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Inside Out: A Systemic Assessment of Family and Child

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Inside Out: A Systemic Assessment of a Family and Child

Do you wonder the way our minds deal with emotions? It is often perceived that people develop a connection memory and emotion when unconscious. Therefore, the attentiveness and attunement of others is important in the structure and wiring of our brains. The brain as an organ develops on the structure and interactions we have with others, moreover, it is considered as a social organ. This means that our memories and emotions are a collection of different parenting styles and skills, genetics, and relationships (Carr, 2009).

To understand the functioning of the human brain, the development stages, abuse, emotional regulation, stress and impacts of early trauma, neuroscience has taken the lead. Infants need connections with their caregivers early in order to organize the functions of their brains and for proper and effective development. This essay is focused on exploring how young children are impacted by risk factors, different parenting styles and the impact a therapist has when working with families that have young children.

Inside out, the film chosen in this essay explores the life of Riley, an 11-year-old girl who had to migrate due to her father’s new job from Minnesota to San Francisco in California. From the movie, we see how different types of emotions are stored by the mind to develop memories; moreover, we see the relationship between emotions to memory. Riley is attached to memories like fear, anger, disgust and sadness; moreover, she had trouble regulating her emotions since moving to San Francisco. A child is often influenced when the family moves to a new location especially when the child had lived in a stable environment for long (Carr, 2018). For the past 11 years, Riley had lived in a stable environment; however, the move brings obstacles and challenges considering she struggles to regain stability.

The family is seeking counselling services for the daughter considering she has been angry, not been herself since migrating, and withdrawn. The family consists of Rick who is 39, Rhonda 35 and Riley who is 11 years; moreover, it is a Caucasian family. Rhonda admits that Riley has not been the fun girl she was in Minnesota, furthermore, she has been giving her parents short responses and has been having angry outbursts. Rhonda also states that Riley had energy and was happy about moving at first, but all this changed once they moved. On the other hand, Rick admits that he has been away at work especially at night due to his new position, moreover, he barely spends time with his family. Rhonda claims that she has been busy around the house and does not pay attention to Riley. The only source of income the family has comes from Ricky considering that Rhonda is a stay at home mother. Rhonda has tried making friends through doing things she loves like hockey. Riley used to ice skate and play hockey in Minnesota; however, she has not managed to do those activities in California the way she did with friends and family.

Developmental Issues and Risk Factors

Everyone in the community has a family they belong; therefore, the structure of family will shape their development either healthy or unhealthy. The four parenting styles include the authoritarian, authoritative, neglecting-uninvolved, and permissive. These parenting styles can be the underlining factor considering they are different. Moreover, there are also two types of families, which are the extended and the nuclear. In an extended family, the father, mother and children live together with other relatives while the nuclear consists of the father, mother and children. Both healthy and unhealthy developments can occur given these types of families and parenting systems.

In Riley’s family system, it can be concluded that she is in the middle childhood phase where friendship is important for development. Riley needs friends to fill the vacuum of lacking siblings considering she is an only child. Moreover, the attachment developed between parents and children is essential for social development since the attachment is vital for the development of adolescents. Attachment also helps in social development. Riley’s parents are trying to teach her open communication and boost her confidence by encouraging her to explore her new community hence build friendships. Making friendship would benefit her considering she would not keep to herself and will reduce stress.

The Anderson family is facing the challenge of culture change by moving to San Francisco. Negative risk factors can lead to unhealthy family system. Among the risk factors include abuse, disorganized culture, neglect, poverty, the absence of parents and harsh discipline. Risk factors can break up a family hence causing negative outcomes on children. The development of a family can be affected by these risk factors; moreover, a child’s development and the skills needed may be hampered. The risk of new environment affects Riley and her family considering she is in middle childhood. On the other hand, she knows her parents are worried due to her recent attitude. Riley misses the attention she had in Minnesota from her best friend Meg and her family who are also faced with the challenge of new environment. Riley does not know how to act on her new feelings of rejection and is not able to voice her sentiments. Movement of a family affects the behavior of a child (O'Brien, 2012). Furthermore, if she feels her parents are stressed, then it can affect her feelings too. The inability to understand the move could make Riley unsure of how to regulate her mood. These feelings make her confused and does not know how to act.

