Challenges of Couple and Family Therapy
a. What aspects of couple or family therapy seem most challenging or intimidating to you?
b. How do you feel about the idea of managing 2 or more clients in the room simultaneously?
c. What do you think will be most difficult about working with more than individual?
d. What do you think could be interesting or enjoyable about working with more than one individual?
Origin of Therapist
a. How do you see your culture playing a role in the type of therapist that you strive to become?
b. How does your family of origin impact you as a therapist?
c. How would you work with a population that is culturally different from you?
d. Having identified your biases; how do you see yourself leaving them outside the therapy room?
e. What aspects of your own family history are likely to influence your work with couples and families?
Ethics involved
a. If you decided to split up the couple, how would handle the issue if one part of the couple reveals a secret during an individual session
b. If you learned during a family session that there was child abuse occurring in the family what would be your next steps?
c. If you learned in a couple session that intimate partner violence was occurring what would be your next steps?
Self-reflection
a. Are there other aspects of couple/family therapy that you feel ambivalent about?
b. Are there any aspects that you are excited about?
c. Are there any aspects that you are curious about?
d. Are there any aspects that you are confused about?
Write a short Learning Journal (4-5 typed, double-spaced pages of text; 5 references), in which you briefly share your own responses to each of the discussion prompts. Please also address the following questions:
a. Please describe any “take-home messages” you gathered from the discussion as a whole.
b. As a result of reflecting upon this conversation, is there anything that has changed or evolved in your thinking? Please elaborate.
