Going Home Again - Family Therapy with Individuals

How does family systems theory apply to working with individuals in therapy?

What is Family of Origin Coaching and its relevance for the professional development of the therapist?

This workshop considers the application of a systems approach to working with an individual and as a professional development tool for the therapist. A theory overview of the coaching approach will be presented and 3 therapists will present their own Family of Origin efforts as case studies. Case studies will cover dilemmas of this work including the impact of immigration, being an only child with deceased parents and intergenerational trauma.

A family of origin approach to individual therapy is geared to assisting a person to define themselves clearly in their extended family emotional system. It is considered helpful for clients and therapists alike as a path to increasing differentiation, which is the capacity to function autonomously, by making self directed choices, while remaining emotionally connected to the intensity of the significant relationship system. The rationale for therapists to take on such work is that they can only take their clients as far as they have been able to go themselves in terms of managing their own reactivity in key relationships.

Program:

     Moving from learning theory to a journey of self. Bowen’s example

     Comparison to traditional individual work.

     Coaching Vs Therapy; Phases of Coaching.

     Uncovering process in one’s own family of origin: triangle positions, patterns of anxiety binding and reactive themes.

     The relevance of looking at the therapists own family. Discussion and critique.

     Techniques of coaching used in case example: letter writing; setting research and observation tasks; reversals and de-traingling; preparing for acts of change; identifying the emerging self.

     The position of the coach: avoiding over responsibility for the clients change efforts.

     Wrap up and exploration of coaching dilemmas.