Essential Skills for Family Assessment - Marital and Family Therapy and Counselling - Psychology Super-Notes

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By M.S. Ahluwalia
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Essential Skills for
Family Assessment
Marital and Family
Therapy and Counselling

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10. c
Contents
1.Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
2.Assessment Skills
3.Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
4.Terminating Sessions
5.Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
Essential Skills for Family Assessment Super
-
Notes
10

11. Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
11
Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
•The initial focus in any interaction between a C/FT and the clients is on:
•establishing a rapport, and
•building a good working alliance.
•Assessment is an important step in family therapy. Before a specific intervention
plan is developed, a good amount of assessment should be done.
•Comprehensive, Objective Data: C/FT is required to collect detailed information
about the clients and maintain an objective stance throughout the process.
•Modelling: A C/FT would try to help family members express themselves is an
appropriate manner, and an important way of doing this is by demonstrating this
behaviour him/herself when interacting with the clients.

12. Challenging Process needs Skilled C/FT
12
Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
The process of assessment can be
challenging…
•Members may be reluctant to disclose
some information.
•One member may insist on speaking for
another
•Squabbles may break out
•Voices may be raised.
…C/FT must possess the skills to carry it
out.
•C/FT should remain calm and in control
and should not lose sight of the object of
the session.
•The C/FT may set certain ground rules
that are to be maintained in session.
•If required, the C/FT may terminate a
session, or give the clients a time out if
they misbehave, but even this should be
done in a calm and controlled manner.

13. Active role of the Counsellor/Family Therapist
13
Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
•Research has shown that the more active the C/FT is in the sessions, the better is
the outcome.
•Hence it is better if the C/FT is not simply a passive listener throughout the
assessment process, but actively generates questions and encourages clients to
speak, through the communication of empathy and interest.
•The C/FT can reassure other members in the family that they will get their turn to
speak.
•He/ she can also rephrase and positively reframe to control escalation, and
contain the situation in the session.

14. C/FT should generate positivity in the session
14
Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
•The process of therapeutic intervention does not become effective overnight.
•Generating positivity is important in sustaining the client’s emotional strength.
•This gives clients the capacity to go through the assessment and intervention phases
and gradually implement various changes in their interaction patterns.
•Positivity can be generated through:
•positive reframing
•validating the client’s experience.
•This does not mean that C/FT’s entire focus is on validating the client. C/FT’s focus
should be on developing an understanding of the clients. Most clients are more
comfortable once they sense that C/FT is trying to understand them, their
experience and the position they are coming from and isn’t judging them.

15. C/FT should remain flexible regarding the agenda
15
Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
•A C/FT is also required to maintain a balance between:
•sticking to the agenda for assessment, as well as
•maintaining flexibility to include what may be relevant but was not on the session agenda.
•S/he is required to take a decision on whether:
•information being provided is relevant
•to follow the new trail of information in the same session or schedule it for another day.
•This decision is also based on how exploring it will affect therapy and how
important it is to the client.

16. C/FT should be mindful of own needs and biases
16
Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
•C/FT should understand when it is his or her own:
•need to change the family in a particular manner
•biases that are colouring the process.
•Drawing conclusions very early in the sessions, and losing sight of the systemic
view can even result in client dropout during the assessment stage itself.
•Supervision from a senior C/FT and peer group can be very useful.

17. c
Contents
1.Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
2.Assessment Skills
3.Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
4.Terminating Sessions
5.Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
Essential Skills for Family Assessment Super
-
Notes
17

18. The 3 Assessment Skills
18
Assessment Skills
Figley and Nelson, (1990), categorized skills into 3 types:
1
Conceptual Skills
•skills that are related
to the C/FT’s ability
to understand what
the pattern of
interaction in the
family is indicative of.
2
Perceptual Skills
•the ability of the
C/FT to pick up on
the verbal and
nonverbal
information.
•This information is
used by the C/FT in
conceptualization.
3
Behavioural Skills
•skills of the C/FT that
facilitate the
elicitation of
information.

