Introduction
Enrique (Rick) and Miriam are second-generation immigrants as Enrique’s parents moved from Mexico and Miriam’s family are Jews who moved from Russia. Today they have successful careers and are part of the American society because they have entirely assimilated into the United States. Rick and Miriam were raised in low-income families, which showed them the cost of labor. Simultaneously, their children are American despite their roots and have grown up wealthy as their family has a middle-class income. In addition, the parents’ peculiarity is that they grew up in large families with siblings, although their relationship is now significantly different, since Rick is close to his family, and Miriam only communicates with one sister. Religion also does not matter much in the Martinez family, although Miriam nominally considers herself and her children Jews. The family does not experience a lack of money as Rick develops a successful business, and Miriam works as a freelancer in well-known magazines. Consequently, the family does not face the economic and social problems that led them to therapy. However, parents often don’t have enough family time, especially Rick.
However, the family agreed to therapy because their eldest son, Ricky, has a problem with his behavior and performance in class and was generally more aggressive than earlier. Although Miriam believed her son needed additional hours of studying, she agreed to a couple of therapy sessions for the whole family. However, during therapy, it was also revealed that the Martinez family has significant communication problems with each other. The first level of misunderstanding is visible between the spouses since Miriam believes that if the husband were busy with less work, then his children would be more obedient, and the woman would be able to devote more time to her career. In addition, communication gaps exist between Rick and Ricky because they spend very little time together. At the same time, the youngest son has problems with Miriam as he challenges her authority as the mother. Thus, while the main reasons for attending therapy are Ricky’s lousy behavior and attitude, other problems demonstrate that therapy is essential for the whole family.
Genogram, Culturgram and Ecomap
The genogram and culturagram are convenient and essential tools for assessing family members’ interactions and choosing an intervention method. Although some general information about parent-child relationships has been provided during the first session, the genogram would help to see the specifics of extended family interactions. For example, Rick’s genogram can demonstrate the influence of other family members on the man’s decision and show whether Rick experiences “emotional fusion” with his parents and siblings (McGoldrick et al., 2008). Miriam can understand the reasons and characteristics of a fight with her parents to make peace with them or pay less attention to the conflict.
At the same time, the cultural genogram also identified pride and shame issues related to the origins of Rick and Miriam as second-generation migrants (Hardy & Laszloffy, 1995). In other words, the genogram helps define the vertical axis of stressors that Rick and Miriam inherited from their parents and passed on to their children, such as racial stereotypes, attitudes towards bullying, or weakness and strength (McGoldrick et al., 2008). Perhaps understanding these stressors will allow the therapist to explain Ricky’s behavior. In this way, the genogram and culturagram would enable the therapist to find a more detailed understanding of the interaction between adults and children of the Martinez family, since parents’ cultural features and beliefs significantly affect their parenting style and communication.
Ecomaps are also a handy tool for assessing the Martinez family. This ecomap is especially necessary for Ricky because he was recently transferred to Junior High, where he feels his peers’ pressure, and he made friends with a boy, whom his parents negatively perceive. Ecomap is also useful for Rick because he continually interacts with people, and the map will more readily show what is in first place in his preferences, particularly, job or family. Ecomaps of other family members will also help assess how the external environment affects them. Thus, all these psychological and social assessment tools will allow the therapist to become more familiar with the characteristics of the family and their communication in a short time.
The Martinez Family Assessment
A complete assessment of the family requires more facts and information, but the limited data from the first session gives an overview of the Martinez family. First, the father is of Hispanic origin, which affects the family structure. Typically Hispanic families are hierarchical and central to family traditions, extended family ties, and parents’ respect, which is reflected in the Martinez family structure. (Van Hook, 2019) However, Miriam’s origins partly diminish such traditions, as she does not communicate with her Jewish parents, although she prioritizes relationships with children. This feature is reflected in the fact that both parents have a close relationship with their daughter, and although they now have problems in communication with their sons, they also express parental love for them. Thus, although Martinez retains the traditional hierarchical parentage of parents and children, their adaptation to American culture and mix of parents’ origin values has made members more independent, influencing their values of joint family leisure and close family relations activities.
It is also worth noting that the family has some protective factors that strengthen its relations. Social connections are the first factor, since Martinez has an extended family from the father’s side, although data on friends is limited (Van Hook, 2019). In addition, the family has a sufficiently high level of income to provide children with education, food, clothing, medical care, and entertainment for joint leisure (Van Hook, 2019). Another strength is that children receive love and respect from their parents every day despite some communication problems. The eldest son likely feels that he is not getting enough attention from his father, whose support he requires during his high school transition. In addition, a possible risk factor is that Bobby and Ricky do not have high enough social and emotional competence, which is manifested in Ricky’s attitude towards teachers and Bobby’s behavior with his mother. However, Ricky’s behavior may be a response to the external influence of new friends, bullying at school, or resentment for the lack of attention from their father.
