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The Single‐Parent Family and the Family Therapist: About Invitations and Positioning
Author(s) -
Rober Peter
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1375/anft.31.3.221
Subject(s) - dialogical self , family therapy , flexibility (engineering) , psychotherapist , psychology , family member , frame (networking) , social psychology , medicine , computer science , family medicine , management , telecommunications , economics
Single parent families sometimes represent specific challenges to family therapists. In this article a dialogical frame with important concepts such as voice and positioning is proposed to reflect on family therapy practice. This frame is used to reflect on a common invitation in family therapy with single‐parent families: the invitation to take the place of the absent parent. A case of family therapy with a single‐parent family is presented in order to illustrate the importance of flexibility in the therapist's positioning and the way the therapist's experiencing can be used as an empathic bridge to create a dialogical space in which the important issues at stake can be addressed.