Treatment Plan for the Family Members in the Film "The Kids are Alright"

Introduction

The model that will be focused on in this paper is structural family therapy. In this film, I am going to analyze a family that is comprised of a lesbian couple who had two kids, Laser and Joni. Both kids did not know their biological father and this issue affected their development, specifically Laser. He is determined to find out about his biological father to the extent that he involves Joni in his situation. Eventually, Joni ends up finding their father, Paul, but Laser does not get along with him compared to Joni. Family problems start to arise when their parents find out about the desire of their kids to discover their biological father. They consider it to be unnecessary because they were offering them enough love. Other issues that can be found within this family is the challenge facing the relationship of the two parents, Nic and Jules. Jules feels that Nic is cheating on her and this tends to raise misunderstandings within the family. She also feels that Jules spends much of her time drinking and this forces her to neglect her family. At this point, Jules is in a state of despair and she gets consolation from Paul. She ends up cheating on Nic with Paul and this leads to more complications within the family. Involvement of Paul into the family led to the biggest problem faced by the family sine the parents of the kids were not understanding one another and the kids also wanted to spend time with their biological father. Nic ends up discovering the relationship between Paul and Jules and this results in more conflict between the two parents. The kids also found out about the affair between Paul and Jules and they also blamed Paul for the entire misunderstanding. Paul felt that he could seek forgiveness by talking to Joni since the relationship between the two was better compared to the rest of the family members. However, Nic tells Paul to leave her family alone and start his own family since their lives were better without him in it. To restore the original state of the family, intervention must be carried out in this case and structural therapy is the best model that can be used to make such an intervention.

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Boundaries

Below are the boundaries that are being tested in this case:

• Parents- in this family, parents are being tested whether they can sustain their family. They are required to control the desires of their parents especially their urge to find out about their biological father.
• Biological father - this boundary is being tested through all family members. Laser has the desire to discover about the identity of his biological father. He involves his sister in his desire. Jules ends up cheating on Nic with Paul who is the biological father of their kids. Nic is forced to caution Paul to leave their family alone.
• Nic and Jules- the two are forced to confront their daughter about her drinking behavior since it could harm her, especially while driving. Joni feels that her freedom is being limited by her parents and she decides to disrespect them.

Subsystems

In this family, Nic is responsible for setting the rules especially for the kids to follow. She is viewed as the head of the family. She is the subsystem of the family that earns a good income and has the power to control the state of her family.

Jules is a subsystem of the structural therapy model that is part of parenting in the family though she is not very strict with her kids compared to Nic. The difference between their parenting skills leads to the rise of conflict between the two parents.

Nic feels that he is always treated like a small child in the family and this makes her dislike her parents. She feels that her freedom is limited by the actions of her parents and this represents a subsystem of kids that do not like to follow their parents' instructions.

Hierarchy

Initially, the hierarchy of the family is very clear. Nic is the head of the family. Jules is the partner of Nic and she was involved in the parenting role of the family. They had two kids, Laser, and Joni. Nic and Jules are lesbians and as a result, they had to get a sperm donor. Paul was the biological parent of the two kids. Issues arise in the family mainly because of Paul. He develops the desire of having a relationship with his kids and ends up having an affair with Jules. The kids feel betrayed by the actions of their biological father. However, Jules is strong enough to end her relationship with Paul.

Strengths

Sticking together- the family members, in this case, are able to stick together during challenging times and this makes their family strong. Supporting one another is essential in a family especially when its facing challenges.

Open mind- all family members, in this case, have an open mind. This allows them to reason appropriately. They are also able to provide each other with a chance to speak especially when they are arguing about something.

Nic is a good leader in the family especially because she is an understanding woman.

Jules likes to get space especially after getting into an argument and this allows her to think appropriately.

