Working with families: the skills of engaging and entering the family

Abstract

Early in the process of working with a family the family therapist inevitably develops a working hypothesis about why things are the way they are in the family. What has happened to whom - why so on. This is a very important part of family therapy and is being dealt with by Dr. Mohd Fadzil in this workshop.The analysis of the present situation however is not just for the therapist's vicarious pleasure. If no action is taken to start to alleviate the family's distress in one way or another, the family will quickly drop out of therapy. In comparison with other therapeutic approaches, the family therapist is more action-oriented and directive and tends to make some specific suggestions even in the first family session. Prior to this session probably one member of the family, often the mother would have approached the therapist with some presenting problem.