SC25 – Engaging Parents: A Clinician’s Roadmap to Empowering Parents and Creating Change in Families
Location: Cypress C
Many clinicians know to create lasting therapeutic change in a family, they must get buy-in from the parents, but engaging parents in a therapeutic setting can be challenging. Even experienced clinicians sometimes feel they are fighting a losing battle when working with parents who are resistant. Learning to work with parents more effectively increases therapeutic success, decreases cancellations and early termination, and lays the foundation for lasting change in a family.
In this training, the presenter will focus on what it means to work effectively with resistant parents and keep them engaged during the therapeutic process. We’ll explore the role a parent plays in a family’s ability to change, successfully maintain those changes, and what strategies clinicians can use to bypass parental resistance to develop a therapeutic alliance that empowers parents and heals families.
Experiential anecdotes will also be used to showcase the importance of a parent’s role in the family system. This will demonstrate how clinicians can convey the importance of the family’s reliance on the strength of a confident parent, especially during times of increased stress and emotional upheaval. Attendees will learn strategies to engage parents, overcome therapeutic barriers, and manage common family system challenges to promote successful healing.
Educational Objectives:
- Define the process of parental identity development, parental defense mechanisms, and parent shame
- Demonstrate strategies for developing a therapeutic relationship with parents
- Identify countertransference when working with parents