Becoming A Family Counselor

by Thomas W. Blume (Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan )

• ISBN13: 9780471221388
• ISBN10: 0471221384
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-04-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A complete and accessible resource for working with couples and families Becoming a Family Counselor sets a new standard for family therapy texts. Working from a broad historical orientation, it focuses on the common themes that reappear across various theoretical approaches and connects family practice with individual approaches. Crossing boundaries of generation, gender, race, and culture, this useful introduction presents current thinking related to today's practice issues.The text begins with an overview of couple and family counseling, emphasizing the diversity and unity in the field. The development of the field is examined, from its roots in the nineteenth century through its identity crisis in the 1980s. Subsequent chapters lay out an integrated approach to contemporary family research, theory, and therapy; core chapters focus on understanding the contributions of behavioral, organizational, narrative, emotional, and spiritual perspectives. The last section of the book offers practical chapters on conducting family therapy in organizational contexts that often define the client in individual terms. Readers are encouraged to balance a change orientation with a respect for continuity and tradition.Complete with illuminating case studies, self-evaluation exercises, suggestions for independent study, and current ethics codes, Becoming a Family Counselor is a dynamic resource suitable for both students and practicing mental health professionals.

Author Biography

Thomas W. Blume earned a PhD in marital and family therapy from Texas Tech University. He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, AAMFT Approved Supervisor, and National Certified Counselor. An Associate Professor at Oakland University, he teaches introductory and advanced family counseling courses. Dr. Blume maintains a small private practice specializing in addictions, couples in transition, adolescents, and stepfamilies.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
PART I Introduction	1	(104)
Couple and Family Counselors: Individual Portraits	3	(30)
Introduction	3	(1)
Some Definitional Issues	3	(1)
A Day in the Practice of a Couple and Family Counselor	4	(6)
The Baxter/Klein Case	5	(5)
Counseling Competence---Common Factors	10	(5)
Person-Centered Approaches	10	(3)
The Contemporary Search for Common Factors	13	(2)
The Special Identity of the Family Counselor	15	(15)
Identity Processes	15	(1)
Shared Interests and Goals	16	(1)
Shared Perspective	17	(1)
Shared Expertise	18	(5)
Personal Challenges of Family Counseling	23	(2)
Diverse Credentials	25	(5)
Choices	30	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	31	(1)
Suggested Readings	31	(2)
Retelling the Story: Couple and Family Counseling in the Early Years	33	(40)
The Context of This Telling	34	(2)
Postmodernism	34	(1)
Cultural and Political Awareness	35	(1)
Social Constructionism and Narrative	36	(1)
The Dominant Marriage and Family Therapy Story	36	(3)
The Healer	37	(1)
The Hero	37	(1)
The Discoverer	38	(1)
An Alternative Story, Phase I: The Discovery Years	39	(15)
Gradual, Incremental Change	39	(2)
Professional Groups and Collaboration	41	(2)
The New Family Therapy Movement	43	(5)
Early Models---The Leading Citizens in a Frontier Town	48	(6)
An Alternative Story, Phase II: The Consolidation Years (1970--1979), a Search for Consensus	54	(17)
Social Change	54	(1)
Systems Fervor	55	(1)
Advanced Models---Captains of Industry	56	(14)
Change, But Not Too Much Change	70	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	71	(1)
Suggested Readings	71	(2)
