References Angus, L.E. & Kagan, F. (2009) Therapist empathy and client anxiety reduction in motivational interviewing “she carries with me the experience”. Journal of Clinical Psychology In Session, 65: 1156-1167. Dana, D. (2018) The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation. New York: Norton. de Shazer, S. (1988) Key to Solutions in Brief Therapy. New York: Norton. Fonagy, P. & Roth, A (2006) What Works for Whom? New York: Guilford Press. Fredman, G. (2007) Preparing ourselves for the therapeutic relationship: Revisiting ‘Hypothesizing Revisited’. Human Systems, 18: 44-59. Hedges, F (2005) An Introduction to Systemic Therapy with Individuals. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Hedges, F. (2010) Refl exivity in Therapeutic Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Keltner, D. (2012) The Compassionate Species. Retrieved from hhtp://greatergood.Berkeley. edu./article/item/the_compassionate_sespecies Minuchin, S. & Fishman, C. (1981) Family Therapy Techniques. Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press. Porges, S.W. (2017) The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling. New York: Norton. Rober, P. (1999) The therapist’s inner conversation in family therapy practice: some ideas about the self of the therapist, therapeutic impasse and the process of refl ection. Family Process, 38: 209-228. Sissay, L. (2016) Gold from the Stone. Edinburgh & London: Cannongate. Sullivan, H.S. (1966) Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry. New York: Norton. Truax, C. & Carkhuff , R. (1967) Toward Eff ective Counseling and Psychotherapy. Chicago: Aldine.


Engaging clients through re-engaging ourselves Hendrix Hammond and Derek Nasseri


When we started working together,


which coincided with our training as systemic psychotherapists, we would oſt en have refl ective conversations on systemic ideas and how, as ethnic minority men, we would take these ideas forward. Systemic language, concepts and techniques were foreign both to us and to the communities to which we belonged. For me (Hendrix), I would refl ect on


how my immediate and extended family as fi rst-generation migrants from Nigeria would have understood these concepts or even engaged in the process of therapy. I realised that these ideas for them could be perceived as too diff erent and scary. My family didn’t have a signifi cant framework to locate what it was that embarking on this process would entail. T erefore, I started to refl ect on other families from a variety of cultures where ‘therapy’ can be something that they too couldn’t understand because they don’t have the same framework. Notably, I would at empt to use clinical practices, informed by my training, which did not always fi t for the diverse families I worked with. T e tension it created for me was that


Gill is trying to be semi-retired! She has a private practice off ering supervision and therapy. Previously she worked as a consultant family therapist in both CAMHS and adult psychotherapy services. She works part-time in an eating disorder service and is a qualifi ed couple psychotherapist. Email: gillwyse@hotmail.com


Context 169, June 2020


I was trained in a way that enabled me to develop my framework about therapy and change, but I was not sure all families would see this as something that could help them. We have all heard the terms to describe these families who don’t engage in the process of change as ‘hard-to- engage’, ‘non-compliant’ or ‘resistant’. By labelling them as such, it pathologises these clients and gives the impression nothing will ever change for them. T erefore, I started to consider de Shazer’s (1984) idea of ‘morphogenesis’, whereby we acknowledge families organic ability to change, rather than just seeing them as ‘homeostatic’, closed systems. As a result, I have now shiſt ed my clinical practice by at empting to engage and be curious with families about their cultural traditions


which support healing and change, rather than just privilege western-informed therapeutic practices. I (Derek) had similar experiences


to Hendrix. I grew up in an Armenian household outside of the UK until the age of nine. We didn’t have a framework for talking about mental health or diagnosis in the same way as here in the UK. T e mediums within which we did healing were then to tackle ‘problems’ as a family through supporting each other in our relationships. T ere was a lot of support, whether it was practical or fi nancial; however I also noticed there were issues that would be leſt unaddressed, or addressed in a way that the individual might have been pathologised as having the problem. Although there were lots of positives within my culture and upbringing, there were also other things that I wanted to unpick and consider. T erefore, for us both, we had to grapple


with a number of ideas to do with what knowledge was privileged in the process of training. T e question of how to fi t in and belong in this ‘foreign’ space arose, while holding on to the idea that people bringing diff erence was signifi cant. Within bringing diff erence, I (Derek) used always to have the sense that I would need to prove my worth through working in the ways that I thought were expected, to ensure I did in fact ‘fi t’, before being able to carefully bring more of myself into the picture, in the hope of being more ‘authentic’ to the idea of who I wanted to be as well as how individuals, colleagues and families might experience me. For example, by trying to fi t the aesthetics of how a professional might talk or act, these ideas of a ‘professional’ fi t within biased perceptions of other ways of doing things (Said, 1978). T e sets of values I had from my own story don’t quite fi t with the ideas that I have gathered about what a professional is, in the same way that someone who is not familiar with the way


19


Engaging clients through re-engaging ourselves


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