Now showing 1 - 10 of 40
  • Publication
    Jay Haley's Invited address to the World Congress on Behaviour Therapy, Washington DC, 1983
    (Family Therapy Association of Ireland, 1984)
    "Changes to a more sensible therapy" was the title of the paper Jay Haley presented to the 1983 World Congress on Behaviour Therapy. Haley began by pointing out that the idea of training mental health professionals to talk to patients, to change the patients' behaviour is relatively new. While the notion of healing by talking has been known to religious groups since early in our history, only recently has the phenomenon been subject to secular scrutiny.
      141
  • Publication
    Thematic review of family therapy journals in 2013
    (Wiley, 2014-11)
    In this article the contents of the principal English-language family therapy journals and key family therapy articles published in other journals in 2013 are reviewed under these headings: models of family therapy, developments in family therapy practice, couple therapy, training, diversity, international developments, research and DSM-5.
      411Scopus© Citations 1
  • Publication
    A study of the differential effects of Tomm's questioning styles on therapeutic alliance
    (Edwin Mellen Press, 2001) ;
    This study examined the impact of Tomm’s (1988) four questioning styles on the therapeutic alliance in family therapy using an analogue method devised by Dozier in which families viewed videotaped scenes from simulated family therapy sessions portraying each of Tomm’s questioning styles and rated the alliance between the therapist and family.
      892
  • Publication
    The development of family therapy in Ireland
    (Springer, 2013-06)
    In Ireland family therapy is a small profession, with under 200 registered therapists. The Irish family therapy movement began in the mid-1970s. By 1980 the Family Therapy Network of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Branch of the UK Association Family therapy had been founded. At present there are three main family therapy training centers in Ireland: two in the south (the Mater University Hospital, affiliated to University College Dublin and Clanwilliam Institute) and one in the north (at Queen’s University Belfast). There is no statutory registration and licensing of family therapists in Ireland. Accredited professional family therapy programs in Ireland are 4-year part-time courses culminating in masters level qualifications. A primary degree in medicine, nursing, psychology, social science or education is a prerequisite for entry. Family therapists in Ireland work in both private practice and the public health service. Most family therapists in the public sector are employed as social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists or nurses, and conduct family therapy as part of their broader professional roles. Couple therapy in Ireland is provided by family therapists, and also by voluntary couple counselors based in networks of local centers, some of which were originally religiously affiliated, without a formal connection to national family therapy associations. The three major future challenges for Irish family therapy are creating a research infrastructure, developing a career structure in the public health service, and introducing statutory registration.
    Scopus© Citations 5  1644
  • Publication
    Audit and family systems consultation: evaluation of practice at a child and family centre
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 1994-05)
    This audit of practice at a child and family centre included a 16-month case note review covering 319 cases, a postal survey of 45 families and an interview survey of ten GPs who typically referred cases to the centre. The audit furnished information from three different perspectives on the referral process, the consultation process, and outcome for clients attending the centre. The referral rate was about one new case per day and peak referral times were the beginning of the autumn and winter school terms. Almost half the referrals came from GPs; the remainder were largely from Paediatrics, Education and Social Services. Most clients were seen within two months. Half of the families referred had serious psychosocial difficulties including multiple problem members, multi-problem children, multi-agency involvement, psycho-educational difficulties, child protection problems or child placement difficulties. The majority of cases received six hours of consultation. Families where child abuse had occurred or families containing a multi-problem adolescent received a more intensive service. Between a half and three-quarters of cases had positive outcomes as rated by staff and parents. The service was viewed by GPs to be highly satisfactory. On the negative side, many parents felt ill-prepared for the consultation process and most children did not enjoy the experience.
    Scopus© Citations 16  357
  • Publication
    Positive practice in family therapy
    (Wiley, 1997-07)
    Positive practice, a brief integrative approach to consultation with families, is described in this paper. A clear distinction is made between the stages of planning, assessment, therapy, and disengagement. Guidelines for progression from one stage to the next are provided. Frameworks for deciding who to invite to preliminary sessions and methods for planning and organizing lines of inquiry are incorporated into this approach to practice. A three-column model is used to construct formulations. The model allows therapists and clients to map information about the pattern of interaction around the presenting problem, beliefs that constrain family members from altering their roles in these problem-maintaining patterns, and factors that have predisposed family members to hold these beliefs. Positive practice offers methods for evolving new behavioral patterns and belief systems within sessions and for arranging homework tasks for clients between sessions. It also incorporates methods for dealing with resistance, for managing therapeutic crises, for convening individual sessions and broader network meetings, for disengaging from the consultation process, and for recontracting for further episodes of therapy. This evolving approach to practice draws on ideas from many traditions within the family therapy field and takes account of recent research relevant to the practice of family therapy.
