Article Examination and Brief Summary
Madanes (as cited in Olson, 2008) explained that assessing the hierarchy that exists within the family is important. By asking the questions like “Who is in charge in the family?” or “What are the rules that exist in the household?” it is easy to find out about the patterns that are predominant when it comes to family relationships (p. 1). According to the Haley’s Strategic Family Therapy theory (as cited in Olson, 2008), the hierarchy of relationships within the families should be changed in order for the family changes to occur (p. 1).
Thus, according to this theory, a parent that is usually rarely involved in the child’s upbringing should become involved. Moreover, there is also a concrete connection between the child’s perception of responsibility and the time spent with the parent of the same sex. Thus, a role for a counsellor is to push the uninvolved parent into the engagement with the child. The new engagement will be able to produce a new interaction within the family and create some significant results. Thus, the counsellor should also be involved with the child and explain the new interactions created within the family as well as become a neutral party that creates a potential for healing (Becvar & Becvar, 2013, p. 174).
Case Study
The case study involves a family that is very common to the modern society. Middle-aged Caucasian mother and father and their son of 14 years old. The mother is a housewife that gives all of her time and efforts to raise her son. The father, on the other hand, is a busy person that works hard to provide his family with the best things: a big house, a new car once in a while and a family vacation that usually means the vacation for his wife and son together. The problem occurred when the boy’s teacher expressed concerns about his behaviour and decided to have a talk with his parents. The mother came along and told the teacher about the lack of interaction between the father and his son which causes some tension in the relationships within the family.
The teacher came up with an idea of doing a career education project where students should interact with their parents that have interesting jobs. Thus, the father was ‘forced’ to work with his son. He took him to work, showed his office and took him to lunch with his co-workers. At the end of the projects, the father and son should present their journal in which they have written the things they learned. The most important result of the project was the boy spending time with his father and understanding that he works hard to provide for the family. Moreover, the son became interested in what he father does for the living and began considering a new career.
Conclusion
The family’s goals of strengthening the relationships were achieved with the help of teacher’s initiative. The teacher took a role of the counsellor and tried to make every family member start solving the issues that arise because of the father’s non-involvement. Families can often become trapped in the dysfunctional patterns when they stick to solutions that never work (Haley & Richeport-Haley, 2003, p. 7). Because everything the mother tried did not work, the teacher’s solution broke the dysfunctional pattern and helped build new connections that benefit family member.
References
Becvar, D., & Becvar, R. (2013). Family Therapy: A Systematic Integration (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Haley, J., & Richeport-Haley, M. (2003). The Art of Strategic Therapy. Hove, United Kingdom: Brunner-Routledge.
Olson, B. (2008). Strategic Family Therapy for Dysfunctional Parents. Web.