Narrative Family Therapy Paper

Being taking away from her mother was a painful memory that she carries with her every single day hoping that her mother will rescue her. She battles between different caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, dealing with other foster care children, and forced to endure manipulative. In this forgettable memoir, Ashely discovers her voice and was able to succeed in life. After reading this book, I initially felt angry because Ashely was taken from her mother at a young age.

They feel after going to all these therapy sessions there has been no improvement in their daughter’s behavior. The therapist Harry Aponte session with this family projects SFT theory on them. He decided do a strategy by forming an alliance with Pam to form a dynamic with the family (www.psychotherapy.net, video) . So, basically his approach is about helping them understanding their day to day issues they are having. Harry Aponte begins to engage with the family to find ways to the problem.

This year, Tariji Gordon should have just had her seventh birthday. Instead, the foster family that she lived with and her siblings are mourning the fourth anniversary of her death. Tariji was born on March 6th in 2011, she was murdered, at the age of two, by her mother on February 6, 2014. The mother, Rachel Fryer, gave birth to seven other children other that Tariji. Unfortunately, Tariji was not the only victim of Fryer’s abuse and neglect, and much of this maltreatment, including her death, could have been avoided, had the case been handled and monitored properly.

Shelby Gonzalez born in daly city (california) - parents are stephen pelzer & catherine pelzer : parents are both alcoholics catherine pelzer enjoyed torturing david & constantly abused him from [age 5-12] dave was the second child out of five child called it: pg.3 david overtime figured out ways to get chores done to get dinner - also every time he falls down he gets right back up pg.4 davids “mom loves to use food as a weapon” he found certain techniques to survive and eat at the end of the day/ does not care about how many times she hits him or what she does to him as long as he gets food ( food = survival) pg.8 davids principle: mr. hansen; mr. hansen lifts davids chin and david can not make eye contact - because afraid and ashamed of lifestyle principles call home= davids results of moms beatings next day= mr. hansen never called home again= started to look into what was going on at pelzers home= soon david pelzer rescue pg.30 by

“Moving away from a dysfunctional family environment is often necessary in order for individuals to grow and develop into healthy and productive adults.” (Wilson 5). Jeannette was finally able to put her family’s dysfunctional behavior behind her and

As a child Ashley was not raised in a great environment, her mother didn’t really pay attention to Ashley’s safety. Ashley is now adopted by the Courter’s, where she is looked after and cared for. Another one of Ashley’s obstacles she had to overcome was being taken away from her family at the age of 3. She didn’t let her past rule over everything, to escape her past she put her thoughts and feelings into her school work. Finally, Ashley was put into an abusive foster care home, but now she uses her experience in that horrible home to help speak out about children's wellness in the foster care system.

Stone writes about three essential functions of family stories– to pass on the family’s standards, to identify family characteristics, and coping strategies. The first of the three functions is the standards of the family since the family act as the “first culture,” teaching people what their family values and their opinions on certain situations like marriage and illness, mental or physical (Stone 384). The second factor is the family’s characteristics and their traits that bind them together, which act as the family member’s confidence boost (384). Furthermore, this boost makes them value themselves more than the next family, so that the family members contently remain together (384). The third factor is influencing how families cope; these “teaching stories” tell each family how to function outside of the family (385).

At the age of nine is with the family starting getting therapeutic help. The parents reported that the therapy help them discover coping tools and ways to help adjust Jericka’s

The Jones family seems to support a state of equilibrium around abuse. After being sexually abused in her childhood, the homeostasis of the family was revolving around Precious being the recipient of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. At times that Precious tried to go against her mother’s orders or tried to stand up for herself, Mary returned the family to equilibrium by abusing her daughter. This was the cycle that developed after the Carl Jones raped Precious and saw her as a sexual subject to use for his desires. The Jones family is not exception to the family life cycle developed by McGolderick (1999).

A personal philosophy of counselling Introduction My personal odyssey into the realm of counselling has been quite the reluctant adventure. The perilous journey from childhood to adulthood was difficult to navigate given the cognitive map that had been handed down. My father was a functioning alcoholic who was both physically and verbally abusive. My mother was a martyr prone to mood swings and suicidal thoughts.

A brief comparison between narrative therapy and family therapy will also be given.   Overview of the two theories Narrative Therapy Narrative therapy is best known for being used by Michael White and David Epston. Narrative therapy commonly involves a shift in focus from more theories that can be seen as traditional. A collaborative approach is often encouraged and the therapist is also encouraged to show special interest and listen respectfully to the client’s stories. The therapist should also avoid diagnosing and labelling clients but rather enable the client to often separate themselves from the most dominant story of their life to provide a space where alternative life stories can be created (Corey, 2014).

As counselors, we will be faced with unique and not so uniqueness family and individual issues. Often, we will have to listen to what is not being said to fully assess our client/family situation. The movie Precious is moving, thought provoking, disturbing, and brings awareness to the many different forms of abuse, and different types of mental illness. Three Identified Symptom in the Family Counseling Session

In mapping this communication, the eight principles measured by Brown may become apparent not only to the therapist, but for the first time, the family may be able to see just how their functions are impeding the balance of their family and condoning strong exhibitions of universal traits within particular family members. The Bowen family therapy approach is invested in the intergenerational processes that are prevalent between generations (Bohlinger, 2010). By increasing differentiation between family members and between the generations, if possible, giving each triangle meaning rather than repetitive opportunities at increasing anxiety (Bohlinger, 2010). Focusing on this historical perspective, the origin of the family and environmental factors that surround the progress of this family, the genogram focuses itself on growth and self-actualization as the ultimate goal for the intervention (Nichols,

Though it has certain boundaries and limitations, a lot of times Marion may expect the therapist to act as the expert, instead of having to conduct the conversation themselves (Winslade & Cotter, 2002). For these reason, Narrative Therapy can be challenging especially if Marion will not be a good talker or not articulate. There are so many factors, but the only way the therapist can work well with Marion is to make her feel with an amazing self-confidence coupled with intellectual capacity and other narratives will be expressed properly. The therapist can also program some agenda for Marion to support a framework to her narrative to make her tell her stories easier. But the most important aspect of Narrative Therapy is to empower the client (Flaskas, 1999).

The skill of reframing is significant in family therapy because, it helps to look at the problem in a new light so that the problem at hand will be easier to solve and figure out. By looking at the problem differently it can be easier to understand and resolve. In this session the family made the problem seem as if it was all just Pam from the beginning. Pam in this session was used as a scapegoat and the underlying issue of family dynamic really was addressed toward the middle and last phase in this session. The growth from the beginning to the end of this session really reframed the problem.