How to Lead A Systemic Conversation About A Child's Diagnosis, in Family Therapy

February 27, 2018 Ili Rivera Walter, PhD, LMFT

Therapy involving children will often lead to conversations with parents about a child's diagnosis, or potential diagnosis. Whether or not you diagnose regularly, failing to assess and discuss a diagnosis as well as its impact on the family system means ignoring a significant element in the family's day-to-day interactions. Additionally, bringing diagnosis conversations into family therapy allows all family members to voice the influence of the diagnosis on his/her perceptions of the behavior and the diagnosed child.

The following questions provide ideas for how to have conversations with families about the presence of a diagnosis in the family system, from a variety of systemic orientations.

Balance Box: The Subscription Box for Healers and Helpers

February 20, 2018 Ili Rivera Walter, PhD, LMFT

I recently connected with Lesley Lanier-Smith, the owner of Balance Box, on Instagram. I was impressed by what she is doing with her subscription box, and I asked if I could review her box and interview her. She said "Yes!" And, I'm thrilled to share her work and business with you.

Prevent Therapist Burnout, by Knowing and Using Your Strengths

February 6, 2018 Ili Rivera Walter, PhD, LMFT

Today, I'm bringing you a recent chat I had with Jessica Prater, of J Prater Consulting. Jessica is an industrial/organizational psychologist who works with small to mid-sized businesses. She often uses strength and personality assessments to lead individuals and teams to maximize their strengths in ways that result in reaching desired goals.

In this post and video, Jessica offers three tips for how knowing your strengths will help you prevent burnout in your work and/or business. I also added one tip to the list: #3: Accept that you have limited time.

Watch our brief chat, or read the transcript below.

Steps for Assessing and Fostering Family Resilience in Therapy

January 30, 2018 Ili Rivera Walter, PhD, LMFT

Resilience is defined as “The ability to rebound from crisis and overcome life challenges” (Walsh, 2006). It includes a person's sense of hope, support systems, relational encouragement, and emotional endurance.

When families face a crisis, the members' willingness and ability to communicate honestly, tolerate uncertainty, and respect one another's differing needs both define and develop the family unit's resilience during and after the crisis.

In this post, I offer a relational definition of resilience, as well as frameworks for assessing and fostering resilience.