19. C/FT needs all three Assessment Skills
19
Assessment Skills
For successful assessment the C/FT needs to develop all three types of skills:
•The C/FT needs to have the right understanding about families. S/he needs to
have theoretical knowledge about family interaction prior to starting counselling.
•S/he then needs to be able to perceive information; this will allow him or her to
conceptualize the family s/he is seeing.
•C/FT needs to be able to elicit the information by using his/her behavioural skills.
These skills are not used independently of each other; they facilitate each other.

20. The 3 Assessment Skills
20
Assessment Skills
1
Conceptual Skills
2
Perceptual Skills
3
Behavioural Skills
Next

21. 1. Conceptual Skills
21
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
1
Family Life Cycle
2
Hypothesis
Formulation
3
Interpersonal
Definition of Problem

22. 1.1. The Family Life Cycle
22
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
•This helps the C/FT to:
•understand what is expected of a
family at a certain stage and
•identify when something that should
be achieved in one family life cycle
stage is not.
•What is or is not achieved in a life
cycle stage affects the functioning
of the family.
•If the C/FT is unaware of these
aspects of the family environment,
s/he will not be able develop an
adequate hypothesis.
Example
When a child reaches adolescence in the family, some
degree of autonomy is given to the child. The degree of
autonomy and the area in which it is given may vary
culturally, but if the family is unable to make this
transition, difficulty may arise.
Consider a family in which the adolescent is very shy.
She may not be able to do a task which requires
interaction, even if family members give her the
opportunity, if in earlier life cycle stages when she
expressed discomfort about such tasks, family members
had found it easier to do the task themselves than
encourage her to try.

23. 1.2. Formulating a Hypothesis (1/3)
23
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
•From the theoretical knowledge that the C/FT has, and the information that s/he is
able to elicit, the C/FT has to develop tentative hypothesis, which may be built on
or discarded as assessment progresses.
•The hypothesis establishes the starting point for his investigation.
•If by verification of the validity of this hypothesis based on specific methods and
skills, hypothesis is proven false, the therapist must form a second hypothesis based
upon the information gathered during the testing of the first (Selvini et al., 1980).
Hypothesizing
The formulation by the therapist of a hypothesis based upon the information he
possesses regarding the family he is interviewing.

24. 1.2. Formulating a Hypothesis (2/3)
24
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
The hypothesis:
•Guides the information gathering process.
•Is usually based on:
•past relationship experiences
•learning of index family members before starting of the index family
•repetitive interactional patterns currently triggered by individual or family events and their
role in maintaining the presenting problem by bringing to the system a quality that it was
otherwise lacking.

25. 1.2. Formulating a Hypothesis (3/3)
25
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
After making a tentative hypothesis, the C/FT continues to gather information:
•If the information disproves the hypothesis, the C/FT needs to discard the hypothesis.
•The C/FT may also revise or modify the hypothesis as sessions progress.
•It is important for the C/FT to objectively evaluate information.
•If the C/FT is unable to retain this objectivity, s/he may get biased, which may colour the process of
assessment.
•S/he may not consider contradictory information when developing the hypothesis and
intervention.
•The C/FT may even collect only the information that confirms his or her hypothesis, while failing
to collect the information that disproves it.
•Thus, a somewhat scientific approach towards various evidences from family interactions
is required along with openness to use contrary information.

