Updated 7/8/19
Enmeshment is one of four structural patterns most associated with serious emotional disturbance (SED) in children. This course describes the characteristics of enmeshment and how this interactional pattern shapes children’s development of social-emotional competencies and their response to treatment. Treatment guidelines are highlighted, as well as common clinical traps that therapists are likely to encounter when working with enmeshed relational patterns. This course is an edited version of a live workshop presented for intensive, in-home family-based therapists in February 2019.
This is an Intermediate Level course. The target audience is all behavioral health professionals working with children and adolescents.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the characteristics of enmeshed parenting and enmeshed family structure
- Identify four basic emotional competencies and how enmeshment impacts their development
- Recognize four maladaptive coping strategies enmeshed families use to minimize conflict
- Recognize signs of induction into enmeshment and identify strategies for avoiding it
- Identify strategies for pushing the conversation and increasing distress tolerance in enmeshed families
Course Outline
- Unit 1: Recognizing Enmeshment (100 minutes)
- Webinar: An Introduction to Enmeshment and Family Structure
- Webinar: The Characteristics of Enmeshed Relationships
- Webinar: Differentiating Enmeshment from Co-Dependency and Emotional Fusion
- Unit 2: ESFT Core Concepts (30 minutes)
- Webinar: ESFT Case Conceptualization
- Webinar: How Enmeshment Impacts Development of Core Emotional Competencies
- Unit 3: Four Faces of Enmeshment (90 minutes)
- Webinar: The Overly Sensitive Caregiver
- Webinar: The Anxious, Impulsive Caregiver
- Webinar: Hostile-Chaotic & Rigid Types
- Unit 4: Strengthening Family Distress Tolerance (60 minutes)
- Webinar: Pushing the Conversation: Case Study
- Webinar: Pushing the Conversation: Case Study 2
About the Presenters
Click here for information on C. Wayne Jones, PhD.
This course uses an online distance-learning self-paced format. It includes recorded audio, recorded video-based webinars, and selected readings. There are post-tests to ensure comprehension of the material. Participants can communicate with the instructors via the online moodle interface. Real-time communication with the instructor in our online, self-paced distance learning courses is not possible. However, participants can send an email to the instructor via the online moodle interface within the course and expect to receive a response within 48 hours. All course content, including post-tests, should take approximately 5.0 hours to complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Visit our Self-Paced, Online Continuing Education Policies & FAQs for additional information regarding the CFBT online learning center, accommodations for disabilities, reporting problems with the course, instructions for viewing webinars, etc.