Engaging Latino Families in Therapy: Application of the Tree of Life Technique

Could the Tree of Life Model Be a Useful Approach for UK Mental Health Contexts?

“…Cultural Applicability. All papers that used the ToL with refugees or with any participants from a non-Western culture referred to cultural applicability as a key reason for using the ToL model (German, 2013;Hughes, 2014;Jacobs, 2018;Méndez & Cole, 2014;Schweitzer et al, 2014). There was emphasis on the ToL model being able to incorporate different understandings of psychological distress that may not fit within other models of mental health care due to their Western values: "Western mental health service impose models of mental health care that do not fit [with non-Western cultures]" (Hughes, 2014, p. 141).…”

“…There was emphasis on the ToL model being able to incorporate different understandings of psychological distress that may not fit within other models of mental health care due to their Western values: "Western mental health service impose models of mental health care that do not fit [with non-Western cultures]" (Hughes, 2014, p. 141). Méndez and Cole (2014) found that using the ToL to learn about culture between therapist and client helped to improve relationships in the therapy, but also noticed that it improved engagement in other services, as families felt they were better understood by therapists. The ability of the ToL group to improve engagement in services was additionally noted in two other papers (Hughes, 2014;McFarlane & Howes, 2012): "The Tree of Life activity can be used as an important tool in gathering cultural values ... to provide culturally sensible services" (Méndez & Cole, 2014, p. 219).…”

“…Reducing Stigma and Shame. Four research and four descriptive papers highlighted the ability of the ToL model to deconstruct, challenge, or acknowledge wider societal discourses that contributed to problem narratives, such as the stigma and labels applied to people with learning disabilities or the wider systemic issues parents faced including poverty, deprivation, and past abuse or negative attitudes surrounding diabetes (Casdagli et al, 2017;German, 2013;Hughes, 2014;Jacobs, 2018;Méndez & Cole, 2014;McFarlane & Howes, 2012;Randle-Phillips et al, 2016;Schweitzer et al, 2014):"It helped me challenge some of the misconceptions" (Ibrahim & Allen, 2018, p. 7).…”

“…The ToL was also combined with other models of therapy to provide a "holistic" intervention (Butera-Prinzi et al, 2014;Ibrahim & Allen, 2018;McFarlane & Howes, 2012;Méndez & Cole, 2014). For example, in the context of a parenting intervention, the ToL was combined with traditional behavioural parenting interventions to "maintain parents' interest" and to "give an alternative voice to those who have been oppressed by dominant narratives" and create "an atmosphere of reflectiveness missing in traditional behavioural approaches" (McFarlane & Howes, 2012, pp.…”

“…The theme of experience was represented in descriptive papers through facilitator reports of participants enjoyment of the model, reflected by authors reporting on the "engaging" nature of the model and describing how much participants were talking in groups or getting involved with the group activities (Hughes, 2014;Jacobs, 2018;McFarlane & Howes, 2012;Méndez & Cole, 2014;Ncube, 2006): "All boys agreed to come back," reported Jacobs (2018, p. 289); Ncube (2006) spoke of "the enthusiasm the children were demonstrating" (p. 9).…”