NURS 6650: Psychotherapy With Groups and Families
Assessing client families
Family assessment plays a vital role when it comes to family psychotherapy/counseling. Compared to individual assessment it comprises of various aspects of the family structure and functioning. Hence it is more dynamic. The whole process of assessment is a guide essential in determining effective decisions and interventions in line with the family culture (Falloon, 2015). Critical factors such as communication and social skills in the family are the essential entities focused on by the counselors or psychologist. Assessment has to be carried out systematically to achieve its goal of understanding the nature of the problem, causes and family members’ perception of the problem as well as the areas of strength.
Assessment is the first preliminary step of counseling can be used effectively to enable one to collect vital information about the family (Wheeler, 2014). It is used to base ground for understanding and even prediction of behavior in the course of the whole process. It involves numerous methods including taking history, observation of behavior, and conduction of formal tests. It helps the counselor/ psychologists understand the past trends, current position and predict the future of the client as a family (Tseng & Hsu, 2018). Assessment is an essential tool in evaluating the treatment progress and an outcome at the end of counseling to facilitate change in case need arises. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the family relationship and function is essential to understand the nature of the problem and to come up with potential solutions.
Demographic information
The client family I observed during my practical experience was a young couple married for five years by the time they came for the consultation.....
