Social Work with Families Midterm Paper
Family therapy includes looking at different micro-macro contexts of family life, social location and self as the therapist. Please write a 5 page paper that includes the following:
Please follow the questions listed below and describe a family experience that demonstrates your understanding of your family using family therapy concepts. After each experience please reflect on how this contextual (including social location) and familial experience might influence your role as a clinical social worker.
This is a quite personal assignment. Here is my personal information which you need to follow when answering the questions:
Female, Chinese, middle class.
Nuclear family: me, my mom, ma dad, and my younger brother (10-year-ord)
Also, in some questions below, I provide more detailed personal information, which is in green font.
IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS, PLEASE SEND ME A MESSAGE.*Please follow the Format of the assignment and write the responses under the headings listed below. REMEMBER ALL THE QUESTIONS BELOW SHOULD BE ANSWERED.
Relational influences: Please describe whom you define as your nuclear family and your family of origin and then Please choose one specific subset in the family and answer the following:
Is this a relationship that has areas of alliance/closeness? Areas of conflict/cutoff? How does the nature of this subsystem inform and organize other subsystems in the family? What is a typical cycle of interaction in this subset when trying to manage conflict? Please describe in detail the cycle of interaction.
As you reflect on this relational influence how does this influence your role as a social worker? What might you clinically pay attention to that may be a challenge and benefit in this work?
Intergenerational influences: Please describe one important legacy of earlier generations and how this legacy impacts your family in the present? Name one primary belief that organizes the family? .
As you reflect on this intergenerational influence how does this influence your role as a social worker? What might you clinically pay attention to that may be a challenge and benefit in this work?
Socio-cultural influences:
What ethnic groups, countries/nations/part of the world does your family come from?
Shanghai (city setting), China, Han (opposite to minority).
Are they part of any religious and or spiritual communities?
Christians.
Does your family participate in any religious and/or spiritual and cultural traditions?
Christian practice and some traditional Chinese festival or tradition (but not too much).
What countries did your family migrate from? Describe your family’s migration story (to the US or your country of origin) was it a planned migration? forced migration due to oppression?
They are from Shanghai, China. Then they moved to Malaysia 3 years ago. It is a planned migration because we think international schools in Malaysia can provider better quality education for my brother. However, I think it is also a forced migration somehow because international schools in China have many limitations and are very expensive to afford. Plus, our religion is oppressed in China.
What is your family’s feelings about their status in the country in which they live. What are your culture’s values regarding gender roles?
Please reflect on the ways your history may strengthen and deepen your practice in some areas and may challenge your comfort or objectivity in other areas when working with families
Life cycle events: Describe one critical life cycle event (births, losses, deaths, illness, moves/migrations, etc.) that impacted your family.
Please reflect on the ways this lifecycle event in your family strengthen and deepen your clinical practice in some areas and may challenge your comfort or objectivity in other areas.
Markers of privilege/oppression:
What is your racial identity?
How does your family racially identify?
How has your family’s social location ( race, ethnicity, social class, religion ) shaped family relationships from your perspective? What traumatic wounds have your racial and ethnic groups experienced and/or committed against other groups, and how have you and your family been affected? Describe your family’s socioeconomic class, and if applicable, how it has changed over time.
Please reflect on the ways your family’s social location influence your clinical practice. How may it strengthen and deepen your practice in some areas and challenge your comfort or objectivity in other areas when working with families?
Relevant concepts:
For family therapy concepts, please read the uploaded Lecture Slides.
References:
You need to use 5 sources in APA style. Find the sources by yourself.
Consult the uploaded APA requirement when make citations.
