Constructivism - Collaborative Language Systems Flashcards
Who developed Collaborative Language Systems?
- Harlene Anderson - founded Galveston Family Institute
- Harry (Harold) Goolishan - founded Galveston Family Institute
- Tom Andersen - Norway - invented the reflecting team, 1987 - Milan-derived
– Influenced by Bateson - Lynn Hoffman - social worker
- Ken Gergen
- Sheila McNamee
- John Shotter - UNH
- Peggy Penn - developed unique approaches to using writing
In the 1970’s-1980’s
What influenced the development of Collaborative Language Systems?
- Postmodernism
- Social Constructivism
- Rogerian theory (a focus of Harlene Anderson) highlighting the importance of the therapeutic relationship
What is another name for Collaborative Language Systems?
Collaborative therapy
What is the Collaborative Language Systems approach to therapy known for?
A collaborative relationship between therapist and client.
- Encourages therapists to help the client find solutions through a mutual, rather than hierarchical, relationship between the therapist and the client.
- The relationship involves mutual understanding and respect for the client’s situation.
- The client works through clinical problems in dialogue with the therapist
What are some assumptions of Collaborative Family Systems therapy?
- The client’s subjective views of reality are socially constructed & maintained via dialog, emerging as narrative reality
- Client’s view is what is important, more so than the structure or role of the family as a social system.
- The client is the expert on their own life.
- Knowledge is fluid, and multiple realities exist - no one family member’s view is “correct”
-Problems are maintained in language by a problem-determined system.
-The view of the problem hampers any successful means of resolution
-Non-pathologizing perspective
-Philosophical stance
-Postmodern theory
-Socially constructed knowledge
-Problem-determined system
-Problem-organizing, problem-dis-solving system
-Stuck system
How is assessment done in Collaborative Language Systems therapy?
- Co-constructed by therapist & client system thru “shared inquiry”.
- Focus on what client system presents.
- Conversational questions are utilized.
Key concepts in Collaborative Therapy
- Conversational Partners
- Client is Expert on their life - help client get this!
- Multiple Realities
- “Not Knowing” - therapist open to question & change
- Transparency about therapist’s experience
- Therapist only offers ideas in service of dialog & connection
- Uncertainty; taking chances
- “Everyday Ordinary Life” - therapy like a regular relationship
- Mutual Transformation
These philosophies attempt to ensure, while working in tandem, the relationship between client and therapist grows in a mutually inclusive way, expounding upon the knowledge and understanding of situations by placing both the parties on the same level, providing the client the ability to share and explore their understanding openly and freely while setting and meeting their goals for therapy based on the end points they set for themselves.
What is “Not Knowing” in Collaborative Therapy?
The therapist is not an expert, and open to change & input. A co-explorer.
What are some methods and interventions in Collaborative Language Systems therapy?
- Have dialogical conversations
- Use conversational questions
- A “not knowing” approach
- A Reflecting team
(Tom Anderson) - Shared inquiry
- Look for reasons problems exist and how the system is stuck
- Call attention to languaging
How does change happen in Collaborative Language Systems?
-Generate new meaning about the problem.
-Clients take new actions to resolve the problem.
What is the therapist’s role in Collaborative Language Systems therapy?
An active listener and co-creator. The therapist seeks to see from the perspective of the client by asking questions.
The therapist does NOT impose their own interpretation of the client’s experience.
What is the stance of the therapist in Collaborative Language Systems therapy?
-Multipartial
-Not knowing
-Honors the client’s reality
-Listener
-Responsive
-Compassionate
-Egalitarian partnership
-Co-explorer
What is the goal of Collaborative Language Systems therapy?
The goal is to create change and growth for both the client and the therapist.
Goal: “Overcome the problem system as a result of the evolution of new meaning, through the narratives and stories
created in therapeutic dialogue.”
Meaningful conversations are the catalyst for this change.
When problem is “dissolved” so are the systems around which it was organized.
What is Collaborative Language Therapy good for?
- It can help people with anxiety, depression, marital issues, and child behavior issues
- It can also help children, families, and couples develop more awareness about the causes and triggers for issues in their lives and learn effective coping mechanisms.
- it can increase the client’s level of self-efficacy
- It can improve coping skills and increase trigger awareness
- It can improve decision-making capabilities
- It can help clients gain a better understanding of the root causes of their current deficits
What are stages of Collaborative Language Systems? When does termination occur?
-Therapy is not thought of in stages but as a continuous process.
-Focus on language & interaction.
-It is a dialog with collaboration: exchanging & discussing ideas, feelings, etc. to co-create stories
- No set timeline – session-by-session basis
-Termination is mutually & collaboratively determined.
