Family Therapy Models: Solution-Focused and Narrative
Introduction
Module 6: begins the review of two models that have been recently developed, Solution-focused and Narrative family therapy. One of the pre-cursors to solution-focused therapy was the MRI model. Solution-focused therapy is just that, designed to help the family find solutions to their dilemmas. Therapy is organized around evidencing to families that whatever problem they are experiencing now, at some point in their lives, that particular issue wasn’t causing the family a “problem,” or stated differently, there are exceptions for any problem the family may have. Key concepts of therapy are finding possibilities, focusing on the positives, uncovering family strengths, offering compliments, and setting goals. “Solution-focused therapists assume that people already have the skills to solve their problems but have lost sight of those abilities because their problems loom so large that their strengths are crowded out of the picture” (Nichols 2014, p. 227). The power of solution-focused therapy is encouraging the family to decide what they are hoping to change and accomplish. It is also brief by design, which is valued by managed care and insurance providers.
Narrative family therapy takes a different path. Therapy is designed to uncover the meaning and interpretation of one’s experience and to review the stories that people tell themselves. This model considers social constructions, societal values and beliefs, and narrative themes that become internalized. For example, families and family members take on the cultural expectations related to their roles, and so forth, and then work to fit themselves into these oft-times narrow constructions that constrain them. Questioning these narratives and helping clients to reconstruct their experiences is a main goal of therapy. It’s the question asking, versus advice giving that leads to the meaning of the stories and the possibility of new renditions of one’s experience. An approach that involves collaboration between therapist and client, this model encourages the family to understand how their problems are influenced and affected by the social and cultural context in which they live (Nichols, 2014).
Learning Outcomes
This module addresses the following Course Learning Outcomes listed in the Syllabus for this course:
•describe major family systems theories
•describe and explain interventions and techniques used with various family systems theories
•identify and assess various interventions for specific family issues
Module Objectives
Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:
•compare and contrast Solution focused and Narrative family therapy models
•describe the basic model of Solution focused and Narrative family therapy approaches, including the therapeutic approach of each model, and the goals of therapy
•discuss the current status of each model.
Readings and Resources
•Read: Chapter 12: Solutions-Focused Therapy in The Essentials of Family Therapy 6th edition
•Read: Chapter 13: Narrative Therapy in The Essentials of Family Therapy 6th edition
•Read: Chapter 10: Solutions-Focused therapy in Theory-Based Treatment for Marriage and Family Therapists: Integrating Theory and Practice, 1st edition
•Read: Chapter 11: Narrative Therapy in Theory-Based Treatment for Marriage and Family Therapists: Integrating Theory and Practice, 1st edition
Assignment 2: Treatment Plan
Treatment Plan
Directions: You must write and develop your treatment plan BEFORE you complete your role-play. You will be using your treatment plan in your role-play so it essential that you write it up BEFORE interviewing your role-play client. You will be submitting your treatment plan in MODULE 6. You will be using the document called ROLE PLAY VIGNETTES attached above to develop your role play to use in your treatment plan.
IMPORTANT:
•When selecting the role play vignettes of those offered, do not choose a vignette that is similar to your own life experience.
•Choose a vignette that you can make up and is not based on you own life.
•Secondly, when choosing someone as your role play client, be sure to assess with them if the vignette you are using is similar to a life experience they have had.
•If so, find another person to use as your role-play client.
•The vignette needs to be objective and not personal for both of you.
•This is the reason you need to begin working on this component of the assignment as soon as possible so that you can choose and develop your vignette and find a neutral role-play client for your video.
In this assignment you will be using both the Nichols and Gehart& Tuttle textbooks AND 2 additional scholarly references. Be sure to do the following:
•Using both textbooks–Nichols and Gehart& Tuttle–as resources, develop an initial treatment plan using one of the family therapy models discussed over the term. Be sure to use citations throughout to support the material you are using. Attached are examples of preliminary vignettes that you will develop into a role-play story and you will use this in your treatment plan and for your role play.
•After fully developing your vignetted, use the Gehart& Tuttle text to develop your treatment plan. In this text there are specific guidelines for early phase goals, middle phase goals and late phase goals.
•For your treatment plan you are to develop these early phase goals, middel phase goals and late phase goals. Use the example in the text to assist you in developing your own goals for the vignette you have developed.
•In your discussion of the model you chose–because it will be a theory based plan—give an explanation of the difference between a symptom-based treatment plan and a theory-based treatment plan. Explain the merits of a theory-based treatment plan. This is clearly discussed in the Gehart& Tuttle textbook. Use this textbook to fully support what you compose in your paper.
•Provide references from the texts to support the format of the treatment plan you develop and discuss how the therapy model concepts are incorporated into the treatment plan.
•Provide a detailed overview of your reasons for choosing the particular family therapy model you are using over all the other models.
•Include 2 additional primary/secondary references accessed from LINCCWEB to support the efficacy of the therapy model you have chosen.
•In your treatment plan, you MUST provide a list of questions that you have prepared to use in your role-play. These questions are developed using the specific therapy model you have chosen and the treatment plan you have developed. This will be your first session, so you will be aksing questions related to a first session. (The Nichols book, chapter 2 has some excellent ideas as well).
•You need a minimum of 15 questions. The questions must be grounded in the therapy model you have chosen, meaning they must be formulated using the model you have chosen.
•You can always have more than 15 questions. When you are sitting with your “client” you will have the questions in front of you to guide you through the process
•The entire paper must be a minimum of 1500-2000 words. APA format must be used for the treatment plan discussion, and the two textbooks and two other primary/secondary resources must be utilized and cited as references for this part of the assignment.
•Be sure to include a copy of the vignette you developed at the end of your paper.
•Include your references at the end of the paper.