...Family Counseling Approach: Structural Model Jennifer Tankard Liberty University Abstract Structural family therapist takes an approach to therapy that seeks to help the entire family rather than looking at the family member that has a presenting problem. Healthy families have a healthy balance within the family subset when clearly defined roles are present. Structural family therapy was developed by Salvador Minuchin and a team of researchers from New York. The techniques of the theory are centered on creating a healthy relationship among family members. Structural family therapist looks at creating a healthy partnership with each member of the family to help the family find a solution to their problem. Structural family therapy can be integrated with a biblical worldview. Counseling from a Christian perspective will help families understand God’s design for the family, and understand the role of each member as stated in scripture. Christian counselors using an integrative approach to structural therapy will be able to help families see the biblical roles that God has set for the husband/father, wife/mother and the children/siblings to develop a functional family. Keywords: Theory, intervention, psychosomatic, integration, structural therapy, dysfunction, family. Part I Introduction Everyone has a family. Each family is different in how the system functions. A family is defined in many different ways. Some consist of the traditional definition of father, mother...
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...Counseling Setting: Provide a summary of the clients, agency, and services provided. If applicable, describe the agency or site supervisor’s theoretical orientation. The counseling setting is private practice in Midway, Georgia called Coastal Family Counseling. The agency is run by an established a clinical social worker. The services provided treat a multiple disorders, but the area of focus is trauma, PTSD, and mood disorders like major depression and bipolar disorder. The site super visor’s main theoretical orientation is emotionally focused therapy, but like many in the mental health field use other theories. She also uses the orientation of Cognitive Behavior and EMDR. The use of EMDR is becoming more and more common because it can...
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...Family Counseling Theory Family therapy in a nutshell is a form of therapy in which the counselor works with the entire family at once instead of individual members. Often, a family therapist will even reschedule a session if one or more members of the family aren't present. The essential theory behind family therapy is that a family is a system made up of parts and a problem with one of the parts affects the entire system. Families try to maintain stability, if one member of the family does anything out of the "norm" for that particular family; the other members of that family will fight against him or her to bring things back the way they used to be. This is problematic, especially if one member of the family is in therapy and learns new coping styles, yet the family is fighting their healthy changes. The theory that will be addressed is that of Virginia Satir. Virginia Satir was considered the Mother of Family Therapy. (Wikipedia) Satir is a Wisconsin native raised on a farm in Neillsville. At an early age, Satir was intrigued by the family and she knew intuitively that there was more that went on in families than was apparent to the naked eye. Her family moved to Milwaukee, WI in order for her to attend high school. Later she attended the Milwaukee State Teachers College, which is now called University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Satir went on to publish Conjoint Family Therapy, Peoplemaking and The New Peoplemaking (Margarita Suarez/Virginia Satir Global Network) just...
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...Family Counseling Approach: Narrative Lisa R. Murray Liberty University Online Abstract Narrative therapy is a therapeutic approach that is used alone or in conjunction with other methods of therapy. This particular method of therapy is used in family therapy to help clients focus on gaining access to preferred story lines in reference to their lives and identities the family dynamics that may affect them. The preferred story line will replace the place of the previous negative and self-defeating narratives about themselves. Helping clients within a family counseling to begin to become the author of their own story is important in many cases to overcoming multigenerational affects. Narrative therapy aids in this process. This comprehensive evaluation of narrative therapy within the structure of family therapy and the integration of faith will be constructed in the following pages. Keywords: self-defeating, Narrative therapy, multigenerational, therapeutic Introduction Narrative therapy is considered apart of the Social Construction Model. This particular type of therapy, the counselor or therapist is not a dominant entity or focal point of the process. Instead the therapist is seen as an influential individual to the client. The counselor will aid the client with the process of internalization and the creation of new stories or narratives within themselves that help them to draw new assumptions about themselves. This is done through the process of the client...
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...Abstract Through narrative therapy a counselor can help clients gain access to preferred story lines about their lives and identities taking the place of previous negative and self-defeating narratives that destroy the self. Presented in this paper, is an overview of the Narrative therapy and the Social Construction Model and several facets of this approach including poststrucuralism, deconstructionism, self-narratives, cultural narratives, therapeutic conversations, ceremonies, letters and leagues. A personal integration of faith in this family counseling approach is presented and discussed also in this paper. NARUMI AMADOR’S FAMILY CONSELING APPROACH Introduction Narrative therapy is found under the Social Construction Model. Using the Narrative approach, the therapist will not be the central figure in the therapeutic process, instead he will be influential to the client, helping him/her internalize and create new stories within themselves to draw new and healthier assumptions about who they are. This process enables clients to distract from focusing on the negative narratives which defined their past, redefining their lives into future positive stories. Narrative therapists define the problem as the problem instead of defining the client as the problem. The therapy process begins redefining the problem, externalizing it and getting it out in the open. The narrative therapist uses the questioning technique and creates alternative narratives...