26. 1.2. Formulating a Hypothesis: Case Example
26
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
•A couple in which the wife complains that the husband comes home late all the time and doesn’t talk to
her much, and the husband complains that the wife is always scolding him.
•Assessment may reveal that the husband and his FOO were reserved in expressing feelings, so he finds it
difficult to share all his feelings with his wife.
•His wife had come from a family in which everyone was expressive and she may come into the marriage
expecting the same of her husband. When it didn’t happen, she may repeatedly ask him about his feeling.
•She may have scolded him about not talking about them and criticize him when he did talk of them. In her
family, people didn’t hesitate to express their feeling and so this style wasn’t a problem. However, in the
couple relationship, when her husband is more sensitive, this style may not be something the husband is
comfortable with.
•When the couple is unable to meet and adjust to one another’s needs, they may develop a pattern of her
nagging him while he may respond by withdrawing further and come up with ways to avoid her. This may
make her more frustrated resulting in her confronting him more and him avoiding her more

27. 1.3. Defining an Problem Interpersonally (1/2)
27
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
•When doing family and marital therapy/counselling it is important for the C/FT to
be able to conceptualize the problem in terms of the pattern of interaction
between persons.
Case Example:
•Rabi’s parents complain that he is disobedient, and does not listen to them. Both
parents may agree that he is very stubborn and difficult to handle.
•Father may blame mother, saying that she stays at home all day, and is more in
touch with him but does not discipline him. Therapist could accept this at face value
and hypothesize that the child’s mother is overindulgent and coach the mother to
be firmer with the child - gathered information may support this.

28. 1.3. Defining an Problem Interpersonally (2/2)
28
Assessment
Skills
>> Conceptual Skills
•However, a more careful exploration could reveal that when the mother attempts to
discipline the child, her efforts are undermined by other family members, perhaps
even by the father himself.
•It may also turn out that as the father has limited time with the children at the end
of the day, when they ask him for anything he prefers not to say no as he feels it is a
way to express his love for the children.
•The child may be a favourite child within the family and other extended family
members may intervene when his mother attempts to set limits. Hence, the child
doesn’t face any consequences for his or her actions.
•Thus, having a linear hypothesis may explain part of the problem, without looking
at the systemic factors that contribute to it.

29. The 3 Assessment Skills
29
Assessment Skills
1
Conceptual Skills
2
Perceptual Skills
3
Behavioural Skills
Next

30. 2.1. Recognizing Coalition Messages
30
Assessment
Skills
>> Perceptual Skills
•The C/FT should be able to interpret verbal and non-verbal cues that indicate
that there is a coalition against one member.
Example:
•Father and child may sit closer together and the mother may sit a little apart.
•During sessions father and child may exchange looks. They may spontaneously
minimize and justify difficulties created by each other or defend each other against
any accusations made by the mother, and lay the ultimate blame on the mother.
•These are indications that the two members may have formed a coalition against
the mother.

31. The 3 Assessment Skills
31
Assessment Skills
1
Conceptual Skills
2
Perceptual Skills
3
Behavioural Skills
Next

32. 3. Behavioural Skills
32
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
1
Genogram
2
Displaying
Neutrality
3
Supporting
Family Strengths
4
Clarifying
Interaction
Patterns
5
Using Circular
Questions
6
Stopping Clients
from Talking
7
Staying in
Present
8
Validating the
Family’s reality
9
Preserving
Continuity
Across Sessions
10
Coaching Clients
to Speak More
Openly
11
Asking Future-
Oriented
Questions

33. 3.1. Genogram
33
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•Collecting information from the family about the
genogram, that is information about all the
family members, the age, health and
occupation, is a useful skill.
•According to Thwaites (1999) it gives the family
a chance to warm up gradually, with a task that
is not demanding or challenging, and all family
members can be involved in the task, thus giving
the C/FT a chance to establish rapport with the
family.
•Three-generation genogram is quite useful
with visual depiction of members (McGoldrick et
al 1999).
Symbols for Visual Depiction
-Males – Squares
-Females – Circles
-Marriage – Single Horizontal Line
-Children – square/circle at the end of
vertical line from the horizontal line
joining the father and mother.
-Abortion – a dot at the end of a vertical
line.
-Extra-marital relationship – a dotted
line between the respective persons.

