How to Coach Yourself and Others Coaching Families

5. Therapeutic Setting 5.1 Convening Sessions In setting up the initial therapy session, therapists should begin by discussing the referral information within the therapy team. In deciding whom to invite to the first session attention should be paid to the following factors:      Who is living in the household? Who else is mentioned as important members of the family system? Recent family life events, that may affect attendance e.g. childbirth / separation. Is further information required from referrers before therapy can commence? What professional systems are involved with the family? In relation to: i. The presenting issues. ii. Other issues, such as child protection.  Would it be helpful to initiate a professional / network meeting prior to the therapy commencing? Therapists should first write to the family, using the letter template provided.  Appendix I. A follow up phone call should then be made one week before the initial session to discuss the therapy. As it is likely that the therapist will only speak to one member of the family during this phonecall, therapists should ask whoever they speak to, to convey the message to the rest of the family. The topics to be covered in the phone call are:  Team working  Attendance issues, who will be coming, how to get there, and ambivalence about attending.  Therapist’s interest in hearing everyone’s ideas  Video recording  Confidentiality 5.2 Team The team within which you are working should comply with the following guidelines:  Include at least two qualified family therapists (eligible for UKCP registration)  One of the qualified therapists should meet with the family whilst the other forms part of the observing team.  Team members should have read and incorporated the guiding principles into their thinking.  Section 2  Teams should include therapist and family activities in their observations.  Teams should have at least one method for observing the therapist, e.g. one way mirror, in room observation  Teams should have at least one method of communication between team and therapist, e.g. telephone, earbug, interruptions. 5.3 Video There should be capacity to video therapy sessions and permission to video therapeutic work should be sought from the family in a manner which clearly discusses the video permission they are granting.  Section 6.1 - Permission should be confirmed by using the form provided.  Appendix II. 5.4 Pre-therapy preparation In preparing for the first session the therapist and the team should meet for at least 15 minutes before the session begins and address the following issues:  Construct a genogram from referral information  Genogram example  Summarise the main themes from the referral  Consider the recent life events of the family  Consider difficulties which may arise around engagement and how to address these  Consider broader system issues, and define who is in the network 209

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