I would certainly use this method again with other families in my future practice; I have also recommended it to colleagues, some of whom have taken my advice and completed such work with their service users and seen positive benefits.
I would certainly use this method again with other families in my future practice; I have also recommended it to colleagues, some of whom have taken my advice and completed such work with their service users and seen positive benefits.
This was the first time I had used structured systemic family therapy in my practice and I have found this to be beneficial in working with families where communication is a problem. This is because the essence of the systemic approach is the belief that the family system is more than the sum of its parts and that the system as a whole can be the focus of the therapy (Barker 2007).
In particular the use of the ‘life line’ work I facilitated was of particular success as it provided a shared experience for Emma and her mother to discuss, specifically the first time Emma had disclosed her feelings about the birth of her half sibling. Dallos & Draper (2007) see the use of such a tool as providing therapeutic opportunities for families in sharing ideas, thoughts and feelings which are of high emotional intensity.
