Constructing a Place for Religion and Spirituality in Psychodynamic Practice

A focus on spirituality has become in vogue for the media as well as for professional conferences, journals, and schools of social work. Likewise, our clients are struggling with how to integrate religion and/or spirituality with their therapy. The premise of this paper is that we have a role in assisting our clients with this integration and to consider some of the current postmodern approaches. However, in attempting such an integration it is important to retain certain parameters and guidelines that have been helpful to our clinical work. This paper will examine how to make room for religion and spirituality in psychodynamic psychotherapy and the ways in which constructivism can be helpful in this process. The influences of psychodynamic theories and postmodernism shape the discussion in the following areas: definition of terms, self-awareness, deconstruction of clients' narrative, assessment of strengths and vulnerabilities, and reconstruction of a useful narrative.     

Using Social Media to Change the Narrative Around Chronic Illness

Chronic illness is a prevalent issue for many individuals. Various theoretical approaches have been employed in the psychotherapeutic treatment of chronic illness and the effects it has on the individual with the illness. These approaches frequently overlook the strengths of the person living with the illness as well as fail to address aspects of modern life such as social media use of the client and the influence it holds for those living with a chronic illness. This paper proposes the application of narrative therapy and social media use as a narrative therapeutic technique when treating those who suffer from chronic illness. A clinical vignette is used to illustrate possible applications of therapeutic techniques in conjunction with therapist-directed social media use. Implications for clinical practice and limitations are discussed.     

A signs of safety approach to assessing children with sexually concerning or harmful behaviour

The Junction is a Barnardo's children's service based in northern England that provides assessment and intervention in the lives of children and young people who have sexually concerning or harmful behaviour. It is developing methods of assessment that move away from more established approaches to provide a service that attempts to address more comprehensively the circumstances of individuals and families, utilizing a Signs of Safety approach. The principles and methods of this approach are outlined with examples of practice. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In Praise of Sneaky Poo: A Case,Four Whites,and a Missing Narrative

Sneaky Poo (1984) announced Michael White, the second order cyberneticist, to the world. But there were several versions of both Sneaky Poo and White. This paper pays homage to Sneaky and critiques White's contribution to family therapy. A recent case is reported.     

Narrative and its potential contribution to disability studies

This article seeks to expand our understanding of narrative and the analysis of stories researchers invite and collect in the domain of disability studies. What narrative inquiry is and various reasons why researchers might opt to choose to turn to narratives are highlighted. Painting with broad strokes, narrative analysis is then considered before a typology of different ways in which stories can be analysed is offered. Illuminated by the typology are two contrasting standpoints on narrative analysis (storyteller and story analyst) and three specific methods (structural, performative, and autoethnographic creative analytic practices) that each standpoint might use to analyse the whats and hows of stories. The article closes by suggesting that researchers might consider using a variety of analyses in order to assist us to understand the complexities of the social world in diverse ways.     

Using Family Attachment Narrative Therapy to Heal the Wounds of Twinship: A Case Study of an 11-Year-Old Boy

This paper describes the utilization of Family Attachment Narrative Therapy with an 11-year-old boy experiencing significant behavioral and developmental problems emerging from his experience of identical twinship and associated parental failure. This innovative treatment model is demonstrated to be a useful tool for changing the child’s faulty self narrative resulting in improved functioning. The critical element of the reworked schema is the perception of self as complete, adequate, worthy and cherished. Family Attachment Narrative Therapy is also shown to facilitate increased parental attunement to the child’s inner state and parent-child bonding. This study highlights the unique developmental challenges facing young twins and the related complexity of the parental role.     

Development of a New Approach to Guided Self-Help via the Internet: The Swedish Experience

ABSTRACT

This article describes the development and empirical status of guided Internet-delivered self-help. The treatment approach combines the benefits of bibliotherapy with book-length text materials and the support given online via web pages and e-mail. Interactive features such as online registrations, tests, and online discussion forums are also included. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) guided the research and clinical implementations of this approach, as it lends itself more easily to the self-help format compared with other presently available psychotherapy approaches. We include an overview of the research, current issues and research in service delivery, lessons learned through a program of research, and directions for future investigations.     

Power and Authority in Clinical Practice: A Discourse Analysis Approach to Narrative Process

Issues of power and authority in the treatment relationship are explored using concepts from discourse analysis. Negotiative and heuristic processes of narrative co-construction are described. These concepts, which highlight issues of power and vulnerability in narrative co-construction in ordinary conversation, are then applied to a clinical case. Implications for clinical social work treatment are developed based on an expanded understanding of, and sensitivity to, the sharing of narrative power in the treatment relationship.     