    Scopus© Citations 14  591
  • Publication
    The inclusion of fathers in family therapy: A research based perspective
    (Springer Verlag, 1998-09)
    This paper summarizes the results of research on the role of fathers in families and family therapy with particular reference to preparation for fatherhood, father involvement in family life as a protective factor, fathers' deviant behaviour as a risk factor, fathers' communication and coping styles, fatherhood and different types of marriages, and the effects of the workplace on fathers' behaviour within the family. Available research suggests that, with respect to problem formation, the behaviour of fathers may serve as either a risk factor or as a protective factor. With respect to problem resolution, fathers may be a powerful therapeutic resource or seriously compromise effectiveness of family therapy. The implications of research for clinical practice are discussed.
      578Scopus© Citations 27
  • Publication
    Putting families first: An evaluation of Functional Family Therapy in an Irish context
    (Archways Families First, 2014-11) ; ; ;
    Current evidence suggests that up to 20% of Irish adolescents have significant behavioural problems, a figure consistent with results of epidemiological studies of youth mental health problems in other countries.Functional Family Therapy (FFT) has consistently been identified in authoritative international reviews as a family-therapy programme for treating adolescents at risk for juvenile delinquency with a particularly strong evidence-base including many controlled trials, and a well developed training and monitoring system for implementing FFT in new community-based sites.Between 2010 and 2014, a research programme to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of FFT at Archways Families First was conducted by a research team at University College Dublin, in collaboration with Indiana University, and the team of FFT therapists at Archways Families First. The results of this programme, described in this summary report, provide strong support for the effectiveness of FFT as practiced at Archways Families First in reducing behaviour problems and the risk of juvenile delinquency.
      500
  • Publication
    Karl Tomm's approach to systemic practice
    (Edwin Mellen Press, 2001)
    Karl Tomm occupies a pivotal position in the evolution of systemic family therapy. He played an important role in bringing the work of the original Milan systemic family therapy team to the attention of family therapists in North America, the UK and Ireland. He then went on to extend and elaborate their work and also to integrate work from the narrative therapy tradition into systemic family therapy. The account of some aspects of his work presented in this chapter are based on a presentation he made over two days at the Mater Hospital in Dublin in April 1997. The presentation and this account of Karl Tomm’s work clusters around four central themes.
      3258
  • Publication
    History of family therapy in Ireland. 1. A bird's-eye view
    (Family Therapy Association of Ireland, 2013-01)
    This paper presents an overview of the history of family therapy in Ireland. Profiles of key figures in the development of family therapy in Ireland are contained in a companion paper. In Ireland family therapy is a small profession, with under 200 registered therapists. The Irish family therapy movement began in the mid-1970s. By 1980 the Family Therapy Network of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Branch of the UK Association Family therapy had been founded. At present there are three main family therapy training centres in Ireland: two in the south (the Mater Hospital, affiliated to University College Dublin and Clanwilliam Institute) and one in the north (at Queen’s University Belfast). These centres run professional family therapy training programmes accredited by national and European psychotherapy associations, with which family therapists register. Accredited professional family therapy programmes in Ireland are 4-year part-time courses culminating in masters level qualifications. A primary degree in medicine, nursing, psychology, social science or education is a prerequisite for entry. The curriculum includes academic tuition and research, clinical practice, and personal development. Family therapists in Ireland work in both private practice and the public health service. Most family therapists in the public sector are employed as social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists or nurses, and conduct family therapy as part of their broader professional roles. Couple therapy in Ireland is provided by family therapists, and also by voluntary couple counsellors based in networks of local centres, some of which were established by religiously affiliated organizations, without a formal connection to national family therapy associations. The three major future challenges for Irish family therapy are creating a research infrastructure, developing a career structure in the public health service, and introducing statutory registration.
      1273