course »The Right Fight: Uniting Families Against Problems through Narrative Theory and Play

Date: 2/11/2022, 9:00 am—12:00 pm
County: -Training Offerings
CEUs: Yes
Location: DISTANCE LEARNING
Sponsor: East Bay Agency for Children
Phone: 510-844-5370, Ext. 4135
Often, when families describe the concerns they are experiencing with their children, the problems become synonymous with the child’s identity. This person-focused manner of viewing and describing problems can contribute to adversarial relationships between family members, promoting controlling, blaming, and shaming behaviors (Freeman, Epston, & Lobovits, 1997; White & Epston, 1990). Play therapists are at risk of participating in this process, too, either by too easily adopting the family’s description that the problem is the child’s doing or by seeing the problem as the family’s doing (Haslam & Harris, 2011). Narrative therapy, with its emphasis on describing problems as being separate from people, provides a useful framework for promoting collaboration, mutual engagement, and unity between children, families, and play therapists (Cattanach, 2006; de Faoite, 2011; John, 2011; McLuckie & Rowbotham, 2013). In this workshop, participants will consider how to integrate narrative therapy concepts and techniques when working with children and families in play, drawing from both professional literature and the presenter’s experiences (Butler, Guterman, & Rudes, 2009; Cattanach, 2006; Daley et al., 2018; de Faoite, 2011; John, 2011; McLuckie & Rowbotham, 2013; Moschini, 2019; Nichols, Nichols, & Lacher, 2018; Sholtes & Sori, 2017; Stiefel, Anson, & Hinchcliffe, 2017; Turns & Kimmes, 2014; Vetere & Dowling, 2017). The following narrative therapy concepts and techniques will be reviewed, discussed, and applied within the context of play: Externalizing problems, meeting people separate from problems, mapping the influence of problems and persons, identifying preferred narratives, and identifying unique outcomes.