34. 3.2. Displaying Neutrality
34
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•Neutrality is displayed in the style of questions, language used, and not being
vague in what one is saying.
•Neutrality is quite a challenge in couple sessions.
•C/FT should avoid use of strong words and labels that they give to each other.
•S/he should put questions to the clients without implying blame to either.
•C/FT working with a family or a couple as opposed to working with an individual,
has more members to deal with. An individual therapist has to develop rapport
with one person. The C/FT has to develop a rapport with many.
•An important step in developing rapport and a good working alliance with the
family/ couple is displaying neutrality.

35. 3.3. Supporting family strengths
35
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•It is very important for a C/FT to support the family’s strengths.
•C/FT is modelling behaviour that is desirable in the family.
•S/he would want family members to positively reinforce good behaviour and
positive aspects of each other. Whenever there is an opportunity to appreciate and
encourage the strengths of the family, the C/FT should use it.
•In addition, acknowledging and supporting the strengths:
•helps the family become more aware of them.
•validates the efforts they have been putting in and
•contributes to developing a sense of hopefulness.

36. 3.4. Clarifying Interaction Patterns
36
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•The C/FT should have the skill to
track the pattern of behaviours
and interactions in the family.
•This means tracking the exact
sequence of events.
•The C/FT should start with what
people were doing before the
incident occurred, and follow events
as they occur, all the while filling in
each person’s behaviour as the
interaction unfolds.
Question Template
-What was father/mother/sibling doing when child came home
-Who spoke first and what did that person say?
-How did father/mother/child respond to that?
-How did he/she respond?
-What were the others doing at the time?
-Then what happened?
-How did the argument end?
-Where did father/mother/ sibling/child go then?
-Who approached who first?
-How did they interact?
-What did they talk about?
-How did the others respond?

37. 3.5. Using Circular Questions
37
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•This technique can be used to get information during interview.
•The train of thought of the client is traced back or followed through, allowing uncovering of the
sequence that leads to a particular behaviour or emotion. (Brown, 1997 and Nelson, et. al., 1986)
•Within a family this pattern involves all the members. Hence, it is used to get the input of all family
members. Example: this technique is used to explore the perception/opinion of other members on
an issue after the same question is posed to one member.
•Similarly, the sequence of emotions, behaviours or incidents that occur in the family can be traced.
Thus, the relationship between family members is seen as circular rather than linear or causal.
•Circular questions can help the C/FT understand the pattern of interaction more clearly.
Circularity
The capacity of the therapist to conduct his investigation on the basis of the
feedback from the family in response to the information he solicits about
relationships, and, therefore, about difference and change (Selvini et al., 1980).

38. 3.5. Types of Circular Questions
38
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
1
Problem Definition
•These are used in the
initial contact
phase.
•The purpose is to get
information on the
perception of
different family
members about the
problem.
2
Sequence of
interaction
•These questions focus
on who does what,
when, and how it
differed from
behaviour patterns
that occurred
previously.
•All the family
members’ opinions
are sought.
3
Comparison/
Classification
•Focus on the
differences and
similarities between
family members.
•Following are
explored:
•Perception of
relationship
between two people
by other family
members
•Changes over time
•Hypothetical “if
then” situations
4
Interventive
•Used in the
Intervention Phase
•Here questions are
phrased to give
interpretations,
suggest indirectly
and even challenge
at times.