The Field Matures	73	(32)
Societal Change	74	(6)
Sexuality in the United States	74	(2)
A Changing Family Landscape	76	(3)
Technology and Families	79	(1)
Changes inside the Field	80	(3)
Personnel Changes	80	(2)
Organizational Maturation	82	(1)
The Managed Care Revolution	82	(1)
Technology and Professional Communication	83	(1)
The 1980s: A Midlife Crisis	83	(6)
Feminist Challenges	83	(2)
Emerging Postmodernism	85	(4)
The 1990s and beyond: Reexamining Values and Settling Down	89	(12)
Life Goes On	90	(3)
Transformations	93	(5)
Integrationist Moves	98	(3)
Growth and Increasing Diversity	101	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	102	(1)
Suggested Readings	103	(2)
PART II Family Therapy in Its Midlife: Five Themes	105	(166)
Mastery-Level Performance and Integration	105	(1)
Themes, Not Originators or Models	106	(1)
Theory and Research	107	(1)
Interconnectedness in Relationship Processes	108	(1)
Behavior: Learning, Habits, and Reinforcement	109	(32)
Theory and Research	113	(6)
Context	113	(1)
Teaching and Learning	114	(1)
Core Behavioral Principles	115	(4)
The Process of Counseling with Couples and Families	119	(19)
Engaging: Becoming Empiricists Together	119	(1)
Assessing System Characteristics, Strengths, and Needs	120	(6)
Intervening: External Knowledge	126	(3)
Intervening: Internal Knowledge (Self and Other)	129	(1)
Intervening: Teaching Relationship Skills	130	(3)
Intervening: Cue Focus	133	(3)
Intervening: Contingency Focus	136	(1)
Assessing Effectiveness	137	(1)
Closure	138	(1)
Cautions, Concerns, and New Directions	138	(1)
Modernism, Positivism, and the Myth of Human Perfection	138	(1)
Hierarchy, Power, and Abuse	139	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	139	(1)
Suggested Readings	139	(2)
Organization: Planning, Decision Making, and Action	141	(38)
Theory and Research	145	(22)
Functionalism and the Structural Metaphor	145	(3)
Development	148	(7)
Communication, Systems, and Structures	155	(11)
Ecosystemic, Evolutionary, and Chaos Theories	166	(1)
The Process of Counseling with Couples and Families	167	(10)
From Theory to Practice	168	(1)
Engaging: Contracting for Organizational Change	169	(2)
Conducting a Dynamic Assessment	171	(4)
Intervening: Direct, Compliance-Based Change Techniques	175	(1)
Intervening: Paradoxical or Defiance-Based Change Techniques	176	(1)
Assessing Effectiveness	177	(1)
Closure	177	(1)
Cautions and Concerns	177	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	178	(1)
Suggested Readings	178	(1)
Narrative: Language, Culture, and Identity	179	(32)
Theory and Research	182	(10)
Internal and Interpersonal Language	183	(3)
Language Systems and Social Construction	186	(2)
Narrative	188	(4)
The Process of Counseling with Couples and Families	192	(16)
Engaging I: Entering a Language World	192	(2)
Engaging II: Entering a Unique Intersection of Discourses	194	(2)
Beginning a Dynamic Assessment Process	196	(4)
Intervening: Changing Representations	200	(2)
Intervening: Collaborative Retelling	202	(5)
Assessing Effectiveness	207	(1)
Closure	208	(1)
Cautions and Concerns	208	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	208	(1)
Suggested Readings	209	(2)
Emotion: Regulation, Relationship, and Motivation	211	(34)
Theory and Research	214	(28)
Psychodynamic Discourse---Emotion as Struggle	214	(9)
Social Science Discourse---Emotion as a Variable	223	(8)
Biological Discourse---Emotion as Neurological Activity	231	(2)
The Process of Counseling with Couples and Families	233	(1)
Engaging: Creating an Emotion-Friendly Context	233	(1)
Assessment and Intervention: Early Stages	234	(4)
Intervention---Regulating Emotions	238	(2)
Interventions---Experiencing, Expressing, and Sharing Emotion	240	(1)
Intervention---Connecting	241	(1)
Assessing Effectiveness	241	(1)
Closure	242	(1)
