Resilience-Focused Brief Family Therapy Case Study

It has been many moons since in kindergarten, and while as a child I did not have a father at home, due to his lost battle due with cancer, I sensed that when my classmate Jonathan wanted to play house, there may have been trouble at home. He informed me, during our creative playtime, that I could be his wife, and at night, he would go out with his girlfriend. I didn’t like the way he played pretend and excused myself from his make-believe land. Even at four years old, my pretend husband wasn’t going to go off with his girlfriend at night, if I had any say so. Typically, when we think of families we think of a married husband and wife with their children -with the family system traditionally occurring through adoption, birth or marriage.
Nicoll shares that in order to develop in a positive direction regarding social interest and mental health, one must experience a sense of belonging, acceptance and personal value and respect within the family. (Nicoll, 2011, p. 201) Nicoll goes on to share that it with this cohesion that you’ll find well-functioning families. This cohesive connectiveness, is the foundation that if done successfully, lays a health foundation for behavioral control maintenance work, aka discipline. Discipline, Nicoll shares can not truly be accepted by the child until they feel connected. (Nicoll, 2011, p. 213) When dealing with children that have come from toxic, neglectful and abusive backgrounds-children whose foundations began in the murk of complex developmental trauma -helping a child, especially an older child feel connected to their new family can be feat indeed. A therapist who is mindful of this complexity and such dynamics of foster care adoptions is a gift to such family. Children who get their start from toxic places, often time struggle significantly with attachment issues Nicolli states that often times families will be over focused on negative behavior and have forgotten how important prior connectiveness is within a family when they show up for a session. If, however, you are dealing with a child who has attachment issues- we should ask ourselves if they are still being asked to live in two worlds, one with foster parents and the other with biological parents during supervised visits? One can imagine that fostering a sense of connectiveness within a foster family can be quite complex, as that child may see the new connection as a betrayal to their biological family, even though that biological family may be knee deep in dysfunction and manipulation.