Collaborative Therapy, Essay Example

I would want Lisa only to attend the majority of the sessions. I think for the purposes of therapy from a collaborative perspective, the process should largely involve her and the therapist only. Lisa’s mother Laura is taking issue with some of her behaviors and is worried about Lisa’s body image concerns. This is secondary, so although Laura should attend some sessions with her daughter, she should not attend most of them. Tom is of the opinion that Laura is over-reacting. However, there may be some issues pertaining to him, since he seems to be not very present. He should attend some sessions, but again, not the majority. The role of the counselor is as facilitator: I, as the therapist, would be helping Lisa to discover more about herself and to examine her concerns from different perspectives. For example, I might float the suggestion to her that perhaps her concerns about her body and her weight come from seeing unrealistic standards in the media, and that there are not only other ways of seeing beauty but also other ways of establishing worth (Gehart, 2014, pp. 380-383).

The assessment process would largely consist of listening to Lisa’s narratives about herself and her family. I would also ask Laura and Tom for their contributions in that first session, and in a few others. The goal here is to draw Lisa out in order to better understand her—and the same for her family members to a lesser, but still important, extent. There is no ‘target’ of intervention because there is no ‘intervention’ as such: the process is one of exploration and dialog. I the therapist want to understand Lisa: her worldview, her values, why she thinks and acts in the ways she does. I also want to help her find ways of thinking and acting that will empower her and help her to be happy. This is a strengths-based model, since the focus is on helping her find her strengths and play to them. The theory of change is that Lisa herself will determine what she wants to change, and how. I as the therapist am merely there to help her facilitate this (Gehart, 2014, pp. 280-288).

References

Gehart, D. (2014). Mastering competencies in family therapy: A practical approach to theory and clinical case documentation (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.