DClinPsy Portfolio Volume 1 of 3 - University of Hertfordshire ...

Furthermore connections’ in relationships i.e. how what one person does has an effect on
other people in the system, was thought to help with “working with” clients rather than
“on them”. This was a significant advance in terms of shifting the problem away from the
individual and fitted much more with the political rhetoric of normalisation.
The second order cybernetics focused on how therapists constructed the world through
their own personal and therefore subjective view and on collaboration, curiosity about
multiple perspectives, and attention to differential power, choice and competence. These
concepts are central to inclusion, empowerment, engagement and person-centred practice
relevant to most recent government papers such as ‘Valuing People’ (Department of
Health, 2001). As many relevant people from the clients’ network of concern as possible,
are included in the reflective process whereby everyone is the expert and all their
contributions are important in finding a way to go on. The focus on competences can be
maintained using a narrative approach offering an antidote to the labelling, diagnosing
and stigmatising way that problems have been located inside the person, consequently
overshadowing or obscuring their abilities (Fredman, 2004).
Issues important to systemic work include the transitions in the family life-cycle that are
seen in all families including those with learning disability such as the birth of a child,
going to school, leaving home, family illness and death; transitions that may be out of
synchrony in families with a learning disabled member may include a much later move
out of the family home than what would take place with a non learning disabled person
(Goldberg, Magrill, Damaskindou, Paul and Tham, 1995). Other issues that can be
worked with systemically include grief and loss which can be bought up by life events,
unresolved issues in the parents for the “perfect child who has not arrived” (Bicknell,
1983 p168) or when the perceived loss of an ordinary life can effect the parents response
to the child with learning disability. Parents may be over-protective or the person with
learning disability may want to protect their parents from the consequences of their old
age. Often families seek professional help when this protection is failing or is
counterproductive (Goldberg et al 1995). This life-cycle framework (Carter and
McGoldick, 1989), may aid the understanding of different families’ potential stressors,
their crisis points and their reactions and needs at a particular point.
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