Multi‐stressed families, child violence and the larger system: an adaptation of the nonviolent model

Abstract

Non Violent Resistance (NVR) aims to change family relationships, when children and young people show violent, aggressive or self‐destructive behaviour. Trauma in multi‐stressed families necessitates an adaptation of the original NVR approach in order to meet these clients' specific therapeutic needs when child violence arises. The author has developed such an adaptation. This article gives an overview of the larger system aspect of the adapted NVR model, illustrating how NVR core principles are applied to help family members develop a sense of safety within the larger system, so the nuclear family itself can become a safe and supportive recovery environment. Practitioner points By differentiating between interaction patterns, parents identify safe supporters within the larger system to help develop effective responses to harmful child behaviour Therapeutic conversation centres parents’ own formulation of their support needs, in order to regain their voice and experience personal agency Effective resistance to problem behaviour grows by engaging other adults in ways that facilitate parents’ access to internal and interpersonal resources

Non Violent Resistance parent training and adolescent substance misuse

“…Some participants also spoke of difficulties in building a supportive network outside the programme and how this limited how much of their learning they could apply. This fits with recent developments within NVR to manage the issues of multistressed families, and Jakob (2016) cites the work of Madsen (2007) in suggesting that therapists help clients identify and distinguish between safe and supportive, critical and prescriptive, and coercive relationships, and help clients to utilise the relationships that will be most helpful for them in making changes (Jakob, 2016;Madsen, 2007). Despite ongoing challenges, most interview participants felt satisfied with informal follow-up support.…”

“…Many families who present to services for help with child and adolescent behaviour problems are living in a context of multiple stressors and inter‐generational patterns of interpersonal difficulty (Jakob, ). Furthermore, child‐to‐parent intimidation and violence is becoming more widely recognised by researchers and policy‐makers (Coogan, ).…”

“…Like other programmes, NVR also recognises the need to strengthen the parent‐child relationship, and trains parents to use reconciliation gestures which also increase parental responsiveness to the needs of the young person (Jakob, ). A significant difference to other programmes is that NVR trains parents to engage their wider system and form an ongoing support network (Jakob, ).…”

Engaging a family’s support network in non‐violent resistance: the experiences of supporters

“…The evidence base for NVR is growing, with research being conducted across a widening range of populations and settings such as: youth with externalising problems, schools, inpatient units and foster parents (Attwood, Butler and Rogers, forthcoming; Golan, Shilo and Omer, ; Jakob, ; Van Holen, Vanderfaeillie and Omer, ).…”

La cronicidad en el marco de los servicios sociales: aportaciones para su discusión

“…Trabajo Social Global -Global Social Work, Vol 10, nº 18, enero-junio 2020, 94-115 tiempo, son elementos presentes generadores de un malestar profesional que puede expresarse de diferentes formas: burn out (Lázaro, 2004); furor curandis (Rodríguez, 2003); fatiga por compasión (Campos, Cardona y Cuartero, 2017); la angustia de la espera (Coletti y Linares, 1997 Si bien el término cronicidad se caracteriza por su ausencia en el contexto específico de los servicios sociales y el trabajo social, cabe destacar la presencia de otros conceptos mucho más recurrentes, para referirse a aquellos perfiles de familias que reciben una atención dilatada en el tiempo. Así, nos encontramos con: familias multiproblemáticas (Coletti y Linares, 1997); familias multiasistidas (Nieto, 1997;Reder, 1985); familias desorganizadas (Minuchin, Montalvo, Guerney, Rosman & Schumer, 1967); familias multiagencia (Minuchin, Colapinto & Minuchin, 2006); familias envueltas con múltiples instituciones (Imber-Black, 1988); familias resistentes (Forrester, McCambridge, Waissbein, Emlyn-Jones & Rollnick, 2008); familias en crisis (Rapoport, 1962); familias en situaciones de crisis crónicas (Jaque, Sandoval y Alarcón, 2019); y familias multiestresadas (Jakob, 2018).…”