A Narrative Approach to Pregnancy‐related Discrimination and Leader–follower Relationships

This study sheds light on women's perceptions of pregnancy‐related discrimination committed by the discriminated woman's immediate leader. The purpose is to show how women describe this perception during pregnancy and after their return to working life after maternity leave. Further, the study explores the ways in which the quality of the leader–follower relationship is revealed during the narration process. The research draws on five individual stories, collected in two rounds of interviews. Representations of several kinds of discriminatory practices can be found in the narratives and reveal that even being a partner in a good‐quality leader–follower relationship does not necessarily protect a woman from pregnancy‐related discrimination. However, women involved in a high‐quality leader–follower relationship described their perceptions in a more positive manner than those in a low‐quality relationship. The contribution of the article to the literature is twofold: firstly, the results challenge the traditional view that high‐quality leader–member exchange relationships lead to positive outcomes. Secondly, examining the different ways in which people describe their perceptions of discrimination deepens our understanding of the equality problems that working women face.     

Punctuating a Neck: Adoption,Chroming and Crisis in the Life of a Family

An extraordinary case is presented. The father had been admitted to an emergency ward following stabbing by his first son. The son had become uncontrollable and used many substances, constantly and reduced family life to a battleground with his mother. The two older boys were adopted, the third was miraculously conceived. In about ten sessions, the family's story was told in dramatic ways. Over twelve years later, the boys have become fathers and the grandparents are doting.     

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,Functional Contextualism,and Clinical Social Work

The practice of clinical social work requires interventions that are consistent with social work values, applicable across a range of presenting problems, capable of being applied in multiple contexts, supported by extensive research, and consonant with social work’s person-in-environment perspective. This article discusses the fit between social work and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy that meets all of these criteria. ACT is based on a philosophy of science, functional contextualism, that focuses on the behavior of individuals within their historical and situational contexts. ACT draws on a comprehensive theory of language, relational frame theory (RFT), which accounts for the influence of culturally shaped language processes on learning and human behavior. ACT and RFT are supported by a growing body of research that supports ACT’s efficacy with a wide variety of problems and suggests that ACT works by its theorized mechanism of change. ACT can be delivered in an array of formats and is easily accessible for those seeking training, and ACT offers a nonstigmatizing, universalizing approach to alleviating suffering that positions social workers and clients as subject to the same, normally occurring processes of human behavior.     

Telling and Re‐telling Stories: The Use of Narrative and Drawing in a Group Intervention with Parents and Children in a Remote Aboriginal Community

The Let's Start Parent‐Child Program is a manualised parent‐child program which aims to improve educational, social and emotional outcomes for Aboriginal parents and their four‐ to seven‐year‐old children. It has been implemented in the Northern Territory, Australia on the Tiwi Islands and in Darwin since 2005. This paper outlines the adaptation of the program to include narrative approaches, the sharing of stories and the use of expressive arts as a way to build understanding between program leaders and participating families. An example from a recent program is used to illustrate how the sharing of stories and expressive use of art engages and binds group participants together. It supports parents to tell their own stories, to speak about their lived experience, to reconsider aspects of their own and their children's experiences and to achieve an increased awareness of their personal resources and a sense of self‐empowerment. The program is designed and delivered with sensitivity to individual parents, children and families, where cultural and interpersonal differences and different developmental and family situations can be taken into account.     

Using cognitive interviews to refine translated survey questions: an example from a cross-national crime survey

Lately, social researchers have become increasingly interested and involved in comparative and cross-national research. In part this reflects a growing realisation that key social, economic and political processes are not merely ‘domestic’ but are common across countries and cultures. Although numerous good quality data sets now exist (e.g. the European Social Survey or International Social Survey Programme), in many instances researchers need to design their own bespoke comparative surveys. Such surveys require careful design if they are to produce meaningful data. Herein we introduce, outline and report on one technique which may usefully be employed in order to design better survey items for use in cross-national surveys.     

Helping Low-Conflict Divorced Parents Establish Appropriate Boundaries Using a Variation of the Miracle Question: An Integration of Solution-Focused Therapy and Structural Family Therapy

The authors discuss the implications of divorce and the effect that divorce has on the relationships between family members. Parents are encouraged to develop appropriate co-parental boundaries that direct and influence subsequent interactions between family members. Using an integration of solution-focused therapy and structural family therapy, a variation of the miracle question is suggested as a means to help parents gain confidence in making changes in behavior. The miracle question also is intended to help parents set new goals for themselves and increase the ability to cooperate and communicate as co-parents. A case study provides an example of this idea.     

‘You tell all the stories’: Using narrative to explore hierarchy within a Community of Practice1

Recent discussion of the Community of Practice (CofP) ( Davies 2005 ) has suggested that there are certain limitations to the approach with regard to how it accounts for internal hierarchy and community membership. Eckert and Wenger (2005: 588) have suggested that the only way to evaluate such criticism (and avoid building an inappropriately rigid conception of power into CofP theory) is to explore how hierarchies operate within CofPs. This paper offers such an exploration. Using data from a long‐term ethnographic study of a high school in the north‐west of England, this paper will use narrative analysis (drawing upon the work of Labov and Waletsky [1967] 1997 amongst others) to explore the interactional space in which speakers actively negotiate their personal and community behaviour. The analysis focuses upon the role individuals play as narrators of community practice and illustrates that status inequalities between individual CofP members do not necessarily result in inequitable allocation of control within the CofP.     

