Family Therapy theme

Therapeutic documents can serve as lasting records of the skills and knowledges that have helped people through hard times. When shared, they can foster community and solidarity by challenging limiting narratives and making space for counter-narratives to be seen, heard and celebrated. This practice story describes the creation of a therapeutic document in the form of a short animation, which was developed through narrative therapy sessions with Felicity, an Autistic woman and parent of two Autistic daughters. It shows how an apparently small moment can contain “bits of brilliance” that can become the basis of a significant counter-story.

This paper shares a story of practice with a family who initially came to counselling because the 17-year-old son was suicidal. Our work came to focus on the family as a whole and their process of coming back together after being separated for some years in response to the father’s drug use. We developed a new understanding of the mother’s decision to ask the father to leave the family home as an act of bravery that had contributed to the wellbeing of all involved. Through identifying individual and collective wonderfulnesses, the family members developed a new shared identity in which bravery, resilience and calm could provide a foundation for responding to current and future life challenges.

This paper shares a tender story from the Stanikzai family, a family from Afghanistan who now live in Australia. It is generously offered in the hope that this it may assist other mothers and families who are silently grieving in their homes and who we can’t expect to bring their suffering to professional counselling offices. This paper tells the story of Ziba Stanikzai, who was very much suffering after one of her sons, Ajmal, was killed in Afghanistan. This paper is an honouring Ajmal’s life and memory. It is told through the perspectives of each of the authors. It begins with the words of Ajmal’s older brother Dr Abdul. Later you will read a series of letters linking the Stanikzai family with many others. These letters weave together storylines of loss, love and memory. They also represent a nuanced form of narrative family therapy and convey how this was a culturally and spiritually resonant response to suffering.