Melissa Allen, Author at Family Therapy Magazine

AAMFT Participates in Launch of New Organization: The Systemic Family Therapy Association-Kenya (SFTA-K)

February 8, 2024 was a historic day for the field of marriage and family therapy in Kenya. The Systemic Family Therapy Association-Kenya (SFTA-K) was successfully launched. Official sponsors, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, were not only present via teleconferencing, but played a significant role in supporting this launch. This launch marked the [...]

Updates from Journal of Marital and Family Therapy

We are celebrating 50 years of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy (JMFT)! Throughout the coming year, be on the lookout for fun facts and highlights featuring JMFT’s rich history. Lenore M. McWey, PhD, Professor and Program Director of the MFT program at Florida State University, has officially begun her tenure as editor of [...]

How EMDR Therapy Helps Families and Individuals with Disabilities

Individuals with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities are more likely to experience traumatic experiences than individuals without a disability (i.e., Rumball, 2020; Hulbert-Williams et al., 2014; Soylu et al., 2013). For instance, approximately 45% of individuals with autism report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Rumball, 2020). Adults with intellectual disability are more likely to [...]

Systemic Family Therapy and Disabilities

Family Systems Illness Model and neurodevelopmental disabilities John Rolland’s Family Systems Illness (FSI) model provides a systemic framework for us to conceptualize both disabilities and family functioning as well as their intersection and reciprocal influences (Rolland, 2018). Foundational to the field of marriage and family therapy is systems theory, conceptualizing health issues within their relational [...]

When “Miracles” Aren’t Possible: Careful Considerations When Working with a Client or Family with a Disability

I stopped seeing my therapist because she kept stating that my Autism was a ‘problem’ or asking me what life would be like without it. It started to make me feel bad about myself. Much like working with any diverse population, when working with clients with a physical, developmental, or intellectual disability, our language needs [...]

Greetings AAMFT Members! Hola Miembros de AAMFT!

This issue of FTM is quite personal for me as both a Latinx female and the child of immigrants. The articles written for and selected for this issue reflect how first, second, third and beyond generations of children, adolescents, and young adults have evolved through the process of acculturation—a quest for belongingness in a new [...]

A Fond Farewell to JMFT Editor Dr. Steven M. Harris

Any agent of change in our field and beyond must be able to provide others with both a) nurturing support, encouragement, and reassurance; and b) challenge—inviting, even “requiring” a higher level of functioning. Reflecting on Steve’s time as the JMFT editor, it is easy to note examples of both characteristics in his leadership and professional [...]

Mothers’ Lived Experiences with an Incarcerated Son: A Research Brief

Impacts of incarceration on the family system With an estimated 2.2 million people incarcerated, the United States (U.S.) continues to have the highest incarceration rate in the world (Beckett et al., 2018). Stress, trauma, and stigma are common negative effects of incarceration on the well-being of the individual and their loved ones (Turney & Goodsell, [...]

Guiding Couples to Repair When Trust Has Been Broken: Setting Expectations with Digital Use

Many couples struggle to form agreements for cellphone and computer use after an affair. Providing guidance to establish expectations around digital use is a valuable service provided by therapists in the field of marriage and family therapy. Setting shared expectations with digital use can be hard to accomplish in any relationship, and post affair, the [...]

Demystifying Subpoenas

There’s an authoritative knock on the door of your solo practice. You open it, and a uniformed Sheriff’s deputy is standing there with a clipboard piled high with papers. He hands you one of the documents from the stack—in big letters across the top of a page scattered with numerous signature boxes and quasi-legalese you [...]

TREATNET Family and the United Nations: Family Therapy with Adolescents at Risk of Substance Abuse and Contact with the Criminal Justice System

In 2018, we (LLC and MP) met in person for the first time in the lobby outside a large conference room at the United Nations Office in Vienna. Although we had collaborated previously (Palit & Levin, 2016; Charlés & Samarasinghe, 2016), we had never met face-to-face. In Vienna, we were invited participants in a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) technical consultation: “Elements of Family-based Treatments for Adolescents with Drug Use Disorders: Creating Societies Resilient to Drugs and Crime.” This consultation meeting included 25 experts across the fields of family therapy, staff from the UNODC PTRS unit, and the World Health Organization, and subject matter experts in substance use disorders and countering violent extremism. The meeting was convened for a memorable week in Vienna, with participants from over 13 countries. The goal of the meeting was “to identify key elements of effective approaches to the treatment of adolescents with drug use disorders and to provide guidance for the development of a UN training package on family therapy.” A key aspect of the “effective approaches” and “guidance” asked of us as a group of technical experts was that we had to consider FT adaptation and implementation in low and middle income countries. The challenge is clear; while research studies in many contexts illustrate how systemic family therapy practices are part of the evidence base, Busse et al. (2021) noted that:

…almost all these studies were conducted in high-income countries and almost all of them were conducted within a research context in university setting. As such, the findings might not be generalisable to studies conducted in LMICs …. Furthermore, adolescents with SUDs and their families in LMICs do not have or very little access to effective treatment such as family-based therapy. To address this accessibility gap as well as to increase quality and diversity of treatment options for adolescents with drug and other SUDs, the Treatnet Family (TF) was developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; 2020). (p. 2)

That package that was begun in 2018 in Vienna is now called Treatnet Family (see below for an example of some of the concepts addressed in the package). Treatnet Family has been a part of feasibility studies, has been implemented in many countries and regions, and involved hundreds of practitioners across the globe. The package is openly accessible at no cost, and as of this writing, has been translated into four languages, with more on the way. We need more multilateral efforts and collaborations like this one, and family therapy as an established field needs to hear much more and much more often about the ways practice must be adapted to meet country contexts across the globe.

A recent publication by Busse et al. (2021) described Treatnet Family (TF) as:

containing elements of evidence-based family therapy which has been developed specifically for adolescents with SUDs and their families in low resource settings. TF focuses on family interactions and uses elements of family therapy to interrupt ineffective communication within the family. It contains the key components of family therapy, such as:

positive reframing (i.e., positive labeling of a negative behavior without necessarily accepting it as fine. It involves emphasizing the possible positive intent behind a seemingly negative behavior),
positive relational reframing (i.e., positive labeling of a negative behavior in relationship to the family without necessarily accepting it as okay. Even when the behavior is self-destructive, the intent behind it can be understood and appreciated, yet not necessarily condoned).
perspective taking (i.e., developing empathy and the ability to take another person’s viewpoint into account).
relational questions (i.e., to support perspective taking, relational questions are asked [e.g., “When Narendra gets into trouble, who feels most sorry for him?”] in order to encourage perspective taking and relational thinking).
going with resistance (i.e., helping family members feel heard and understood, which reduces defensiveness and makes more productive conversations possible).

TF has six sessions, with each session lasting between 90 and 120 minutes. Each session is to be attended by the adolescent with SUDs and his/her family members because the primary focus of the sessions is on the relationships among family members. The practitioner’s role is to interrupt problematic cycles, ineffective communication, and harmful behaviors family members currently use to meet their emotional and interpersonal needs. As change in family interaction can influence each family member’s behavior, family members are encouraged to be part of the solution.” (p. 2)

For more on Treatnet Family: https://www.unodc.org/documents/southeasterneurope/UNODC_Treatnet_Family_brochure_190320.pdf

Author: Melissa Allen