Week 5 Application

Please no plagiarism and use the at least one source from this week sources. I need this completed by 09/30/17 at 7pm.

Application: Applying Narrative and Solution-Focused Therapy

Narrative and solution-focused therapy are postmodern theories of working with couples and families. In terms of counselor-client relationship, both forms of therapy can be viewed as more collaborative than other theories discussed thus far in the course. They emphasize a more equal distribution of power between counselor and client. They also promote movement away from a traditional metaphor of couple/family relations toward conceptualizing couple/family relationships as networks of co-constructed meanings. Clients are seen as active construers of reality, which, according to these theories, are infinitely re-authorable. In this way, change comes from reconceptualizing and rewriting the ways couples and families make meaning of their relationships.

To prepare for this Application Assignment, view two of the videos in this week’s Learning Resources (at least one narrative and one solution-focused video). Identify the couple’s or family’s issue(s) and begin to think about short- and long-term goals you might include in treatment plans for them. As you consider techniques or interventions to accomplish these goals, think about how you would measure progress in re-authoring or storytelling.

The assignment (4–6 pages)

Based on the theory demonstrated in the narrative video:

• Define the problem.
• Formulate a treatment plan including short- and long-term goals.
• Describe two theory-based interventions you would use and justify your selection.
• Explain one anticipated outcome of each.

Based on the theory demonstrated in the solution-focused video:

• Define the problem.
• Formulate a treatment plan including short- and long-term goals.
• Describe two theory-based interventions you would use and justify your selection.
• Explain one anticipated outcome of each.

Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.

Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources. To view this week’s embedded media resources, please use the streaming media players below.

Required Resources

Media

• Video: Psychotherapy.net. (Publisher). (1994). I’d hear laughter: Finding solutions for the family [Motion picture]. [With Insoo Kim-Berg]. United States: Psychotherapy.net.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

• Video: Psychotherapy.net. (Publisher). (1994). Irreconcilable differences: A solution-focused approach to marital therapy [Motion picture]. [With Insoo Kim-Berg]. United States: Psychotherapy.net.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

• Video: Allyn & Bacon. (Publisher). (2002). Narrative therapy with children. [Motion picture]. [With Steven Madigan]. United States: Psychotherapy.net.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Readings

• Course Text: Gurman, A. S., Lebow, J. L.., & Snyder, D.  (2015). Clinical handbook of couple therapy (5th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
  • Chapter 2, “Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy”
  • Chapter 5, “Gottman Method Couple Therapy”
• Course Text: Theory-Based Treatment Planning for Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Chapter 10, “Solution-Focused Therapy”
  • Chapter 11, “Narrative Therapy”
• Article: Beyebach, M., & Morejon, A. R. (1999). Some thoughts on integration in solution-focused therapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 18(1), 24–42. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Article: Robbins, J. M., & Pehrsson, D. (2009). Anorexia nervosa: A synthesis of poetic and narrative therapies in the outpatient treatment of young adult women. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 4(1), 42–56. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Optional Resources

Readings

• Book: Bitter, J. (2009). Solution-focused and solution-oriented therapy. Theory and practice of family therapy and counseling. Brooks/Cole: Belmont, CA.
  • Chapter 10, “Solution-Focused and Solution-Oriented Therapy“
  • Chapter 11, “Postmodernism, Social Construction and Narratives in Family Therapy”

Additional Resources

Gehart’s video lecture on narrative family therapy (Running time: 58:35 mins)

Narrative Case Conceptualization template

Gehart’s video lecture on solution-focused therapy (Running time: 54:20 mins)

Solution-focused Case Conceptualization template