How to Coach Yourself and Others Coaching Families | Page 234
Appendix IV: Post-assessment letter
A letter should be sent to the referrer once an assessment is completed or when the initial goals of therapy
are clarified with the family. This letter should include:
Number of assessment sessions attended
Who attended
Brief family composition
Referrers concerns
Family’s concerns
Systemic Formulation/Understanding
Difficulties
Agreed Goals for Therapy
Agreed liaison with other systems
of
Dear Dr. Jones
Re:
Smith Family - 11 James Avenue, Leeds, LS2
I have now seen the Smith family on 2 occasions following your referral for help with bereavement issues following
the death of the eldest child in the family, Julie. Mr & Mrs Smith attended alone for the first meeting, as they were
concerned to give us a picture of the difficulties without upsetting the children. This was followed up with a meeting
with the whole family.
As you know the family consist of Mr & Mrs Smith, and their 2 children Jodie (6 years) & John (9 years), both of
whom are attending Jacob School. The eldest child of the family, Julie, died in a car crash in September 1997.
Mr & Mrs Smith outlined to us their concerns that their children were expressing no grief relating to the death of
their elder sister Julie. They were concerned about how the loss was affecting them in both their achievement
and behaviour at school, and expressed a wish that they were more able to talk about the issue as a family. The
children were quite cautious about discussing this issue initially, and expressed a desire not to upset their parents
further by talking about Julie’s death.
It seemed that although this was a topic all the family felt would be helpful to discuss more openly, no one dared
to begin the conversation, as they were concerned not to bring further distress to members of their family. The
children had carried this silence to school, and would not talk to any of Julie’s old friends about her, yet
consistently showed distress through their behaviour and lack of concentration.
It was therefore decided to try and begin to talk about Julie’s death and the impact this had had on the whole
family in our meetings. The children very much wanted this to be at their pace, and we have been thinking with
them about ways to help the process of talking easier.
We also plan to make links with Jacob school, to discuss how the children might show their distress in different
ways at school.
I will contact you again once therapy has ended to discuss the utility of these interventions for the family.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Peter Stratton
Family Therapist
On behalf of The Leeds Family Therapy Team
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