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TIIE DEVELOPMENT OF A FAMILY THERAPY PROGRAM WITIIIN A
RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT SEITING:
PHASES. ISSUES AND STRATEGIES
by
Nancy McConkey-Radetzki. M.S.W.
ABSTRACI'
Seven developmental stages are described that a
family therapy program passed through as it was
becoming established within a large residential
treatment setting. Various strategies that helped to
create the program such as relabelling/amily therapy, flexible group boundaries and use 0/ complementary
positions are also presented.
Many authors have advocated for family participation in residential treatment programs for children and adolescents (Co16n. 1981; Finkelstein. 1980; Krona. 1980; Whittaker. 1979). However. the literature is sparse as to how to develop and integrate a family therapy program within the residential context. To do so often challenges implicit beliefs held by staff regarding the role of parents and the involvement of families. For example. Matthews and Roberts (in press) describe how the introduction of a family systems approach at an adolescent residential treatment centre was initially disruptive to the homeostasis of the agency. Held (1982) addresses the potential resistances that therapists may encounter when attempting to introduce a family systems approach within a mental health context that
Head of Family Studies, The Hull Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada -
The author would like to thank Art Skau, Director of Educational Services, William Roper Hull Home for his helpful suggestions and conceptual clarity.
-16 -
subscribes to a different theoretical orientation. This paper summarizes the development of a family therapy program within a large. multi-disciplinary residential treatment setting. the Wm. Roper Hull Home in Calgary. Alberta, which serves approximately eighty children and youth and their families. The seven phases of its development, issues that emerged. and some concepts and strategies that facilitated its integration are all described.
THE RESIDENTIAL SETTINGThe agency's history, organizational structure. staff. clientele. referral sources, and relationship with the community are contextual factors that influenced the development of the family therapy program. This section briefly outlines residential treatment, the agency's background. the treatment model. treatment programs. and typical presenting problems of the clientele referred to the agency.
What is residential treatment?
One of the distinguishing characteristics of residential treatment is that it utilizes the therapeutic milieu as a "living and learning" environment, in which the events of group living such as rules. routines. and activities. become...