Conversion to Islam: Narratives of Awakening,Continuity, and Return

Previous research utilizing conversion narratives to understand how and why people convert has been troubled by the “accuracy” of the accounts. This study of Muslim converts in the United States sidesteps this problem by turning the focus away from the causes, motives, and drivers of conversion and placing it instead on the form or structure of their conversion narratives. More specifically, it foregrounds the subjective process of making sense of one's conversion story through the employment of formulaic narrative structures. Findings suggest that when accounting for their conversion to Islam, these respondents employed three different narrative structures: stories of awakening, continuity, and return. Although these stories vary in meaningful ways, each provides a different perspective on how conversion to Islam can be conceptualized and expressed narratively. The discussion centers on the similarities and differences between these stories in order to more fully articulate and distinguish their underlying premises. I conclude by considering how each of these stories are used by converts to convey the authenticity of their Muslim identities.     

Using Family-Oriented Treatment to Improve Placement Outcomes for Children and Youth in Residential Treatment

Abstract

Traditionally, caregivers of children with severe emotional and behavioral disturbances have been excluded from treatment planning, and service providers have often blamed caregivers for children's mental health problems. More recently, an approach to treatment based on Systems of Care has emphasized the importance of including caregivers in every aspect of treatment. This article describes a family-oriented residential treatment program in eastern North Carolina and reports initial results of a pilot study in which caregiver participation is valued and emphasized. Implications for practice, policy, and professional training are discussed.     

The knowledge,skills and qualities needed for social work in a major paediatric teaching hospital

Abstract

The place of aged care in social work has long been ambiguous, if not marginal. Social work (as do other comparable professions) often displays a reluctance to place practice in this field within the core of the profession that embodies aspects of ageism in contemporary society. Working with older people is frequently characterised as ‘mundane’, ‘routine’ and even ‘not “real” social work’. This paper examines the practice implications of the current policy context. Forms of ‘indirect’ practice are identified as central to social work in aged care, and the implications of this for the standing of aged care social work in the wider profession are discussed. It is argued that ‘indirect’ practices are core to the development of the profession and so should be seen as ‘real’ social work. In conclusion, it is suggested that unless social work affirms practice with older people and their families we will fail to be congruent with our own values.     

Questioning Heteronormativity: Lesbian and gay challenges to education practice in British Columbia,Canada

This paper explores social movement organizing within social institutions, using the cases of the Surrey book banning and the Trinity Western University, two cases of activist litigation in British Columbia, Canada. In these cases, lesbian and gay teacher activists challenged heteronormative constructions in educational practices, in one case by introducing lesbian and gay-positive reading materials in the elementary grades, in the other by challenging the right of an evangelical university to train teachers for the public education system. In the context of the existing literatures on social movements within institutions and challenges to education practices, the paper emphasizes two main conclusions: 1) challenges to educational practice may be mounted by teachers themselves, despite their professional and 'insider' status and 2) a range of different types of relationships are possible between social movement challenges within social institutions and social movements outside of institutions. In the cases presented here, the strategies, discourses and frames of 'insider' challenges to educational practices were drawn from the teacher-activists' location as part of the broader legally focused Canadian lesbian and gay movement.     

Pilot Testing a Cognitive-Behavioral Protocol on Psychosocial Predictors of Exercise,Nutrition, Weight,and Body Satisfaction Changes in a College-Level Health-Related Fitness Course

Abstract

Objective: Small-scale pilot testing of supplementing a required college health-related fitness course with a cognitive-behavioral exercise-support protocol (The Coach Approach). Participants: Three classes were randomly assigned to Usual processes (n = 32), Coach Approach–supplemented: Mid-size Groups (n = 32), and Coach Approach–supplemented: Small Groups (n = 34) conditions. Methods: Repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) assessed overall and between-class changes in the behavioral/physiological factors of exercise, fruit/vegetable intake, and body mass index (BMI); and the psychosocial factors of self-regulation, exercise self-efficacy, mood, and body satisfaction. Dependent t tests evaluated within-class changes. Multiple regression analyses tested prediction of exercise by changes in self-regulation, self-efficacy, and mood. Results: Significant improvements in self-regulation and fruit/vegetable intake were found in all classes. The Coach Approach–supplemented classes demonstrated significant increases in exercise. Significant improvements in BMI, self-efficacy, and body satisfaction were found in only The Coach Approach–supplemented: Small Groups class. Psychosocial changes predicted increased exercise. Self-regulation was the strongest contributor. Conclusions: Overall, results were positive and warrant more comprehensive testing.