Cautions and Concerns	242	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	243	(1)
Suggested Readings	243	(2)
Spirituality: Purpose, Acceptance, and Meaning	245	(26)
Theory and Research	247	(14)
Contexts of Religion and Spirituality	248	(5)
Spirituality and Relational Well-Being	253	(8)
The Process of Counseling with Couples and Families	261	(8)
Engaging: Making Space for the Spirit	261	(1)
Conducting a Dynamic Assessment	262	(1)
Intervening: Instrumental, Ethnosensitivity	263	(2)
Intervening: Instrumental, Beliefs/Themes	265	(2)
Intervening: Instrumental, Religious/Spiritual Practices	267	(1)
Intervening: Metaphysical	267	(1)
Assessing Effectiveness	268	(1)
Closure	269	(1)
Cautions, Concerns, and New Directions	269	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	270	(1)
Suggested Readings	270	(1)
PART III Judgment, Action, and Personal Development in Family Counseling	271	(60)
Joining, Struggling Together, and Saying Goodbye	275	(22)
The Morgan-Thompsons: A Family in Crisis	275	(1)
Rick	275	(1)
Alice	276	(1)
Phase 1: Separation and Rapprochement	276	(7)
Engaging and Assessing	276	(2)
Making Sense of the Clients' Needs	278	(1)
Intervention	278	(3)
Crisis #1	281	(1)
Looking Back	282	(1)
Phase 2: Building a Stepfamily	283	(4)
Bill	283	(1)
Teresa	283	(1)
Making Sense of the Clients' Needs	283	(2)
Intervention	285	(1)
Crisis #2	285	(1)
Struggles over Control	286	(1)
Looking back	286	(1)
Phase 3: Enlarging the Family	287	(2)
Marriage and Economic Partnership	287	(1)
Making Sense of the Clients' Needs	287	(1)
Intervention	288	(1)
Crisis #3	288	(1)
More Triangles	288	(1)
Looking Back	288	(1)
Phase 4: Pulling Together	289	(2)
Making Sense of the Clients' Needs	289	(1)
Crisis #4	289	(1)
Intervention	289	(1)
Rebuilding	290	(1)
Looking Back	290	(1)
Phase 5: Moving On	291	(1)
Making Sense of the Clients' Needs	291	(1)
Intervention	291	(1)
Launching	291	(1)
Reviewing the Case	292	(3)
Multiple Strategies	294	(1)
Personal Challenges of Family Counseling	295	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	295	(1)
Suggested Readings	295	(2)
The Ethical Family Counselor	297	(20)
Ethical Decision-Making Processes	297	(6)
Principles and Values	298	(2)
Identifying Ethical Issues	300	(1)
Consultations, Codes, and Laws	301	(2)
Ethics Themes in Couple and Family Counseling	303	(9)
Competence	303	(2)
Systemic versus Individual Ethics	305	(1)
Gender and Sexuality	306	(1)
Race and Class	307	(1)
Power and Deception	307	(1)
Diagnosis	308	(1)
Consent	309	(1)
Confidentiality	309	(2)
Multiple Relationships	311	(1)
Psychotropic Medications	312	(1)
Records and Reimbursement	312	(4)
Identifying an Individual with Appropriate Needs	313	(1)
Assessing the Appropriateness of Couple or Family Treatment	314	(1)
Conducting Focused, Theory-Driven Treatment	314	(1)
Maintaining Family Oriented Progress Notes	315	(1)
Assessing Change	315	(1)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	316	(1)
Suggested Readings	316	(1)
Future Directions for Family Counseling	317	(14)
The Successes and Failures of Modernity	318	(2)
From Idealism to Realism	318	(2)
Moving Forward without a Map	320	(6)
Social Change	321	(4)
Political and Economic Instability	325	(1)
Emerging Ideas and Movements	326	(2)
Reconnecting with Each Other	326	(1)
Reconnecting with the Embodied Nature of Humanness	326	(1)
Reconnecting with the Natural World	327	(1)
Reconnecting with Culture	327	(1)
Accepting Contradiction and Complexity	327	(1)
Continued Evolution of the Profession	328	(2)
Further Integration	328	(1)
Diversification in Service Delivery	328	(2)
Suggested Individual and Group Activities	330	(1)
Suggested Readings	330	(1)
Appendix A: ACA Code of Ethics	331	(24)
Appendix B: AAMFT Code of Ethics	355	(8)
Appendix C: Ethical Code of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors	363	(8)
References	371	(22)
Name Index	393	(10)
Subject Index	403