Case overview
When speaking of any children-parents relationship paradigm, it is of paramount importance to define the desirable outcome of psychological intervention. Considering Brent’s case, it may be outlined that the primary goal of the therapy is to improve Brent’s relationship with his father and help him become more conscious in terms of his life choices. The focus should be on communication with Brent, as once his perception of his father’s attitude is modified, the child will feel more comfortable with who he is instead of punishing himself for not being like his father. Hence, in order to achieve this result, the strategies of reality therapy and group and family therapy will be analyzed.
Reality therapy
One of the most beneficial strategies in terms of relationship counseling within a family is reality therapy. According to the researchers, reality therapy stands for the process of intervention during which the patient is focused on real-time feelings and actions rather than past events (Wubbolding, 2017). Hence, in order to introduce this strategy to Brent, it is necessary to initiate a conversation about his relationship with his father and emphasize his real-time feelings and precedents that make him feel uncomfortable. As a result, Brent will draw attention to the issues that make him self-conscious apart from his father’s influence. In the long-term perspective, the patient will deal with his inner psychological problems and choices he makes, and the attitude of his dad would not have such a severe impact on Brent’s life decisions and confidence. Moreover, he would be able to communicate with his father without being affected by the pressure, thus, eliminating the need for conflict.
Family therapy
Another strategy that may be beneficial in the context is a group of family therapy. Scholars define family therapy as a process of cooperation with family members in order to change and develop their behavioral patterns through open communication and interaction (Rober, 2017). Hence, in Brent’s situation, a strategy should be implemented after a series of individual sessions because, after a year of constant conflicts, the kid may be unwilling to work on his feelings together with his father. Still, such intervention would be extremely beneficial in terms of helping the father understands the emotional well-being of his child and the amount of pressure Brent feels from his father’s aggressive mentorship. In the long-term scenario, Brent and his father would be capable of sharing their thoughts on communication under the guidance of a specialist able to interpret these feelings to both of them.
Lack of engagement scenario
Unquestionably, there is a chance that both of these strategies would seem inappropriate to Brent, as he is still not ready to have closure about his feelings and relationship with his father. Hence, in such a case, it would be necessary to take a step back and make sure that Brent understands the goal of counseling and how therapy works in the long-term. For example, some techniques as social media profile sharing or breathing room may be used before talking about the central issue (Bennett et al., 2017). By opening up gradually, Brent will eventually trust the therapist enough to follow the counseling scenario he or she prepared for him in order to address his relationship with his father and self-consciousness.
References
Bennett, E. D., Le, K., Lindahl, K., Wharton, S., & Mak, T. W. (2017). Five out of the box techniques for encouraging teenagers to engage in counseling. Web.
Rober, P. (2017). In therapy together: Family therapy as a dialogue. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Wubbolding, R. (2017). Counseling with reality therapy. Taylor & Francis.