Saturday Breakout 3 

Option 3

Katherine White

Presentation: 

Family therapy often grapples with complex relational dynamics, including ways that individuals are intertwined that are challenging to articulate. All family therapists are taught elements of using diagrams to help assess systemic work, but do they find them useful in their day-to-day therapeutic work? 
Joseph et al (2022) highlighted the effectiveness of genograms in different therapeutic settings and in his work, Kerr (2019) emphasises how useful diagraming process has been for both clinician and client. This proposal explores the use of diagrams as a tool to enhance both therapist and client understanding about relational process and to inform intervention strategies in family therapy. Diagrams, ranging from genograms to interaction maps, can visually represent the family's structure, interactions, and histories. These visual aids help facilitate curiosity by clinician and client. 
By incorporating diagrams into sessions, therapists can guide families in mapping out intergenerational patterns, as well as identifying and visualizing relational patterns in the here and now. Diagrams also have a role in serving as dynamic tools to view relationship interactions as the client or clients adjust over time through therapy. This proposal outlines several specific types of diagrams. Through the implementation of diagrams in the therapeutic session, individuals and families can be empowered to take an active role in understanding and transforming their dynamics.

Bio: 

Katherine White is a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist-SQ and a Registered Clinical Counsellor-ACS in Vancouver, BC. She has been working clinically with individuals, couples, and families for over 20 years in the USA, Australia, and Canada. Katherine is the current BC Branch President of CACFT. She is the Executive Director and member of the faculty at Living Systems, an organization which provides counselling, education and training Bowen Family Systems Theory. Katherine believes in the importance of having more systems thinking in our world to explore the complexity in which we all currently live.