A child is at a disadvantage in many ways when the family unit is not strong. When the family is in turmoil, the child is affected. Others around may not be aware that the child’s emotional, social and physical development is in crisis. Not knowing what to do or ignoring childhood crisis situations can set the stage for long term under achievement, self esteem issues and possible future tragedy.
Family Engagement
We engage the family as a unit to discover the “who, what, when where and how.” By assessing individual family member history, heritage and experiences, we are able to identify and correlate past successes and disappointments to present issues. The chronology of individual events is necessary to understand the nature and extent of the condition of the entire family unit.
- Family history
- Cause, nature and extent
- Family perception
- Required changes
- Reunification of the unit
Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.
— David Ogden Stiers
It is human nature to sometimes deny there is a problem resulting from negative family interaction and maltreatment of family members toward each other. However after carefully assessing the child’s behavior and emotional condition and comparing it to other children of the same age, we can often determine the effects of the maltreatment.
We work to create rapport with families in order to reduce resistance to the realization that help is needed. Our job is to involve family members to reach a mutual understanding of the issues that have been identified and possible consequences if these issues are not addressed. Our goal is to develop and deliver a list of strategies designed (specifically for the subject family) to motivate and correct problematic behaviors and conditions. This is an important part of what we do.