Working with More Than Just the Teen

Note: This article was originally published in Substack on 07 Dec. 2024

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Today’s episode is dedicated to two readers of Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development (FPD): 

Austin brown sparks and Ash Burton.

I answer both Austin’s and Ash’s question on working with more than just the individual youth in therapy. I address the challenge and merits, along with six guiding principles, and six strategies that I take.

Guiding Principles

1. Give Voice to the Voice-less.
2. Listening to Each Other into Speech.
3. Being a With-ness to Each Other.
4. We are a Community of Internalised Others.
5. When We Love, We Love Poorly.

Strategies

1. Structure is “Where are we? were are we going? and why?
2. Mixing Individual and Conjoint Sessions.
3. Allow Contradictory Perspectives.
4. Express the Unspokens.
5. How Healthy is the Family?
6. Practice of forgiveness.

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SHOWNOTES:

Listening Into Speech: Will Say, Won’t Say, Can’t Say.

Quotes:

Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you can’t love.

— Thich Nhat Hanh, in How to Love.

Forgiveness is the name of love practice among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly.

— Henri Nouwen.

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