How to Coach Yourself and Others Coaching Families | Page 255

 IDENTIFICATION
Family therapy techniques are used with individuals and families to address the issues that effect the health of
the family system. The techniques used will depend on what issues are causing the most problems for a family
and on how well the family has learned to handle these issues. Strategic techniques are designed for specific
purposes within the treatment process. Background information, family structuring and communication patterns
are some of the areas addressed through these methods.

 INFORMATION-GATHERING TECHNIQUES
At the start of therapy, information regarding the family's background and relationship dynamics is needed to
identify potential issues and problems.
1. The Genogram
The genogam is a technique used to create a family history, or geneology. Both the family and therapist
work to create this diagram.
2. Family Photos
Having family members bring in meaningful family photos is also a technique used to gather information as
to how each member perceives the others.
3. Family Floorplan
One other technique involves having family members draw up floor plans of their home. This exercise
provides information on territorial issues, rules, and comfort zones between different members.

 INTENSITY
Intensity is the structural method of changing maladaptive transactions by using strong affect, repeated
intervention, or prolonged pressure. Intensity works best if done in a direct, unapologetic manner that is goal
specific.

 INTERVENTION TECHNIQUES
Intervention techniques are directives given by the therapist to guide a family's interactions towards more
productive outcomes. Reframing is a method used to recast a particular conflict or situation in a less threatening
light. A father who constantly pressures his son regarding his grades may be seen as a threatening figure by the
son. Reframing this conflict would involve focusing on the father's concern for his son's future and helping the
son to "hear" his father's concern instead of constant demands for improvement. Another technique has the
therapist placing a particular conflict or situation under the family's control. What this means is, instead of a
problem controlling how the family acts, the family controls how the problem is handled. This requires the
therapist to give specific directives as to how long members are to discuss the problem, who they discuss it with,
and how long these discussions should last. As members carry out these directives, they begin to develop a
sense of control over the problem, which helps them to better deal with it effectively.

 INVOLUNTARY CLIENT SHEMA
Citing original work done by Insoo Kim Berg (1990) together with Eve Lipchik regarding initial approaches in
dealing with involuntary clients, Walter and Peller present a useful involuntary client schema that reflects and
encapsulates the joint efforts of all four counselors.
Their collective work centers on the employment of a specific sequence of questions aimed at overtly clarifying
the relationship between the counselor and the involuntary client (or patient) at the outset of the first session
(Walter and Peller, 1992, pp. 247–253).
The purpose of this schema is to effect a transformation of the mindset of an involuntary client into that of a
voluntary client in the sense that the then-converted voluntary client may care to propose a goal which can
become the focus of therapy.

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