Southern New Hampshire University Theory Integration Discussion and Responses
Discussion: Theory IntegrationTheory implementation highlights the situations you encounter that may necessitate the integration of other theories into your main theoretical orientation. Personal experiences, within your own past relationships, may sensitize or desensitize you to the relational issues presented by clients. The key, then, is recognizing the challenges to integrating theory and knowing how to mitigate these challenges in order to provide the best and most effective service to clients. However, always keep in mind that retaining professional integrity concerning your theoretical orientation is necessary.To prepare for this Discussion, select one of the theories demonstrated in the videos this week (either Bowenian or structural) to use for this Discussion.https://waldenu.kanopy.com/video/bowenian-family-t...By Day 4Post a brief description of your personal lens in treating couples and the theory you selected from the videos. Then, provide an explanation of one challenge you may encounter if you attempted to integrate the theory you selected with your lens of couples counseling in your professional practice. Then, explain how you might mitigate this challenge. Be specific.Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.Read a selection of your colleagues' postings.By Day 6Respond to two of your colleagues' postings and explain how your colleagues’ posts might help you refine and inform your own theoretical orientation.Select and respond to a colleague who selected a different theory and title your posting as follows: “Integrating [X] theory into [Y] theory"Colleague 1: Khalila Post a brief description of your personal lens in treating couples and the theory you selected from the videos.With Structural Family Therapy, Aponte analyzed how the structure of the relationship between family members impacts the challenges that the system experiences. He stated that structure is influenced by the member’s culture and values, the factors that mean most to them (Psychotherapy.net). To effectively assist a family using this theory, the professional must be able to apply and transform the knowledge from the theoretical frameworks to be able to relate on a personal level with their client while fulfilling your professional role. My personal lens in treating families is to teach and encourage the individuals to compromise. Families are composed of individuals, who may share the same values but had different experiences, uniting (German, Lebow & Snyder, 2015). These differences shapes thoughts and behaviors which can lead to disagreements. These disagreements can escalate to more serious problems if not addressed appropriately. Aponte stated that change must take place to overcome challenges. Compromising can be this effective change to improve the structure of the relationship. Then, provide an explanation of one challenge you may encounter if you attempted to integrate the theory you selected with your lens of couples counseling in your professional practice.As I try to relate to my clients, a challenge may present itself if I relate more to one member than the other. Relationship structure between family members is composed of individual’s roles and boundaries with one another (Psychotherapy. net). When assisting a family, I may agree more with one member. By doing so, this also does not encourage the members to comprise because I may not agree that one member is contributing to the presenting problem. Lack of awareness can lead to “favoritism”. In family and couple therapy, the professional should not choose sides (Williams, 2012). Professionals should intervene to help the family structure improve. To effectively intervene, the therapist analyzes what/who influences the problem and decides whether to challenge or reinforce this influence to address their current problem (Psychotherapy.net). To compromise, I must challenge areas that need improvement while also reinforcing strengths/ positive attributions of each member. Then, explain how you might mitigate this challenge. Be specific.I might mitigate this challenge by increasing my self-awareness. I will remind myself of the role that I have when working with families and groups. In addition, I will actively engage and relate to all the members to help them fully understand the conflict and what has influenced it. For instance, if a family is experiencing financial problems and one member continues to spend excessively, I can ask questions to learn why that individual continues to spend. He/she may work a stressful job and like to treat themselves. By relating to the need to reward yourself as a method of self-care, I can also help both members identify strategies to compromise while still fulfilling self-care needs and financial boundaries. Utilizing open-ended questions can encourage the members to also talk to one another about their issue in a safe environment, free of judgment. These conversations, facilitated by the professional, can result in changed behaviors (German, Lebow & Snyder, 2015). This method of intervening can enhance the relationship structure between the family. References Gurman, A. S., Lebow, J. L., Snyder, D. K. (2015). Clinical handbook of couple therapy. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Psychotherapy. net . Structural family therapy - With Harry Aponte. (n.d.). https://waldenu.kanopy.com/video/structural-family-therapy. Williams, M. (2012). Couples counseling: A step by step guide for therapists. Boston, MA: Viale Publishing.Colleague 2: DianaA brief description of your personal lens in treating couples and the theory you selected from the videos.Harry Aponte explains that structure is fundamental to all systems, it explains human relationships and how we need to structure to understand people, which in return helps to understand family dynamics (Psychotherapy.net, n.d.). I selected the Structural Family Therapy (SFT), which helps to understand the function of the family. For instance, SFT can be used to breakdown emotions and different behaviors from children, to parents, and any other identified family member. According to Gurman, A. S. et al. (2015), family is depicted as a system that comprises “subsystems”, which arise in families because of differences (eg. generational differences)Provide an explanation of one challenge you may encounter if you attempted to integrate the theory you selected with your lens of couples counseling in your professional practice.SFT is used as a tool to breakdown and better understand families and how they function. A challenge that may be encountered utilizing this theory is that the “couple” is not full focus. Studies suggests that when structural theorists consider couple functioning, they do so after having first articulated a view of family functioning (Gurman, A. S. et al., 2015). The couple is not viewed as the family; therefore, it is not primary for this theory. Based on Gurman et al. (2015), the couple is viewed as a family subsystem, no more and no less, and assessment of how well or poorly a couple is functioning is based on the theory’s notion of what constitutes adaptive functioning for all family subsystems.Explain how you might mitigate this challenge.From a personal perspective, to mitigate this challenge, as the social worker, it is my responsibility to inform the clients the nature of the service that they are receiving and educate them on how the SFT is designed to function. Social workers have responsibility to explain the nature of the relationship/service when working with couples as well as explain roles.Reference:Gurman, A. S., Lebow, J. L., Snyder, D. K. (2015). Clinical handbook of couple therapy. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Psychotherapy.net. (Producer). (n.d.). Structural family therapy [Video file]. [With Harry Aponte, LCSW]. United States: Psychotherapy.net.
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