Child and Family counselling is viewed as an effortful venture due to its time-taking nature and systemic difficulties in mental healthcare. As a psychologist, I believe the interactions between family members creates both positive and negative patterns. All members are different units that interact with each other to form a communication pattern and their individual mental state in turn leads to a unique dynamic that causes cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. The key focus needs to be on identifying those structures that maintain the problems; it means that the family becomes the client instead of an individual.
A good first step is to understand that each person has different needs and set goals that allows for the family to co-ordinate and meet those needs. Establishing rapport and creating a safe environment where everyone is heard and understood is vital for any kind of progress with the family. It allows for a detailed understanding of the problems, diagnoses, communication patterns and behaviors.
The second step focuses on detailed understanding of the family and providing psycho-education about mental health, especially those that impact children like ADHD and Autism with collaboration between therapist, parents and school staff for behavioral analysis.
The third step, effective cognitive, behavior and emotional management, involves building a structure and providing strategies for the family to test out in real life and bring their observations back to therapy for feedback and improvement. The therapeutic bond facilitates the ability to accept what cannot be changed, recognize factors that are out of control and make meaningful changes wherever the family can, to track progress.
Overall, I tend to be mindful of past trauma and cultural background while focusing on communication, resolving conflicts, developing parenting skills, seeking social support, coping strategies for transitions in life and supporting individual mental health with required referrals.
