Feed‐Forward: Future Questions, Future Maps
TL;DR: Feed-forward is a technique that encourages families to imagine the pattern of their relationships at some future point in time as mentioned in this paper, in conjunction with positive connotation, put families in a metaposition to their own dilemmas and thus facilitate change by opening up new solutions for old problems.
Abstract: "Feed-forward" is a technique that encourages families to imagine the pattern of their relationships at some future point in time. Questions about the future, in conjunction with positive connotation, put families in a metaposition to their own dilemmas and thus facilitate change by opening up new solutions for old problems.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The way the interviewing of a family with a problem needs new ideas is described because the interview is the source from which the reflections flow and the reflecting team's manner of working is described and exemplified.
Abstract: A "stuck" system, that is, a family with a problem, needs new ideas in order to broaden its perspectives and its contextual premises. In this approach, a team behind a one-way screen watches and listens to an interviewer's conversation with the family members. The interviewer, with the permission of the family, then asks the team members about their perceptions of what went on in the interview. The family and the interviewer watch and listen to the team discussion. The interviewer then asks the family to comment on what they have heard. This may happen once or several times during an interview. In this article, we will first describe the way we interview the family because the interview is the source from which the reflections flow. We will then describe and exemplify the reflecting team's manner of working and give some guidelines because the process of observation has a tendency to magnify every utterance. Two case examples will be used as illustrations.
754 citations
TL;DR: A systemic view of resilience in ecological and developmental contexts is advanced and the concept of family resilience is presented, attending to interactional processes over time that strengthen both individual and family hardiness.
Abstract: The concept of resilience, the ability to withstand and rebound from crisis and adversity, has valuable potential for research, intervention, and prevention approaches aiming to strengthen couples and families. Resilience has been viewed as residing within the individual, with the family often dismissed as dysfunctional. This article advances a systemic view of resilience in ecological and developmental contexts and presents the concept of family resilience, attending to interactional processes over time that strengthen both individual and family hardiness. Extending our understanding of normal family functioning, the concept of family resilience offers a useful framework to identify and fortify key processes that enable families to surmount crises and persistent stresses. There are many pathways in relational resilience, varying to fit diverse family forms, psychosocial challenges, resources, and constraints. Shared beliefs and narratives that foster a sense of coherence, collaboration, competence, and confidence are vital in coping and mastery. Interventions to strengthen family resilience have timely relevance for weathering the rapid social changes and uncertainties facing families today.
716 citations
TL;DR: This essay examines the systemic guiding principles of neutrality, hypothesizing, and circularity, historically developed by the Milan Team of Selvini-Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, and Prata.
Abstract: This essay examines the systemic guiding principles of neutrality, hypothesizing, and circularity, historically developed by the Milan Team of Selvini-Palazzoli, Boscolo, Cecchin, and Prata (12, 13). With the reorganization of these team members (see 11 for a summary of the distinctions between the work of the Selvini-Palazzoli and Prata research team and the Cecchin and Boscolo training team), different reconstructions of the original systemic principles have evolved. New understanding of the concepts of circularity, hypothesizing, and neutrality are now possible, given the systemic epistemology on which the early Milan model was based. It should be emphasized, however, that the ideas presented in this essay are most associated with the systemic work of the Cecchin and Boscolo team.
539 citations
TL;DR: By adopting this mode of enquiry and taking advantage of opportunities to ask a variety of reflexive questions, a therapist may be able to augment the clinical effectiveness of his or her interviews.
Abstract: Reflexive questioning is an aspect of interventive interviewing oriented toward enabling clients or families to generate new patterns of cognition and behavior on their own. The therapist adopts a facilitative posture and deliberately asks those kinds of questions that are liable to open up new possibilities for self-healing. The mechanism for the resultant therapeutic change in clients is postulated to be reflexivity between levels of meaning within their own belief systems. By adopting this mode of enquiry and taking advantage of opportunities to ask a variety of reflexive questions, a therapist may be able to augment the clinical effectiveness of his or her interviews.
443 citations
TL;DR: This guide reviews what is known about educational and clinical supervision practice through a literature review and a questionnaire survey and identifies the need for a definition and for explicit guidelines on supervision.
