Stepfamilies are complex family systems that warrant a specific model to guide therapy practice. Once a stepfamily has formed it's easy to overlook the lack of an attachment history that is commonly embedded in a biologically connected nuclear family. This can result in stepparents picking up parental responsibility for their stepchildren, which often may not go well. This paper highlights the need for clarity concerning the different levels of connection within a stepfamily, and the importance of avoiding ‘nuclear family‐style’ solutions and assumed attachments. This is especially important in the early stages of the relationship when everyone is adjusting to changing circumstances, which is often a time when issues of loyalty and betrayal fuel many of the actions taken. A range of family therapy techniques can be helpfully adapted to working with stepfamilies, especially as relationships with children often bring them to therapy. In particular, therapists can utilise ideas from structural family therapy to help guide the stepfamily to navigate the complexities of everyday life.
This paper introduces several theoretical constructs drawn from the work of Humberto Maturana that can be applied to a diverse range of clinical contexts, including supervision. These constructs are: love as a fundamental need of human beings; pathways of explanation: (Objectivity), Objectivity; Emotioning; Structural Coupling; Plasticity; Domains of Operational Coherences. These constructs assist in choosing a point of entry for specific clinical situations and form a foundation on which one's preferred model of practice can be built.
Book reviewed in this article: Feeling is Thinking. [Book I]. Tara Pavlidis and Wendy Bunston. Feeling is Thinking: Community Group Program. [Book II: The Therapeutic Use of Games in Groupwork] Naomi Audette and Wendy Bunston Kids' Skills: Playful and Practical Solution‐Finding With Children. Rev. and transl. by the author, Ben Furman Pictures Tell You Nothing: Mental Illness and Relationships. From Being to Doing: The Origins of the Biology of Cognition. Humberto R. Maturana & Bernhard Poerksen. From Being to Doing. The Origins of the Biology of Cognition Humberto R. Maturana/Bernhard Poerksen. Peace Begins in the Soul. Bert Hellinger The Schopenhauer Cure. Irvin D. Yalom Towards Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: International Comparisons of Child Protection, Family Service and Community Caring Systems. Ed. Nancy Freymond & Gary Cameron.
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