This interactive workshop focuses on Structural Family Systems and Birth Order. Structural Family Systems was developed by Salvador Minuchin and Dr. Margaret H. Hoopes, and Dr. James M. Harper studied, nuanced, and wrote the concepts of birth order in Birth Order Roles and Sibling Patterns in Individual and Family Therapy. Structural Family Systems focuses on what is happening among the family members, “the invisible set of functional demands that organizes the way in which family members interact.” 1 . These patterns of interactions not only shape the family, but they also determine who is in charge, who is in a coalition with whom and what kind of boundaries exist and where they live.
Using this strength-based approach can assist a family to a functional pattern of interaction and healing. Birth Order describes the various job assignments, interpersonal responsibilities and social interactions displayed by children into adulthood. Understanding the roles of birth order gives the clinician a map to function and/or dysfunction patterns of behaviors and interactions.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Mapping Family Relationships
2. Family Rules and Roles
3. Communications Styles
4. How to disrupt dysfunctional patterns of communication
5. Birth order roles and assignments
Family Systems Part Two
Overview
Part two includes training on Bowenian Theory, created by Dr. Murray Bowen, who is considered the father of family therapy. A deeper dive into Dr. Bowen’s interlocking concepts sets the stage for a deeper understanding of how families work, covert messages and themes. Using Dr. Bowen’s genogram, participants will gain a visual representation of generational patterns, including trauma, triangles, emotional conflicts, projections, and cutoffs. This workshop trains clinicians in systemic interventions to help disrupt the current pattern of interaction to bring the family to improved understanding of one another.
Learning outcomes:
1 Minuchin, Salvador (pg. 51) Families & Family Therapy
1. What are the eight interlocking concepts
2. How does trauma impact the next generation unknowingly
3. How does parental conflict impact the children
4. How to intervene with a family to move them from current interactions to a new connection
and communication