Abstract: Background: This guide reviews what is known about educational and clinical supervision practice through a literature review and a questionnaire survey It identifies the need for a definition and for explicit guidelines on supervision There is strong evidence that, whilst supervision is considered to be both important and effective, practice is highly variable In some cases, there is inadequate coverage and frequency of supervision activities There is particular concern about lack of supervision for emergency and ‘out of hours work’, failure to formally address under-performance, lack of commitment to supervision and finding sufficient time for supervision There is a need for an effective system to address both poor performance and inadequate supervision Supervision is defined, in this guide as: ‘The provision of guidance and feedback on matters of personal, professional and educational development in the context of a trainee’s experience of providing safe and appropriate patient care’ A framework for effective supervision is provided: (1) Effective supervision should be offered in context; supervisors must be aware of local postgraduate training bodies’ and institutions’ requirements; (2) Direct supervision with trainee and supervisor working together and observing each other positively affects patient outcome and trainee development; (3) Constructive feedback is essential and should be frequent; (4) Supervision should be structured and there should be regular timetabled meetings The content of supervision meetings should be agreed and learning objectives determined at the beginning of the supervisory relationship Supervision contracts can be useful tools and should include detail regarding frequency, duration and content of supervision; appraisal and assessment; learning objectives and any specific requirements; (5) Supervision should include clinical management; teaching and research; management and administration; pastoral care; interpersonal skills; personal development; reflection; (6) The quality of the supervisory relationship strongly affects the effectiveness of supervision Specific aspects include continuity over time in the supervisory relationship, that the supervisees control the product of supervision (there is some suggestion that supervision is only effective when this is the case) and that there is some reflection by both participants The relationship is partly influenced by the supervisor’s commitment to teaching as well as both the attitudes and commitment of supervisor and trainee; (7) Training for supervisors needs to include some of the following: understanding teaching; assessment; counselling skills; appraisal; feedback; careers advice; interpersonal skills Supervisors (and trainees) need to understand that: (1) helpful supervisory behaviours include giving direct guidance on clinical work, linking theory and practice, engaging in joint problem-solving and offering feedback, reassurance and providing role models; (2) ineffective supervisory behaviours include rigidity; low empathy; failure to offer support; failure to follow supervisees’ concerns; not teaching; being indirect and intolerant and emphasizing evaluation and negative aspects; (3) in addition to supervisory skills, effective supervisors need to have good interpersonal skills, good teaching skills and be clinically competent and knowledgeable
437 citations
References
More filters
468 citations
[...]
TL;DR: For instance, it has been argued that knowledge of the external world is not the end of knowledge, but only a means as discussed by the authors, and that the only cognitive experiences the human mind is capable of are ideas and perceptions.
Abstract: Extensive and profound as philosophic speculation on the nature of knowledge may have been during the last twenty-five centuries, it must be conceded that it has, on the whole, failed in its undertaking. In fact, we do not seem to be much closer to the solution of the epistemological problem than were Kant and Hegel or, for that matter, Plato and Aristotle. Obviously enough, the problem should now be approached in some new way, perhaps one growing out of recent scientific findings. However, before we look around in search of such findings-that is, before we attempt to solve the basic problem of how knowledge of the external world is possible at all-it may be advisable to grant certain premises, describing the starting point of our naturalistic position, namely: (1) All knowledge, as such, is mental. Ever since Locke demonstrated that there are no innate principles of the mind, it has been acknowledged that the only cognitive experiences the human mind is capable of are ideas and perceptions. That ideas are mental will hardly be disputed. The concepts of justice and relativity, for instance, are definitely products of intellectual growth and endeavor, even when they are colored with emotion, as the case may be. Their ultimate derivation from, and application to, sensory reality makes little difference, in this connection. But when it comes to perception, the natural tendency is to regard it as of a double character, subjective as well as objective, as if it were something half-mental and half-material. The difficulty is to account for the objective reference of sensory experience, and the difficulty has proved to be serious. The resulting confusion of interpretation has given rise to countless schools of thought, including materialism, realism, pragmatism, and idealism of many varieties. One thing can hardly be denied, however, among intelligent people: that the images we see or hear are not identical with objects or events responsible for our observation, and that we can know directly only images, not objects or events themselves. The great majority of contemporary thinkers believe, to be sure, that images are not the end of knowledge, but only a means. In other words, they assume that reality, or nature in its broader sense, though unknowable directly, is somehow given in or through images of perception. The everyday assumption that, in observing an object, we know it immediately and in its true existential qualities may be somewhat naive; nevertheless, we are all forced, in practice if not in theory, to admit a cognitive connection between perceptual experience and realities underlying or causing it. But the exact nature of this connection seems to be an elusive puzzle. (2) Reality, as the object of knowledge in general, is non-mental. Though a few philosophers may be unwilling to concede this point, such seems to be the consensus of opinion among thinking people. Even Kant who attempted to explain all experience in terms of the mind's own activities and con-
222 citations
TL;DR: The distinction between the family-as-a-system and family-therapy-as a-system leads to a clinical perspective, or stance, that includes a focus on changing as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For any conceptual distinction to be useful (5) within the field of family therapy, it needs to lead to some clear answers to the question: What does this distinction mean for clinical practice? The distinction between (a) the family-as-a-system, and (b) family-therapy-as-a-system leads to a clinical perspective, or stance, that includes a focus on changing. Once this focus is clear, the therapist can help to create the expectation of changing and consequently promote changing. That is, techniques can be developed using positive feedback loops. Moreover, this distinction leads to a therapeutic stance in which not changing is a surprise.
160 citations