Solution-Focused Narrative Therapy with a Mother and Daughter

In this course, Diane Chung works in a family session featuring a mother-daughter. Patricia is a bi-lingual 35 year old 1st generation Mexican-American. Her daughter Jessica was born in Mexico and immigrated with Patricia at 1 year of age. Patricia and her husband Jose subscribe to traditional values such as family unity, collectivism, and respect towards adults. Jessica is often left in charge of caring for younger siblings while her mother and step-father work long hours to provide for the 4 children in the blended family. In addition, Jessica helps to serve as linguistic and cultural broker for the parents at times. Jessica feels overwhelmed with the tasks and pressures asked of her. Her grades have been decreasing in the past semester, as conflict in the home has increased. She has been skipping school and has been missing out on class time. Her mother is concerned about her irritability and short patience with family members, isolation from the family, and anger outbursts with siblings and adults. Patricia tends to minimise the pressures placed on Jessica. She is suspicious of her daughter's activities with friends and frequently checks on her and prevents her from going out because of her own fears. Patricia feels distressed in disciplining her daughter and resorts to yelling and threats of physical discipline. The family entered therapy via a referral from the daughter's school counselor for spotty attendance, a drop in grades, and a comment made in passing that “nobody gets me”. Diana Chung uses a Strength-Based, Narrative, and Solution-Focused orientation in this session. The family comes in with much tension following an incident over the weekend and Diana uses open-ended questions, unconditional positive regard, and reflective listening to create a calm environment. Diana also uses externalising language throughout the session to reinforce the idea that problems are separate from the people. She asks how Suspicion and Fear fit into how they see their relationship and Patricia and Jessica explore their preferred identities. At the end of the session, Diana helps to facilitate guidelines to maintain more consistent connection and availability between mother and daughter.