Objectives
The goals of this project are for students to challenge and expand their personal norms regarding the behavioural, social, and emotional functioning of families and their members, and also to engage in reflective self-assessment as developing therapists.
Instructions
Write a short Learning Journal (2-3 typed, double-spaced pages of text), in which you briefly share your own responses to each of the discussion prompts:
What aspects of couple or family therapy seem most challenging or intimidating to you? What aspects seem exciting or potentially rewarding to you?
How do you feel about the idea of managing 2 or more clients in the room simultaneously?
What do you think will be most difficult about this? What do you think could be interesting or enjoyable about this?
Screening for, treating, and/or reporting child abuse/neglect or intimate partner violence (IPV) can of course be relevant with individual clients, but couple/family therapists in particular may encounter these issues in their work.
How do you see yourself navigating these issues? What are the greatest challenges you anticipate, in this regard? How comfortable do you feel working with couples or families with a history of IPV or other forms of abuse?
To the extent you wish to disclose, are there aspects of your own family history that are likely to influence your work with couples, with families, and/or with individuals whose presenting issues involve couple/family relationships?
Do you feel you can keep your own experiences with your family of origin fairly separate from this work, or are there ways in which your own experiences will directly influence your work as a therapist?
Are there other aspects of couple/family therapy that you feel ambivalent about? Excited about? Curious about? Confused about?
Please also address the following questions:
Please describe any “take-home messages” you gathered from the discussion as a whole.
As a result of reflecting upon this conversation, is there anything that has changed or evolved in your thinking? Please elaborate.
Do you have any lingering doubts, concerns or questions? The latter are particularly useful to identify, as your professor will try to address these in the remaining weeks of the course.