39. 3.5. Using Circular Questions: Case Example
39
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
Example: a family may report that the daughter got upset with
the father. The C/FT can then ask the family what happened.
•Father: She (daughter) got angry because she had wanted to eat
what the parents were eating.
•Daughter: Father got angry because I asked for food.
•C/FT: When and where did this happen?
•Daughter: When we went shopping my parents had ordered
for some snacks and I also asked for some, but father got angry.
•C/FT: Oh. How did you realize he was angry?
•Daughter: I knew because of the way he spoke. Because of the
tone in which he spoke.
•Father: She had just eaten some other snacks.
•C/FT: (nods)… How did you realize that she was angry?
•Father: I could make out from her face. When she is angry, she
will not look at me and she will have an angry expression.
•C/FT: (turning to mother) … Did you know what she had
eaten? When did she eat?
•Mother: She had eaten pani –puri from the stall just before we
crossed the road and reached there.
•C/FT: Were you able to hear they were saying?
•Mother: (Nods) Yes, I could hear them. She (daughter) turned
to me and said that as we had been walking around a lot, she
was hungry again.
•C/FT: Then what happened?
•Mother: I told her she could have something and her father got
her the snack.
•C/FT: (To father) What happened when her mother said that
she could have a snack?
•Father: She asked me for money to buy the snack, and I told
her to eat mine while I bought another.

40. 3.6. Stopping Clients from Talking
40
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•At times when seeing a family or a couple it may occur that one member tends to
dominate the sessions. S/he may be the one who answers the questions that the
C/FT asks any of the family members.
•C/FT can mention that he would like to hear this family member’s opinion before
asking the question.
•C/FT can also discourage others from replying through non-verbal behaviours,
such as turning to the person who s/he is addressing and keeping eye contact with
them, and repeating the question.
•In some cases, the C/FT can explicitly state that each person will be given a
chance to talk and that when one person is talking the others should not interrupt
till that person has finished talking.

41. 3.7. Staying in Present
41
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•When assessing the family or couple, the C/FT may be gathering information about
one particular aspect. Often clients may bring up other issues.
•These may be related. Example: a client may start to give an account of what has happened
in the past in a similar situation that contributed to their behaviour.
•Or unrelated. Example: an incident happened when someone else did something.
•C/FT must not get side tracked by the information, and steer the process to
focusing on the issue at hand.
•If the C/FT is unable to do this, he may wind up feeling lost and overwhelmed as he
will not be able to see the pattern of interactions in any incident, though he has a
general idea of many incidents.

42. 3.8. Validating the Family’s Reality
42
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•It is important that the C/FT acknowledges the:
•position that the family is in
•things they have been through
•difficulties that they struggle with
•strain it puts on each of them.
•This helps the communication of understanding .
•If the C/FT is in too much of a hurry to complete assessment and does not take time
to communicate these things to the family, the family will not be as open and will
not be at ease.
•The C/FT also loses valuable opportunities to build on the working alliance with
the clients. This will affect the success of therapy.

43. 3.9. Preserving continuity across sessions
43
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•While doing assessment it is important that continuity is maintained across
sessions.
•Clients may have spoken about many things in one session.
•They can be eased into the next session by summarising what was discussed in
the previous session, by acknowledgement of the family’s difficulties and
achievements.
•Following this, the agenda for the current session can be raised.

44. 3.10. Coaching Clients to Speak More Openly (1/2)
44
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•The C/FT can coach the clients to speak more openly by:
•paying proper attention when they speak
•communicating his or her interest verbally and nonverbally
•paraphrasing and
•mediating when the speaker is interrupted.
•It’s useful to give the family a good understanding about the:
•purpose of family therapy
•role of the system and
•importance of each individual contributing to sessions.
•In certain cases, a member of the family may not be allowed opportunity to speak in the
home environment. When s/he voices an opinion, it may be belittled, or dismissed.

45. 3.10. Coaching Clients to Speak More Openly (1/2)
45
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
•Reinforcement is useful in coaching clients to speak. The C/FT can also encourage the
other family members to reinforce the client’s communication.
•At times the C/FT can advise the family that they can restrict discussion of certain issues
to the sessions alone. This:
•gives the C/FT the opportunity of mediating discussions about controversial issues.
•reduces the chance of escalation of the situation in the family at home, and
•helps clients to talk.
•C/FT can also positively rephrase what clients say, with an emphasis on their good
intention, as opposed to the result of the behaviour. This also facilities discussion and
reduces the risk of escalation.
•When the client is able to speak in an environment that is not threatening, s/he gets the
chance to learn to speak more freely.

