Strategies to Respond to the Specific Family Requirements - Assignment Example

? Family Treatment Paper This paper aims to identify the most beneficial approaches and suitable strategies to respond to the specific family requirements, taking the example of my family structure and relationships. Correspondingly, community sources and issues, relevant cultural and socio-economic circumstances along with other pertinent information from a broader perspective have been considered in this paper. In precise, following a rigorous analysis of my family, this paper elaborates on my family treatment requirements with the intention of generating a broader understanding to the specific family requirements. Introduction Family assessment, in general, is considered to be a systematic process of learning about a particular family’s strengths, concerns and priorities based on the relationship and the level of coordination persisting within the family members along with the family structure on the whole. In this process, various ideas pertaining to a child's development and the aspects that can be related with the overall process of an individual development is determined and analyzed thereafter (Thomlison, 2010; Holman, 1983). Correspondingly, in this paper, the main idea will reflect upon the aspects of my family resilience assessment report. Thus, for the completion of this paper, an in depth assessment pertaining to the aspects of functioning in my family will be determined in a precise and formative manner. Description/Assessment of Family Raised by a single mother, since my father died in Vietnam, my family had to suffer many ups and downs. My mother is also dead now and I have two sisters. One of my sisters is divorced and has a child from her previous marriage, Tab, now settled with the second husband Keith. My other sister is also married but has no child yet. I am also a divorcee, following which I have no contact with my ex-wife and daughter. Currently, my nuclear family consists of my live-in girlfriend who is mother to three wonderful children. The belief system I have witnessed my entire childhood and during my teenage life was much women centric, which was somewhat inspired by the thought process of my mother who believed to be segregated and treated unfairly by the society without a specific or a valid reason. As per my understanding, gender segregation was prominent in my greater family. I also felt betrayed when my ex-wife secretly fled away with my biological daughter, whom I have never met since then. However, my grief of missing out raising my own daughter was healed to a great extent when I moved in with my live-in girlfriend, Debbie. Certainly, my life was not very much uniformed. A major part of my life, I had to experience loneliness and sadness, while it is now that I find hope in living with my girlfriend and her three daughters. Nature of the model that you have selected, including some of the specific techniques that you have selected In relation to the identified issues in my family, it is apparent that my family had to undergo a prolonged stage of family crisis, which seems to end now. To put it in a positive way, a strong reflection of an array of hope and determination to improve my family system can be observed. Thus, by way of analyzing the implications of these instances that my family had to witness, the family resilience model, with due consideration of the graveness of the problem, can be selected. Conceptually, the family resilience model develops its findings based on five pillars, viz., planning and control, perceived change in the family file, sharing experiences and knowledge, scrutinizing work status and assessing the family support network. In its worth mentioning that in clinical practice, resilience is referred to the “ability to withstand and rebound from disruptive life challenges” (Walsh, 2003, pp. 1). In accordance with the selected model, I considered taking the techniques of assessing the belief system in my family with the intention of evaluating the adversities and making meaning out of it as rationally as possible. It certainly provided me with a much clearer understanding of the problems inherent within my family structure. Correspondingly, I focused on clarifying my positive outlook, which was much affected due to the gender differentiation and racism issues inherent in my family system being strongly influenced by my mother’s bias thinking. When assessing the transcending and spiritual beliefs in my family, I was able to identify that rather than being inspirational and spiritual my mother was much involved in applying her coping methods, by dating numerous men. I also examined the organizational patterns in my family, which made it apparent that my family lacked in adequate connectedness and flexibility to adapt to the varying needs and perceptions of the society, already being short of social and economic resources. On the whole, the model was quite beneficial in assisting me to obtain a better understanding of the major setbacks in my family system. Assessment of the Current and Long Term Picture of the Family, Type Of Situation Facing Them Currently, I see my nuclear family as a much happier and prospective system although I do not have any biological relation with my girlfriend’s daughters and am neither married formally to her. Nevertheless, we now share a strong bonding and understanding amid ourselves, where communication clarity, connectedness, open emotional expression and collaborative problem-solving are very much apparent. Undergoing to much hardships in my past life and being somewhat devalued in my greater family, I now feel to be worthy, where Debbie has been a great aid in my coping procedure. In the long-term, I vision a strongly positive outlook of my family system. It was with her that I could identify my shortcomings and the underlying causes to those limitations as well, which not only hindered my coping up technique in the crisis but also might have imposed a stronger negative impact on my family orientation. Although at times I wish that I was equally aware of my position in the family and the coping mechanisms, which I am able to identify now, I could have retained my marriage with my ex-wife Sonia for a longer period and could cherish the up-bringing of my daughter. However, I now believe whatever happens, happens for the better and I am glad that Debbie is now beside me, with whom I see a much happier future. Literature In The Field That Suggest The Use Of And Adaptation Of The Model For Such Families, Such Problems, And Other Characteristics Of The Family As mentioned above, the family resilience model was applied in the family assessment procedure by me. Arguably, the model is regarded to have considerable effectiveness in facilitating family health, considering the psychological factors with utmost priority. In this similar context, Geri Miller has explained the requirement of a proper family therapy, which can help in rectifying such ill occurrences as witnessed in my family system. With due consideration to my personal beliefs and experiences, I too believe that only through an open communication/problem solving process, as exhibited in the selected model, will be able to tackle the conflicts in