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Women's tales: systemic groupwork with mothers post–separation
Author(s) -
Burck Charlotte,
Hildebrand Judy,
Mann Judy
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6427.1996.tb00042.x
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , psychology , process (computing) , developmental psychology , social psychology , focus group , psychotherapist , sociology , computer science , paleontology , anthropology , biology , operating system
We describe a series of groups run for mothers who were separated and who had initially presented with concerns about their children or their parenting. We discuss our systemic approach to groupwork and examine the process of change, using transcripts from the group sessions and feedback from the women. Using a systemic framework in groupwork makes it possible to broaden the context and focus of discussion to include relationships, premises and cultural beliefs. A group provides a context in which multi‐perspectives can be elicited and affirmed, and group members can act as ‘reflecting teams’for each other. Systemic groups can offer women in the process of separation emotional support, a sense of commonality of issues to be faced, and new and more enabling perspectives on their situations.