect, distorted or inappropriate methods of dealing with one another
The goal would be to increase self-esteem in each participant so that each
would feel safe to express their true feelings in a direct manner
Followers of Whitaker – would advocate openness, spontaneity and self-
awareness, urging all participants to experience feelings, expose
vulnerabilities, share uncensored thoughts and learn to be themselves
2. The Transgenerational Model *Genogram
Current problems are viewed as arising from both explicit interactional and behavioural
patterns, and implicit, value-laden patterns formed gradually over generations –
especially during periods of family upheaval, and passed along to current ongoing
behaviour if unresolved.
Focus – patterns formed and maintained over generations, which result in behaviour
seen
BOWEN – family systems model – use of genograms – trace three generations back,
and worked out with families within the early sessions, in an attempt to trace reuccuring
patterns
2
, Differentiation of self – patterns are repeated generation after generation – family
members find it difficult to leave family of origin – often go into relationships with people
with same issues – outcome is the same dysfunctional pattern
IMAGO-MODEL – often people are in relationships with a person who has the best
and worst qualities of parents
APPLICATION
Would create a genogram
Together, clients and counsellor might be helped to see patterns that are being
repeated, in an unfulfilling manner, in the current relationships – followers of
Bowen look at the family emotional system – example: previous father-son
transactions in other generations – father as a son was treated in a certain
manner by his father and now treats his son this way
An effort to reduce the emotional intensity of interactions and help them
develop more stable ways of dealing with each other
Heavy emphasis is placed on replacing emotional flooding with reason and
intellect, in the service of family members’ learning to take “I” positions that
characterise differential persons
Look at how families balance rights and responsibilities to each other and what
each thought they had the right to expect from one another
Every family member would be encouraged to attend
3. The structural model
Each family makes to govern family transactions
Structuarlists are especially interested in these transactional patterns because they
offer clue about how the family organises itself – its subsystems, boundaries,
alignments, coalitions, etc. – each affect the family’s ability to achieve a balance
between stability and change
Attempt to gain an understanding of subsystems, boundaries, the family hierarchy,
alignments and coalitions and the family’s adaptability or ability to recognise in
response to changing needs ‘
Symptoms in any family member rooted in the context of current family transactional
patterns
Particular attention is directed to the family’s hierarchical structure – how husband and
wife play out roles
3
, In dysfunctional families, restructuring must take place – with transactional rules
modified, more appropriate boundaries created, new interactive patterns tried out, and
alternative problem-solving methods attempted – before symptoms are relieved
Ultimate goal – to restructure the family’s transactional rules by developing clearer and
more appropriate boundaries between subsystems and by strengthening the family’s
hierarchical order in which the husband and wife remains the leaders of the family but
allow the children increasing freedom as they develop and mature
APPLICATION:
Counsellor might reframe behaviour of a family member in a more positive light
– technique, must have a very good relationship with the family as they must
accept this reframing
Counsellor might probe current undiscussed family rules: what occurs between
participants over weekends, what happens at school, how homework is
handled, what role missing family members play, etc.
Explore changing roles in families, for example when there are teenagers in
family.
Observing sequence – counsellor can begin to map out a way of modifying their
interaction and creating structural changes – structural changes change
meaning of behaviours
Historical background
1960’s
Minuchin – teaching and research at a school for misbehaving boys – while in
school the intervention worked, but when placed back in families, misbehaviour
started again
Applicable to families of all socio-economic levels
Principles of structural model
1. Individual within social context – aim is to change/organise the structure of the
family, structure = WHO is in the family, HOW is the family organised in terms of
power, rules, boundaries
2. Problems are not just intrapsychic, but also interactional – focus in on interaction
between family members – move away from analysing behaviour of family
members
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