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...Structural Approach to Family Counseling Beverly Manning COUN 601 – Marriage and Family Counseling I Liberty University July 5, 2013 ABST RACT Families are always growing and changing. They are considered living systems made up of many components. If families can’t adjust to change, the capability of the family and its individual members can be compromised. Structural family therapy (SFT) is a therapeutic approach that identifies that families have a lot of strengths. SFT tries to push families past dysfunctional patterns of interaction. This report details the application of the structural family therapy model, and I will specify my own therapeutic technique and explain how I would include faith into my counseling sessions. Structural Approach to Family Counseling One of the most important goals of a therapist is to understand how a family works. The family therapy movement has had the daunting task of trying to uncover the many facets of the family. Family therapy is full of many different approaches from psychoanalysis to the narrative approach. Each approach has been able to uncover a new aspect of the family. According to Nicholas (1999), the structural family therapy has had a significant impact on family therapy by introducing concepts of family hierarchy and boundaries. This allowed for the introduction to the idea of family as a new and organized strategy to cope...
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...Running head: PSYCHOANALYTIC FAMILY COUNSELING APPROACH Psychoanalytic Family Therapy Counseling Approach Liberty University 2012 COUN 601-B05 LUO Dr. Jenkins Abstract When a family’s environment becomes saturated with chronic conflict the members become unable to achieve a healthy balance and mutual respect. This turmoil needs to be neutralized rather than exacerbated, in order to gain mutual respect for all family members. Family therapy can establish the reduction of conflict among the family system. Sometimes a family member can be diagnosed with a disorder creating anger and resentment among members. The family members’ symptoms can be manifested through fear, anxiety and trepidation with in his or her unique story (Mesh et Al, 2006, ¶ 3). The uniqueness of the family unit can carry through to how this system responds to counseling. A family can benefit from recognizing the signs of panic, anxiety, and or dysfunctional communication. This recognition can allow the family unit to seek counseling to neutralize family conflict and to gain effective coping skills. I enjoyed reading Worthington’s’ Hope Focused marriage Counseling. If their is one thing that I try to accomplish through the Lord everyday with patients and families is to re-affirm belief and give hope. Re-aspiring hope can be used in our life and in counseling as a core Christian value by making God first in our lives. As Christian counselors this means teaching others to continuously seek his...
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...Why I chose to become a mental health counselor Counseling others is a difficult job that requires people to listen, take notes, and respond in ways that are positive and helpful. It is important that trust be built between the counselor and the patient so that the patient will feel comfortable speaking about issues that are private or embarrassing. There are many different types of counselors including drug counselors; marriage counselors, grief counselors, job counselors, diet and exercise counselors, and others that can help people improve their lives in different ways. Counselors are trained to offer advice and listen to issues that may be bothering other people. They are not allowed to prescribe medication or expected to provide medical advice. Approximately 25 percent of North Americans suffer from diagnosable mental health issues each year. With the increasing awareness of the related social, political and economic impacts of these problems, there is a greater need for professional mental health counselors. Additionally, health care insurance providers, driving the demand for more qualified professionals, recognize most mental health counseling. After earning a master's degree in mental health counseling, most people choose to get licensed or certified in a specialty such as: • Rehabilitation counseling • Substance abuse counseling • Marriage and family counseling Mental health counselors work with individuals, groups and communities on a variety of mental health...
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...and families in need. WHAT IS OPEN ARMS MISSION? OAM is your community Food Pantry and Outreach serving neighbors residing in Antioch and Lake Villa Townships. The successful combination of volunteers and donations of community individuals, businesses, churches, clubs, organizations and schools helps us meet the needs of our neighbors challenged by stressful life circumstances. Our main focus is weekly distribution of food, milk, meat and daily necessities. Our community lives the philosophy “neighbor helping neighbor.” Throughout the year we have special programs for the community – Weekend Back Packs of food for food insecure students - School Supplies – delivery for Seniors – Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Meal Boxes - Adopt-A-Family for Christmas gifts. WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE FROM OPEN ARMS MISSION? Anyone expressing a need from our townships is eligible for 2 days of food per family member on a weekly basis. OAM has served 20,257 individuals between the months of January and June 2012. The items we provide at no cost may be supplementing SNAP (food stamps) or assist in reducing the cost of groceries allowing an individual/family purchase medication or pay rent, gas, utilities, etc. Counseling Each week our intake counselors listen in an effort to service our clients in a holistic way. When a need for counseling is identified, the client talks with a director to determine a plan. The majority of our clients are without medical insurance; counseling is one...
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...of the adoption process. They work with the family that is going to be adopting, and they work with the biological parents of the adoptee. They help them through the adoption. Adoption can be an extremely hard thing for everyone included. It is very emotional and stressful. The counselors are there to help everyone get through it. Adoption counselors are needed to be the mediator between the birth parents and the adoptive parents. They can bridge the gap between the two and make the adoption process go as smoothly as possible. They are there for both parties. They provide support and encouragement to the families and offer advice since they are true counselors. There are...