The family is now at the parenting stage of the life cycle since the children are still not old enough for an independent life. However, Ricky is in a transitional phase of adolescence now and requires more independence and emotional support at the same time, which parents must consider. This transition enchases the existing risk factors that manifest themselves in family conflicts increase (McGoldrick et al., 2008). However, Rick and Miriam likely lack knowledge about parenting adolescents, since Miriam believes that Ricky’s behavior is only a phase and he needs educational but not psychological help. Simultaneously, Rick probably lacks the flexibility and resilience to pay more attention to his family and express his feelings, especially to his eldest son (Van Hook, 2019). For this reason, both parents need to learn more about the reasons for their children’s behavior and build trust and communication with them.
The Family Therapy Model
The most suitable for Martinez is the structural family therapy model since the analysis demonstrates communication problems for almost all family members. One can make such a conclusion by considering the subsystems, since, despite their formal presentation, the family has difficulties in their maintenance. First, Rick and Miriam have problems in their spouse subsystem because Miriam believes that Rick devotes too much time to his parents, business, and himself but not his wife. This fact, as well as Rick’s behavior during the session, suggests that he has practically no child-parent subsystem (Van Hook, 2019). For example, he hardly participates in the discussion of Ricky’s problems, rarely spends time with children, and, therefore, cannot influence their behavior. At the same time, Rick has a strong bond with his parents and siblings. At the same time, children’s interaction in the sibling subsystem is typical as Rachel, and her brothers often spend time together.
Moreover, there are some border problems in the Martinez family. Rick’s extended family affects his relationship with the nuclear family, although no facts demonstrate its direct intervention. Bobby is disrespectful in his interactions with his mother, which also violates the boundaries of communication between parent and child (Van Hook, 2019). However, there is insufficient information about the interactions of children, parents, and interference with privacy to conclude the violation of other personal and subsystem boundaries.
At the same time, according to the facts, there are no apparent coalitions in the family, since, despite the closeness or remoteness of some family members, no one takes the side of the other without an obvious reason. However, the lack of coalition between parents complicates decision-making and setting boundaries and rules, which aversively affects children’s behavior (Van Hook, 2019). Thus, this analysis demonstrates that Ricky’s problems at school, which were the reason for family counseling, cannot be resolved by influencing specifically his behavior. Communication problems in the Martinez family are not yet critical for their relationship; however, they already negatively impact, which manifested itself due to Ricky’s transition to junior high school. Therefore, structural family therapy is the most appropriate model to assist Martinez.
Experience of the Practitioner
This assignment has shown me that I have significant gaps in experience and knowledge that I can only fill with practice. Even though I have already worked as a therapist for individuals, the family experience was new and significantly different for me. However, being new to family therapy has also given me the advantage of being a more attentive listener and the absence of countertransference.
The main disadvantage of my therapy with family was the lack of experience as I have never worked with such clients. For this reason, I often had to study the literature to confirm my assumptions. In addition, I also noticed that I lacked the cultural competence and sensitivity to reveal the particulars of Rick and Miriam’s parenting fully. This knowledge was not enough for me to understand how the parents’ behavior correlates with the eldest son’s problems and the stubbornness of the younger son. For the same reason, it was quite difficult for me to choose the appropriate therapy model for the family. However, it is also worth noting that the situation was aggravated because the Martinez family’s description lacks the information to judge all the details of family members’ interactions.
However, my lack of family therapy experience helped me become a more attentive listener and choose the method most suitable for this family. In other words, I didn’t have a countertransference issue, since I have no experience; therefore, I did not use the most common treatment just because it fits the symptoms, but I devised the most appropriate one. Another of my strengths was that I worked with individuals, and I understand what factors can influence their attitudes and mood. Although family therapy is aimed at all members simultaneously, problems are based on personal characteristics and issues. Consequently, my experience helped me identify each member’s main concerns, transfer them, and analyze them in the family system. Another benefit, but not relevant to this case, is that I have a personal experience of domestic violence that would help me better understand families that have experienced abuse.
The main incentive for my professional development is continuing to work with families. The accumulation of experience, cultural competence, and sensitivity will help me learn about social work and improve my qualifications. In addition, I believe that working with veterans, military personnel, and their families is also an essential aspect of my practice since the direction of therapy with such clients is more specific than general family practice. Moreover, I am a veteran and served in a combat zone; thus, I can relate to the struggles and difficulties that come along with military members and their families. This feature is my strength, which, together with constant training and practice, will help me develop as a professional.
References
Hardy, K.V., & Laszloffy, T.A. (1995). The cultural genogram: Key to training culturally competent family therapist. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 21(3), 227-237.
McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Petry, S. M. V. (2008). Genograms: assessment and intervention (3rd ed.). W.W. Norton.
Van Hook, M. P. (2019). Social work practice with families: a resiliency-based approach. Oxford University Press.