Training Family Therapists to Work with Children: Competence, Relevance, and Interest Ratings in the Field of Family Therapy

Is Family Therapy Including Children?

“…The question needs to be asked: Are we neglecting children in the training and provision of family therapy? This review of the family therapy literature and Australian post‐graduate family therapy programs indicates some neglect of knowledge about child development, despite arguments that child‐sensitive therapy should be an essential component of family therapy training and practice (Ackerman, ; Raimondi & Walters, ; Rober, ; Ruble, ; Sori & Sprenkle, ). This contributes to the continued invisibility of children by not actively acknowledging their presence, rights and developmental needs, which is an ethical concern.…”

“…While family therapy attempts to understand and treat whole families (Becvar & Becvar, ; Goldenberg & Goldenberg, ), it also considers the functioning of individuals in the system (Becvar & Becvar, ; Freud, ; Nichols & Schwartz, ). In working with children and adolescents this requires some understanding of their unique emotional and psychological needs including a knowledge of child development (Raimondi & Walters, ). Some of the developmental approaches that provide a psychological and theoretical framework for working with children include: Piaget's explanation of cognitive development from birth to adulthood Erikson's categorisation of social, emotional and psychological development through the resolution of a series of psycho‐social crises Bowlby's attachment theory The child psychoanalytic theories of Anna Freud and Melanie Klein …”

“…This is compared to texts and training programs in child therapy , in terms of how much they include information about child development and working with families. Informing our research is the contention that family therapists would benefit from incorporating aspects of child development, much as child therapists would benefit from some formal training in family therapy (Ackerman, ; Raimondi & Walters, ; Rober, ; Ruble, ; Sori & Sprenkle, ).…”

Assessing Play‐Based Activities, Child Talk, and Single Session Outcome in Family Therapy with Young Children

“…Evidence shows children have not only been omitted from family therapy discourse, they have been largely left out of family sessions as well (Johnson, ; Korner & Brown, ; Ruble, ). This is because most traditional family therapy approaches are developmentally biased toward adults and adolescents, and many family therapists feel undertrained in the skills needed to work with children (Johnson & Thomas, ; Korner & Brown, ; Raimondi & Walters, ; Sori & Sprenkle, ). Consequently, MFTs tend to view child‐focused work as the realm of child‐ or play therapists rather than family therapists (Haslam & Harris, ).…”

A Filial Therapy Model Through a Family Therapy Lens

“…Numerous family therapists have identified and spoken to the lack of inclusion of children in family therapy (Botkin, 2000;Green, 1994;Johnson & Thomas, 1999;Korner & Brown, 1990;Miller & McLeod, 2001;Raimondi & Walters, 2004;Sori & Sprenkle, 2004;Zilbach, 1986Zilbach, , 1989. This issue within family therapy is surprising, given that many of the most influential family therapists, such as Ackerman (1970), Satir (1983), Whitaker (Keith & Whitaker, 1981), Minuchin (1974), and Haley (Montalvo & Haley 1973), advocated for the inclusion of children in their approaches.…”