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...Accomplished, achievement-driven and results oriented individual, seeking entry into Masters of Science in Mental Health Counseling with a Forensic Counseling specialization. Personal/Professional Goals I am interested in furthering my degree, so I can advance in my career and more effectively help people with mental health disorders within the judicial system. After I earn a Master’s of Science in Mental Health Counseling I want become a licensed clinician. My focus primarily will be on helping youth that are court adjudicated into residential therapeutic facilities, such as KidsPeace. At KidsPeace they accept adjudicated clients but there is not a specific program in place to effectively treat these individuals. It is my goal along with the program director of the organization for myself to develop and pioneer a conduct disorder program and establish it within the KidsPeace organization. The reasoning behind choosing this field is my work experience and some of the population I have been exposed to. Through my observation violence is a learned behavior, and unfortunately young victims of violence generally become perpetrators of crime and develop mental health disorders. Many times if juvenile offenders are not adjudicated to the correct residential therapeutic facility; that specializes in conduct disorder programming. When this happens these individuals are more likely to cycle through the judicial system and become career criminal, which leads to over populated correctional...
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...The objective here that is seeking to be answered is, "If a counselor is an associate Pastor on staff or even just solely a counselor should the Senior/Sole Pastor be made aware of details on every client, since it is important for the Pastors to know their flock in order to best know how to lead and tend them, or does confidentiality apply always strictly between counselor and counselee". It is important to start off understanding what Counselor confidentiality is at its most fundamental nature. It is the responsibility of a therapist or counselor to hold any proprietary or personal information supplied by a patient in the strictest of confidence. It is a generally accepted ethic that breaking counselor confidentiality by revealing the type of information stated above, without the expressed permission of the patient, is considered highly unethical. Keep in mind, however, that in Standards B.1.d, the ACA Code of Ethics requires counselors to fully inform their clients of the limits of confidentiality (ACA, 2005). Also, HIPPA- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-actually gives a list of nearly two pages of things where confidentiality may be breached legally (hhs.gov). Counselor confidentiality in a "classical" setting, which is the viewpoint we have been speaking from thus far, is designed to allow patients the freedom to share information about themselves that is private in nature, but is important to the process of helping the individual...
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...Introduction This book “The War at Home” by Shawn J. Gourley is a great book to read because it reveals the hardship of one family’s fight against PTSD. Over the years, soldiers have struggled with PTSD that not only affects them, but their families, friends, and the surrounding communities. This book sheds light for everyone to actually read and know the signs and symptoms of PTSD. Furthermore, you will actually feel how one’s family had the strength and determination to find their path to recovery. To know that anyone can overcome the devastating obstacles they had to encounter. This family’s struggle learned to find peace with the effects of PTSD and cope with these symptoms throughout their lives. This story was mainly about Shawn and Justin going through the struggles of PTSD and dealing with these hardships throughout the years. Although they had met prior to Justin joining the military in 2000, their life was as normal as any other couple would experience. It wasn’t until Justin joined the service and had re-classed into being an Operation’s Specialist where he was trained to react and secure the dead no matter the cost. His rigorous training had so much impact that when he was in the service, he endured many obstacles to include seeing dead bodies, securing them, keeping everyone calm as stress levels were high, and reacting with hostile intent where his sense of death and danger were heightened. This was not Justin’s primary job as his...
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...Life of a Counselor Coun. 6100-9, Introduction to Mental Health Counseling Kevin Feisthamel Pattie Smith November 13, 2014 Life of a Counselor As a mental health counselor one can choose what theories of practice they follow or they can have an eclectic combination of theories they utilize determined by the client and what their needs are. The professional counselor can choose what demographic of the population they want to work with and specialize in that. Or the professional counselor can broaden their practice and work with all different clients, experiencing encounters with different ages of people with different diagnosis. The truth is that a day in the life of a counselor is like no other day before. Days are always changing and there are new experiences with each client. When speaking with Dana Woods LPC, she shared what her days were like. She does in-home care as well as holding clinic hours twice a week and helping in a free or reduced-cost clinic. She travels about 3000 miles a month in order to go into areas that have little access to counseling and provides service for the rural clients. She sees both adults and children, mostly of adolescent age. They all have different issues that take different styles of counseling, however she stated that she uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with many of her clients. A typical day for Dana would be checking in at the office for messages and reviewing the files of the clients that she is scheduled...
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...Mental health, family, marital and pediatric counselors are very important intoday’s society due to the skyrocketing rate of mental health issues. The duty ofthese counselors is to help manage and ease the pain of those suffering from issuesinvolved in these areas. Personally, I started out my education by wanting tobecome an elementary education teacher. However, once I looked into the area ofcounseling a little more, I realized this is a better fit for me. Counselors have theduties of helping their clients understand things such as diagnoses, problems andpainful experiences. After helping their clients understand these things better,counselors work on helping those people improve their well being by developinghelpful strategies to implement into their lives.The first thing I learned about in researching the career of a pediatric/familycounselor is that you are unable to practice until you obtain your master’s degree orhigher in counseling. There is no program that allows you to become a certifiedcounselor with simply a bachelor’s degree. Therefore, education is extremelyimportant. In order to get into most graduate degree programs, you need to meetcertain requirements, such as obtaining a bachelor’s degree and passing certainundergraduate prerequisite classes....
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