Treatment Plan

Using the structural family model, the first step required in this case is a proper intervention (Colapinto, 2015). The best intervention that can be applied in this case is therapeutic (Colapinto, 2015). This is a form of intercession that will allow all family members to be in good terms (Falloon, 2015). Building an alliance with one another will allow the members of this family to be more united and as a result, they will be able to overcome the challenge facing them easily (Falloon, 2015). Therapeutic intervention will also allow me to know the family member well and it will ensure them that the hierarchy of the family will not be affected at any cost (Minuchin, 1985). Building an assurance to the clients of any intervention program is important since it provides information that obtaining peace is the only intention of the therapist (Falloon, 2015). The best way to start a treatment plan is by involving all members of the family on the issue that is affecting the family. This involvement develops awareness among such members and therapeutic intervention provides this opportunity. In his case, family dynamics can be restored using this form of intervention. However, such dynamics must be observed keenly since reconstruction must be carried out. After obtaining information about the parties involved, its important to watch the watch them carefully and determine the cause of the family problems facing the household. This will provide me with all the information that I need to come up with the best treatment plan procedure. The most important thing to understand in structural family therapy is that the family members should be offered with the chance to solve the issue by themselves since this allows them to be more united. As a therapist, I should, therefore, understand the fact that I'm not the problem solver in this case. Rather, I should act as a guide to the parties and allow them to solve the problem themselves. Its therefore clear that I should act as a consultant and I should provide guidance to all family member on how they should behave to take care of the issue facing the family.

First Stage of the treatment plan

Reconstructing the boundaries of the family members:

• The relationship between the two parents must be improved. Both Nic and Jules should improve the way they communicate with one another. They should share their problems to avoid future misunderstandings.
• Joni should understand that her parents are worried about her wellbeing. This should allow her to be more responsible and respect the decisions of her parents.
• Laser should be more responsible especially on the relationship with his sister. He should not take advantage of her to get to his biological father since this was one of the causes of misunderstandings in the family.
• Nic should understand that she is the leader of the family and should, therefore, act accordingly. She should, therefore, quit the behavior of drinking for her to be a good parent and role model.
• Paul should allow the family members to make the decision of whether to welcome him into the family on their own rather than trying to force his way into the household.

In this stage, its clear that the issues of the family have been identified. We should, therefore, come up with the best way to restructure the family through appropriate communication and provide each member of the family with the chance to express his or her feelings. This will allow them to understand the challenges facing the family and agree to support the efforts of the therapist to restore understanding within the household (Tuttle et al., 2012).

Best assessment tactics

• Setting up meetings between the Jules, Nic, Laser, and Joni.
• Setting up meetings between Paul, Laser, and Joni.
• Setting up meetings with the family members and Paul who is the biological father.
• Setting up meetings between Jules, Nic, and Paul.

These sessions will be effective in that they will allow the family members to be more united. Having such meetings tends to change the way of thinking and it allows the parties involved to view things from a different perspective (Gurman & Kniskern, 2014). Boundaries can also be reinforced through such meetings (Gurman & Kniskern, 2014). Laser, Joni, and Paul can be able to improve their relationship without affecting Nic and Jules. This is because they can be able to understand the limits of their relationship to avoid affecting the rest of the family members. Conflict before the family members can, therefore, be resolved through constant sessions between the parties (Gurman & Kniskern, 2014).

Understanding the thoughts of each client and their goals

Thoughts of all parties involved in the family should be considered.

All members should agree to support the treatment plan that is being engaged in this case. this makes the plan more effective.

The goals of each party concerning the state of the family should be addressed. All members of the family should be encouraged to respect the goals of other parties.

Respect is an important factor that determines the state of a family (Gehart, 2014). When the goals of a family member are respected, he or she develops a feeling of support (Gehart, 2014). This allows such members to be united especially during challenging times. Clients should be encouraged to avoid giving up especially while trying to understand the goals and thoughts of one another (Tuttle et al., 2012).

Providing the option of seeking referrals

As a therapist, I would offer the option of seeking more referrals especially in a case where I'm not able to offer the required help.

I can also provide resources that can be used to help the family members achieve the required assistance to solve the issues within the family. Resources such as websites that deals with providing therapy to families can be used to reconstruct the state of the family.

I can also provide the family members with contacts that can be used to provide external sessions apart from the ones that we hold with the family members.

Financial stability of the family must be good for the treatment plan to be effective (Gehart, 2014). This is because structural family therapy requires the use of capital, especially in treatment programs. Providing referrals and other resources requires the family members to spend capital for them to come up with appropriate solutions (Gehart, 2014).

Conclusion

The model used in this paper is efficient in solving family problems especially between spouses, parents and their children. It allows all family members to understand the cause of the issues facing them and this offers them a chance to reconstruct the sta...