mark d morin

Congratulations on your new practice.

I have seen siblings at the same time. They both knew that the other
was seeing me and the parents gave me permission to use what I learned
from one to help with the other. I've seen parent and child but not at
the same time. I still had a discussion with the parent as to the
advantages and disadvantages of me being her therapist in light of
having seen her children (some things I already knew that she may not
have disclosed right away).

It's hard to maintain confidentiality in this situation. If the child
discloses that the parent on occassion drinks too much, for example,
it's hard not to have this knowledge effect your work with the parent.
There are lots of really good reasons why two therapists would be a
good idea. There are also situations where one therapist would be
good---if it's really one issue and both need their own help in
dealing with it.

I think it's important to have the "advantages/disadvantages"
discussion up front. In the parent-child scenario, my bias was to
recommend someone else (the parent came back to me after the child
terminated).

Your last line though leads me to ask you to consider the possibility
that you need them more than they need you. An empty schedule can be a
big motivator--to what extent is this biasing your thinking? If your
practise is anything like mine was, your calendar will be full very
quickly.
================================================== ==
Ruby stepped toward him. "Edward," she said softly.
"Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It
eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon
that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is
a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.
"F****ve, Edward, F****ve. Do you remember the
lightness you felt when you first arrived in heaven?...
No one is born with anger. And when we die, the soul
is freed of it. But now, here, in order to move on,
you must understand WHY you felt what you did, and WHY
you no longer need to feel it.
"Yo need to f****ve your father."

Mitch Albom, "the five people you meet in heaven"

http://home.gwi.net/~mdmpsyd/index.htm

gene douglas

You will find both of them telling you things about the other. You will
come to disbelieve things one of them is saying, due to what the other is
saying. It will be difficult not to betray what you know, or believe, that
you have heard from the other.

Family therapy requires totally different skills from individual therapy.
If you haven't studied family therapy, you would be certain to botch it,
treating it as group therapy, or just individual therapy with more people
present. Further, past individual therapy will interfere with family
therapy, and the individuals will try swearing you to secrecy, when the
material will be very relevant to the family. Further, they will want to
tell you "their side of it" in private, wanting you not to reveal this in
the family sessions. The two modes will totally screw up the family therapy.

If you are only doing play therapy with the child, and are trained in family
therapy, possibly there would be no conflict, though individual therapy with
the mother would still create a problem. It might be more desirable to wait
until family therapy is completed to begin therapy with the mother.

-=be4u=-

Mark D Morin <mdmpsyd@NOSPAMgwi.net> delighted us to no end by
taking a lime green crayon and scribbling in
news:j09fqvghhs4f82goe7ifmtm51sgmuhcbp9@4ax.com, on the hallowed
day of Tue 04 Nov 2003 05:24:55a:

Nice .sig...I like that


--
-=Mara=-
It takes a minute to find something special in a person, an hour to
appreciate them, a day to love them, and a lifetime to forget them.

</malicious mode>
You're a nice person, Be4U. AHM wouldn't be the same without you.
<malicious mode>
~Trebor, alt.hackers.malicious, 22-Oct-03