Families facing difficulties during significant stages of change
Families frequently face difficulties during significant stages of change including coupling, adolescence, and a decline in children’s academic achievement. The experiences of the family depend on a variety of factors, including personal history, socioeconomic condition, culture, and religion. Family dynamics, the importance of transitions, gender roles, and parental expectations are all influenced by culture. Even while some families have good systems in place for resolving conflicts, family crises are inescapable. In Linda’s instance, it appears that her family doesn’t have a strong support structure, which contributed to their divorce. The divorce and separation between Linda and George has changed the social expectations of their marriage and has eventually led to emotional problems. The consequences of separation influences individuals’ behavior in different ways. Linda and children needs help such that Linda and the children can avoid reinforcing behavior they want to get rid of and focus on rewarding the behaviors they want to increase. The improved family relationship will help Linda and the children to understand and change their cognitive behavior.
The role of cognitive restructuring in family therapy
In a scheduled meeting with Linda and the children, an evaluator needs to help Linda’s family in cognitive restructuring. Linda needs to review and reframe the way her children think about things. She should refrain from making clear her feelings of hate for George to the children. Jason’s negative attitude towards his father by avoiding abusive statements such as referring to George as a useless man. As a family evaluator who is focusing on helping Linda and her children, it is important to advise Linda to define the problems and goals for her family. That is attainable when Linda decides to look at what proceeds and follows unwanted behavior exhibited by Jason at school. Linda needs to attend functional family therapy as this will enable her to look at family member perceptions based on the ideas from recent family therapy. As a result, Linda will stand a better chance to restructure Jason’s behavior.
The impact of narrative family therapy
Functional family therapy plays a significant role in restructuring cognitive behaviors in different families. The ideas obtained from family therapy assists individuals to reexamine the narratives that underpin the way they have lived their lives through re-authoring conversations. Linda’s family can benefit from such narrative family therapies because she will gain awareness of dominant, helpful and unhelpful stories that may bring challenges in her family. Linda and the children need to focus on the impact of the past five years since the separation and the social and cultural expectations of the family which can inhibit and control people’s lives. For example, Linda has information that George is in a successful relationship with a same sex partner. That is an information that can break individual’s heart thus Linda needs only to construct and concentrate on more productive stories that will help her and her children’s behavior.
Creating a positive learning environment and consistency in parenting
Linda and the children need to focus on mechanisms of handling past family experiences before the separation. The family experiences have long term impact on individuals and can lead to self-defeating stories and self-concepts. Linda needs to promote her honest expression of emotions and see some models of family interaction as healthier. She has an anxiety disorder and does not want to continue with her medication. Seemingly, Linda is suffering from failure to express her true emotions and instead she is not consistent with behaviors. She needs to have some time with her children such that she can help them out with their problems. Linda has a mandate as a custodian parent to understand the causes of the changes in her children’s behavior. She needs to engage with her children on a regular basis and provide answers to their questions. Jason and Cindy needs their mother’s attention and thus are not comfortable with their mother’s difficulty in remaining consistent with consequences. Linda needs to change the lead up to undesired behavior and ensure that the children get the best out of her lead as a parent.
The impact of parents' attitudes on children
Parents negative attitude have a serious impact on the emotions of their children. Children have a direct attachment with their parents and thus, they are often affected by their parents’ anxieties. Cindy seems to love her father and that is the reason she maintains seeing him despite Linda making it open to Cindy and Jason that their father is useless. The poor relationship between Linda and George has a direct impact on the children. This together with Linda’s behavior of yelling at the children every time has affected Cindy’s cooperation and her social life. The problems Cindy has with her mother may have contributed to her emotional outburst of crying and getting angry. This will definitely affect her academic performance. Therefore, Linda needs to create a good learning environment for the children or she loses her custody for failing to provide a standard care facilities for the children.
Valuing children's perspectives and addressing anxiety
There is need for Linda to promote childhood studies in her house. Linda can help the behavior of Jason and Cindy by giving them a chance to air their views and concerns. Parents need not to make judgments that their children’s perspectives are less valid because they are young. Parents need to value young people and ensure participation of young people and that their voices and ideas are evident in how family operate. Linda needs to give the children a chance to at least make their points clear on how they feel about their parent’s separation and how they expect their family to operate. Linda may not agree to every suggestion from the children but engaging children in such conversations may reduce their anxieties.
Exploring the context and providing support
Linda needs to recognize that Jason and Cindy exist in context. On that note, she will have the ability to explore what is happening in their environment. Thus, Linda can explore the sources of stress and offer them the support they may need. Also, Linda needs to focus on the search for meaning, freedom and responsibility, personal identity creation and establishing a good relationship with others. Linda needs to see anxiety as a condition of living. In doing so, she will influence the children’s behavior at school thus improving their performance.
The role of community health center counsellors
The focus of the community health center counsellors should reflect on the social constructionism. The counsellors need to think about Linda’s constructs and how it impacts upon her and her children. They should advice Linda on how to frame her children socially and how their perspectives are valued. Linda needs to understand how social structures such as age base schooling systems may impact the lives of her children. For example Cindy an emotionally intelligent youth who finds it easier to connect with teachers and other older people but are restricted in doing so by her mother. This affects her life and her performance in school.
Guidance and counseling for families
The family challenges that lead to separation may lead to anxiety disorders in families. Therefore, the community health centers need to implement proper mechanisms to offer guidance and counseling that will enable families prosper. Parents should ensure that they do not make their misunderstandings and differences open to their children as this can lead to emotional outburst hence affecting the children’s’ performance in school. The community health center counsellors should educate Linda on the significance of giving children an opportunity to speak their minds in the family. Also, Linda needs to understand the social status of her children and provide an ample environment for the children that will promote their success in school and their overall behavior. Functional family therapies also play an important role in solving different challenges that affect families. Therefore, the community health counsellors can advise Linda and the children on the importance of visiting such facilities.
