The first text to look in detail at the delivery and management of therapeutic work in family centres, this much-needed book gives practical guidance for professionals working with children and families. The contributors show how family centres form a key element of 'joined-up' work with families in need, providiing both practical and emotional support for parents as well as children. Based on a psychodynamic approach emphasising the central importance of attachment in relationships, the book also applies systemic ideas and the 'therapeutic community' approach to the overall design and management of the centres. Particular examples of therapeutic interventions discussed include play therapy with children, systemic work with black families, working with men, and early intervention. The book is a comprehensive guide for family centre workers, their managers and senior managers, and for all social workers working with children and families. As family centres are becoming an increasing focus for multi-agency work, health visitors, teachers, and mental health prtofessionals should also find the book useful, as should policy makers at all levels.
(r)MDNMIntroduction, Linnet McMahon, University of Reading and Adrian Ward, University of East Anglia. Part 1. 1. Theory for practice in therapeutic family centres, Adrian Ward, University of East Anglia 2. Understanding parent-child relationships: Attachment and the inner world, Linnet McMahon, University of Reading. 3. Assessment and implications for intervention using an attachment perspective, Steve Farnfield, University of Reading. 4. Working therapeutically with children and parents in family centres, Linnet McMahon, University of Reading and Viv Dacre, formerly of Castlefield Family Centre. Part 2. 5. Therapeutic work, play and play therapy with children in family centres, Linnet McMahon, with case studies by Rosemary Lilley, Greenbam House Family Units, and Denise Ledger. 6. A systemic approach to working with black families: Experiences in family service units, Yvonne Bailey Smith, Queen's Park Family Service Units. 7. Working with men in family centres, Paul Collett, Guardian ad Litem. 8. 'Holding' as a way of enabling change in a statutory family centre, Sarah Musgrave, Gladstone Street Children's Resource Centre. 9. A family centre approach to early therapeutic intervention for young children and their families, Denise Ledger, Family Services Manager. 10. Developing and auditing a local family centre feeding to thrive service, Anton Green, Penn Crescent Family Centre, Anne Kyle, Health Visitor and Madeleine St Clair, Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath. 11. Management issues in creating a therapeutic environment, Christine Stones, New Fulford Family Centre. 12. Managing the impact of anxiety on the primary task of a family centre, Rosemary Lilley, Greenbam House Family Centre. Part 3. 13. Soft structuring: the NEWPIN way of delivering empowerment, Anne Jenkins Hansen, NEWPIN. Part 4. 14. Transfer of learning: Reflections on a student placement in a family centre, Laraine Beavis, Paediatric Social Worker. Conclusion, Adrian Ward, University of East Anglia and Linnet McMahon, University of Reading. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.
This book looks in detail at the delivery and management of therapeutic work in family centres. It offers practical guidance for professionals working with children and families. Therapeutic interventions discussed include play therapy with children, systemic work with black families and working with men. It would be of interest not only to family centre workers who work with children and families, but also to health visitors, teachers and mental health professionals.
