Using Structural Maps to Guide Treatment and Improve Outcomes

CE Hours: 6.0
Instructors: Joshua Irvine, MA, LPC, C. Wayne Jones, PhD

Thursday, January 17, 2019, PA Counseling Services, Lebanon, PA with Joshua Irvine, MA, LPC

Friday, March 1, 2019, Philhaven, Mount Gretna, PA with C. Wayne Jones, PhD

8:30am to 3:30pm

Family structure refers to the way family members organize their relationships with respect to boundaries, close-distance, and power. Fundamental to ESFT is the idea that understanding children’s presenting problems and the resolution of these problems hinges on the therapists’
ability to accurately identify the family’s structure. Although therapists attending this training are likely to be well-versed in the basics of structural mapping, too often this important tool is under-utilized in treatment. Without a well-developed structural map, treatment focus can become diffuse and negatively affect outcomes. This workshop reviews the basics of structural mapping, demonstrates how they are translated into intervention, and how they can be used to maintain a laser focus in each session. This workshop is interactive and experiential, providing therapists with opportunities to finetune their mapping skills as well as utilize them more effectively to guide intervention. Particular focus is given to increasing awareness of the roles the treatment team plays in the family by including themselves into renderings of  the structural map.

Objectives:
As a result of attending this training, participants will:

1. Review basic constructs of family structure – closeness-distance, boundaries and power dynamics.
2. Identify symbols that can be used to map family structure and capture intensity and directionality of involvement
3. Practice constructing structural maps of the family in response to viewing videos of family interaction.
4. Explain the relationship between structural mapping and the negative interactional cycle (NIC)
5. Practice constructing structural maps of the family-therapist team relationship in response to viewing videos of family therapy sessions
6. Practice translating structural maps into treatment goals.

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