Assessment Tools

The most important way of collecting information about a person and his family is through assessment and counselling. These tools aid in exploring the family background, their history, and importantly the patterns within the family. The use of genograms in family therapy aid in exploring the generational patterns that may have taken place. Every information must be gathered when looking at the family. Additional information must be created once a genogram is created in case it has relevance to the treatment. Information on Rick and Rhonda’s parents, the relationship they had, their experiences growing up, and the type of childhood they had growing up when creating a genogram (Firmin, 2017).

The genogram reveals that Rick’s parents valued hard work and work ethics while Rhonda’s parents had struggles in their marriage. Rhonda would keep to herself and had different outbursts and struggled with depression considering her parents struggled in marriage (Kazdin, Whitley & Marciano, 2006). Different parenting skills and types of attachments a family can have are shown in the genogram; moreover, it defined and showed generational parenting skills. The animal genogram is important in Riley’s situation as it will make her choose the animal that represents her family and she can also be playful with the genogram. This will help show her perspective and how she views the people related to her, additionally, she can explain why she has chosen the animal she chooses.

Ethical and Legal Requirements

It is essential that the therapist include counselor responsibilities, legal issues, client’s rights, and counselor competency. The 1.3 Multiple Relationships code must never be violated. Family therapists avoid exploiting dependency and trust of their client considering they are aware of their influence. When the therapist decides to help a family financially can be violation of the code. Therapists are not allowed to have any relationships with their clients apart from patient therapists or any type of help that is not within the practice is a violation. This follows as such help may turn the relationship into personal.

Practicing in accordance with the set ethical standards is vital to avoid any issues regarding malpractice, which may arise. Moreover, having any relations apart from the professional one is prohibited considering the patient may not take seriously the help being provided (Høglend, 2014). Judgment of a therapist reported of malpractice is often in line with the actions that the others within the profession may take. Probable comparison if often made when ethical standards are violated. Therefore, maintaining ethical standards in accordance to AAMFT code of ethics is important. Ethical standards guide every profession hence following these guidelines is key to the prosperity of the practice.

Impact of Therapist

Availability of the therapist is vital to build a rapport with the client so that they can administer proper help. A sense of trust is key when building a relationship between the family and the therapist. A healthy relationship between the family and the therapist shows the authenticity of the therapist. Moreover, therapists must keep their feelings from their conversations with the family or their clients to make sound judgment and administer required help. The personal feelings of the therapist must not affect the decision they make especially if they had similar experiences growing up. The therapist has a great impact on influencing the development of the family and that of Riley.

Conclusion

From the systemic assessment of Riley’s family, it is evident that Riley is in the middle-childhood development stage, which needs proper care and attention. Among the challenges Riley faces include adjustment to a new environment, trying to understand her emotions from the move hence is suffering and has stress dealing with facts of the movement. On the other hand, Riley’s parents Rick and Rhonda have shown concerns due to Riley’s behaviors and occasional outbursts. The behaviors Riley is displaying currently are as result of the generational background considering Rhonda had similar behaviors growing up. The therapist has the responsibility of trying to understand every member of the family, what they are experiencing and their reaction to the environment they have moved to from Minnesota. The therapist has a crucial role in ensuring the family transitions smoothly. Moreover, the therapist will help Riley develop well despite of the migration challenges and the confusion. The therapist observing the codes of ethics set by the AAMFT is vital as it will ensure the family gets the necessary help.

References

Carr, A. (2009). The effectiveness of family therapy and systemic interventions for child-focused problems. Journal of Family Therapy, 31(1), 3-45. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6427.2008.00451.x

Carr, A. (2018). Family therapy and systemic interventions for child-focused problems: the current evidence base. Journal of Family Therapy. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.12226

Firmin, C. (2017). Contextualizing case reviews: A methodology for developing systemic safeguarding practices. Child & Family Social Work, 23(1), 45-52. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12382

Høglend, P. (2014). Exploration of the Patient-Therapist Relationship in Psychotherapy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(10), 1056-1066. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14010121

Kazdin, A., Whitley, M., & Marciano, P. (2006). Child-therapist and parent-therapist alliance and therapeutic change in the treatment of children referred for oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(5), 436-445. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01475.x

O'Brien, V. (2012). Responding to the call: a conceptual model for kinship care assessment. Child & Family Social Work, 19(3), 355-366. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12025