similar family systems where boundless sharing of emotions is mandatory (Miller, 2010). Emphasizing a similar issue, Lester et al. (2012) revealed that resiliency training can be of great help in assisting families to cope up with their stress situations, which is also based on the selected model of Family Resiliency. Notably, the model has been explained by Walsh (2003) as a scientific mechanism to deal with family stress situations, where the psychological dilemmas and conflicting perceptions of every family member is studied with due significance. It not only focuses on the child or parental mentality in the family context or the challenges that the family members are facing with each other, but it also provides with noteworthy suggestions to mitigate the identified drawbacks and contribute substantially to the overall family welfare. Seccombe (2002), in the study further revealed that identifying and overcoming the family resilience challenges is equally important as it is to change or alter any possible chances of stress within the family system. Under such circumstances, it is quite essential to identify the causes underlying such stress situations, which can range from external forces such as poverty or internal forces influenced by psychological constraints as witnessed in my family system (Seccombe, 2002). In this similar context, Baum, Revenson & Singer (2012) has suggested that complex family situations are not very easy to be dealt with as it involves numerous complications. However, by following certain corrective measures, these complex family situations can be mitigated to a certain degree. It is in this context that the family resilience model, can help in lowering the ill effects of such family situations in a systematic and effective way. From an in-depth perspective, it was suggested that this particular model can help families in fostering an essence of mutual trust among all the members in a family. In addition, Baum, Revenson & Singer (2012) also stated that such useful family models can prove to be quite effective in providing proper grounds for improvement in the relationship between all the family members on a one-to-one basis. It can also help them in building mutual respect and a sense of collaboration that is quite essential for families to coexist in the most prospective manner (Baum Revenson & Singer, 2012). Any ways that you would adapt your intervention in view of the unique nature of the family Understanding the need of my current family along with my lacunas in contributing to a better family system, I have realized that there were many hurdles that were identifiable in my family. As mentioned earlier, I could very well realize that my family was not very flexible as my family members did not share a healthy relationship amongst each other. Correspondingly, if any additional ways are needed to be determined in relation to intervene by way of viewing the unique nature of the family, then all those factors are needed to be re-assessed. It is worth mentioning in this context that re-assessment is required for the purpose of determining the precise ways or strategies that can be skillfully applied in order to intervene in the family issues. Thus, a strategic approach, concerning the current complexities in the family are needed to be examined in such a way that the primary problems of my current family gets resolved effectively. For instance, in such a case, an appropriate way of following a family decision making strategy would call for improvement in the overall family structure. If proper decisions pertaining to the critical reasons for indifferent situations are made, it can definitely pose variable amount of positive results. Following an effective making strategy, in my family context, would also help in making proper cohesion with the family. For instance, if a decision is made, which best suits the interests of all the family members, it will definitely lead to considerable betterment of the prevailing situations in the particular family (Thyer, 2008). My Assessment of the Intervention If the above mentioned strategies in relation to a family system are applied in an objective-oriented manner, I believe that the invention could lead to successful outcomes. For instance, if this particular strategy is well accepted by myself and other members of my current family, it shall help in the overall improvement of the decision making process of all the family members, building greater degree of coordination among them. In addition, it will also lead to better maintenance of a cohesive atmosphere within the family. Besides, if this particular strategy is adopted in a grounded manner, it will also lead to continuous improvements of the overall communication/problem solving process in my family. Fulfillment of this particular aspect holds the primary importance, as improvement in the communication process will lead to minimization of different sorts of problems that arise in a family system owing to stress and emotional gaps within the members. Conclusion Family assessment, as mentioned earlier, is a systematic process of examining the internal strengths and weaknesses of a particular family in-depth manner. In this paper, my family has been the sample for study. Where on one hand, studying my family and relationships gave me an advantage of data accuracy and in-depth interpretation; on the other hand, the assessment also proved to be very difficult at times in reflecting few conflicting aspects. Based on my assessment results, it was evident that numerous instances existed in my family structure, owing to which, my family system was facing certain dysfunctional shifts, hampering many of our relationships. However, today I feel much confident about my family prospects and my corresponding role as a father in the family. I also plan to apply the stress resolving and resilience techniques in my current family context to mitigate the slight chances of conflicts, which I had to witness in my childhood and young age. References Baum, A., Revensin, T. A. A., & Singer, J. (2012). Handbook of health psychology, 2nd edition. Psychology Press. Holman, A. (1983). Family assessment: Tools for understanding and intervention. United States: SAGE. Lester, P., Saltzman, W. R., Woodward, K., Glover, D., Leskin, G. A., Bursch, B., . . . Beardslee, W. (2012). Evaluation of a Family-Centered Prevention Intervention for Military Children and Families Facing Wartime Deployments. American Journal of Public Health 102(S1), pp. S48-S54. Miller, G. (2010). Learning the language of addiction counseling. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Seccombe, K. (2002). “Beating the Odds” Versus “Changing the Odds”: Poverty, Resilience, and Family Policy. Journal of Marriage and Family 64, pp. 384-394. Thomlison, B. (2010). Family assessment handbook: An introductory practice guide to family assessment: an introduction and practical guide to family assessment. United States: Cengage Learning. Thyer, B. A. (2008). Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare, human behavior in the social environment. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Walsh, F. (2003). Family Resilience: A Framework for Clinical Practice. Family Process, 42(1), pp. 1-18. Read More