| Summary: | "Many family therapists have not received basic training in clinical work with children (i.e.
child development, child psychopathology, child assessment or child therapy) and do not know
how to relate to children as individuals." (Gil, 1994, p. v) Similarly, it has been argued, that childcentered
clinicians tend to focus their energies upon providing direct and specific help to the
individual child thereby operating in a relatively narrow band. This service may then occur at the
expense of applying a wider-angled lens, one in which the family becomes the powerful force for
problem reduction and change.
This descriptive case study illuminates how an individual child, and the members of his
family, view and interpret the child's behaviour, within the context of a child-in-family therapy
approach. It examines a treatment model that posits the following supposition: that individual
issues and concerns influence and are influenced by the family system, yet each one has a separate
and distinct existence. Through this qualitative single case research study, the child and his family
were viewed as the basic phenomenological unit and a model of inclusion was applied, where the
"voice" of the child within the family dynamic was highlighted. Using, as a foundation for this
exploration, historical to current theoretical and practice trends, an in-depth description of a
multidimensional perspective for working with a young "identified" child and his family of origin,
was provided.
To frame the child's lived experience in therapy, a combined individual and family
playtherapy intervention process was employed. This served to inform, guide, and interpret the
child's contributions to his own personal development, and to the growth of his family system as a
whole. Within this context, assessment and ongoing treatment strategies were analyzed in order to
create a case study portraiture of a troubled child and the members of his family.
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