46. 3.11. Asking future oriented questions
46
Assessment
Skills
>> Behavioural Skills
Future oriented questions help:
•C/FT to develop an understanding of
what things are important to the
clients.
•C/FT to discover what the clients want
of themselves and each other in the
future.
•Make clients more open to negotiation.
•Clients develop perspective and bring to
their awareness that they have come for
sessions with the objective of improving
things in the future and not to remain
stuck with the past, and facilitates
exploration of solutions.
Example Questions
-What are you doing after this session?
-How are you planning to spend your leave?
-What are your vacation plans?
-What would you like to do after you finish this course?
-What are your plans for the future with your husband?
-How would you like your relationship to be in 2 years/
10 years?
-What kind of relationship would you like to have with
your wife/child/parent?

47. c
Contents
1.Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
2.Assessment Skills
3.Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
4.Terminating Sessions
5.Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
Essential Skills for Family Assessment Super
-
Notes
47

48. Attitudes and Styles of a Successful C/FT
48
Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
1
Capacity to take
Feedback from the
Family
2
Flexibility
3
Creativity
4
Maintaining
Hopeful Attitude
5
Persuasiveness

49. 1. Capacity to take feedback from the family
49
Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
•The C/FT should be able to take feedback from the family, about the:
•usefulness of sessions, or
•negative fall-out of sessions.
•Some techniques may not work with some families , or may worsen the situation.
In such cases the C/FT should be able to understand this, instead of labelling the
family as pathological and getting into a power struggle with them.

50. 2. Flexibility
50
Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
•C/FT is more likely to be successful if s/he has a flexible world view: if s/he is able
to see that different things work for different people and one way is not always
better for a particular family or couple.
•If the C/FT is very anxious and unsure, s/he may be too flexible or too rigid.
•The C/FT should have the flexibility to revise the agenda for the session, to give
importance to the family’s agenda when required.

51. 3. Creativity
51
Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
A C/FT who is creative is:
•more likely to generate suggestions that can be accepted and implemented by the
family.
•able to modify his or her approach and come up with different alternative ways of
approaching clients to gather information as well as to generate changes within the
family.

52. 4. Maintaining Hopeful Attitude
52
Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
•Statements about possible outcome should be based on reality: While it is important to generate
hope in sessions, this does not mean that C/FT falsely reassures clients that all will be well.
•Hope is generated through positive rephrasing and highlighting their strengths as a family.
•Example: C/FT can say, “As a family you all have come together and decided to take active steps to come up
with a solution. You all have tried to solve the problem in various ways and you have decided that
counselling might be useful. It would not be an easy decision to take. But it shows that you all are willing to
work to solve it which is the first and most important step.”
•If the C/FT does not have hope for the family or couple, s/he is:
•unlikely to be able to sustain his or her own energy to work with the clients.
•less likely to be able to think of different approaches to deal with the client, or guide them toward working
on their difficulties.
•A C/FT who is hopeful can transmit this hope to the clients.

53. 5. Persuasiveness
53
Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
•Persuasiveness is a useful skill to have as a C/FT.
•The C/FT may have to persuade reluctant family members to engage in
sessions. This can be accomplished by conveying to family members that the C/FT
can give suggestions, but the bulk of the work is up to the clients.
•What works for one family may not work for another. All individuals and families
are different and clients and C/FT have to try out various options.
•The C/FT can make statements such as “I am not here to ‘judge’ anyone; I am here
to facilitate whatever changes each of you CAN make. By working on these issues
together we will be able to understand each other better and figure out what
changes are feasible for all of us.”

54. c
Contents
1.Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
2.Assessment Skills
3.Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
4.Terminating Sessions
5.Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
Essential Skills for Family Assessment Super
-
Notes
54

55. Terminating Sessions
55
Terminating Sessions
•The termination of sessions is also important as it plays a role in whether the
clients will be comfortable coming for the next session or not.
•Therapy sessions can become anxiety-provoking to the clients as they may upset
the homeostasis in the family.
•If a session was particularly threatening or anxiety provoking to the clients:
•terminating it with a brief summary, emphasizing the positive intentions of the clients
can reassure and give hope to the family members.
•using positive reframing and validation can serve to reduce the anxiety of family
members.

56. c
Contents
1.Assessment in Counselling and Family Therapy
2.Assessment Skills
3.Attitudes and Styles of a Successful Counsellor/Family Therapist
4.Terminating Sessions
5.Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
Essential Skills for Family Assessment Super
-
Notes
56

57. Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
57
Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
1
Identifying the Need for
Individual Sessions
2
Identifying the Need for
Adjunct Intervention
Next

58. Individual Session in Marital Therapy
58
Additional Aspects to Keep in
Mind
>> Need for Individual Sessions
•While the general rule in family therapy is to see all the members together, and in
marital therapy it is to see the couple together, there are certain times when
exceptions are made, as at times it becomes necessary to have individual sessions
with certain members.
•In marital therapy this is necessary when one or both members’ distress is so
high that it will lead to an escalation, causing the individuals to get hurt because
of the way in which the spouse presents his or her experiences.
•In such a situation the C/FT should have an equal number of sessions with both the
spouses to:
•help reduce their anxieties and
•coach them before returning to the conjoint session format.

59. Individual Session in Family Therapy
59
Additional Aspects to Keep in
Mind
>> Need for Individual Sessions
•In family therapy, individual sessions may be required especially if the family includes an
adolescent. The C/FT may need to have some separate sessions with:
•Adolescent to understand his or her point of view and to build trust
•Parents to address parenting issues.
•In cases when issues are related to other kind of family issues, sessions can be planned
between the members whose relationship needs to be strengthened . Example:
•if there are issues with regard to in-laws, then the relationship between the spouses needs to be strong.
Hence, sessions may be planned for the husband and wife to help them develop their understanding
and acceptance of each other so that they can deal with the rest of the family as a team.
•Similarly, session may be held for siblings, for them to learn about each other, and to learn how to
support each other, and negotiate.
•In some cases, it may be necessary to have parent child sessions, for instance mother-daughter or
father-son sessions to strengthen the bond between the respective parent and child.

60. Risk of Individual Sessions
60
Additional Aspects to Keep in
Mind
>> Need for Individual Sessions
•There is a risk of the C/FT getting confused about events when sessions occur in
the format of concurrent sessions when assessing the family or couple.
•This is because different people within the family or different spouses may give
different versions of an event. This may confuse the C/FT.
•The chance of these differences in versions of events reduces significantly, when it
is a conjoint session format. It is easier to track the sequences of events and to
seek clarification in the conjoint session.

61. Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
61
Additional Aspects to Keep in Mind
1
Identifying the Need for
Individual Sessions
2
Identifying the Need for
Adjunct Intervention
Next

62. Identifying the Need for Adjunct Intervention
62
Additional Aspects to Keep in
Mind
>> Need for Adjunct Intervention
•In the capacity of a family or marital C/FT one is
likely to come across different kinds of issues that
different families have. In some cases, a member of
the family may require more specialized
intervention.
•Adjunct treatments are required when:
•a child or adult requires a psychiatric evaluation: the
person must be referred to a psychiatrist for evaluation
and treatment.
•an individual requires individual therapy: the C/FT
should recommend this to the client, and should not try to
be both the family as well as the individual C/FT as the two
roles may result in a conflict of interests and a loss of
neutrality.
Indicators for Adjunct Intervention
An Individual:
-Has pervasive low mood
-Feels that there is no point in living
-That there is nothing he can do which
can make things better
-That no one can do anything that will
help the situation.
-Has poor appetite
-Has stopped going to work
-May be crying often
-may feel like he wants to commit
suicide and that it is better if he dies.

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