TeamBuilders-Counseling.org provides individualized behavioral health services in NM.
Founded in 1995, we provide comprehensive behavioral health services for the state of New Mexico, for children, teens, and families.
TeamBuilders maintains a Family-Centered, Ecological-Systems Framework for helping children and families.
KEY ELEMENTS OF FAMILY CENTERED SERVICES
1. Constancy Recognizing that the family is a constant in a child’s life, while the service systems and personnel within those systems fluctuate. 2. “Parents as Partners” / Systems Collaboration Facilitating parent/professional collaboration and active involvement at all levels and domains of service provision. 3. Honoring Diversity Honoring racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity of families (e.g. perceptions, beliefs, behaviors; can connect or separate; exist from surface to deeper levels). 4. Family Strengths Recognizing the family strengths and individuality and respecting different methods of coping. Building on family strengths provides foundation for strengthening and preserving families. 5. Information Sharing Sharing with parents on a continuous basis and in a supportive manner, complete and unbiased information. 6. Building Natural Supports/Community Connections Building a natural support system for families, encouraging and facilitating family to family support and networking and active interface with community. 7. Addressing Developmental Needs Understanding and incorporating the developmental needs of infants, children, adolescents, adults, and families into service delivery. 8. Program/Policy Development Implementing comprehensive policies and programs that provide emotional and financial support to meet the needs of families. 9. Service Delivery Systems Designing accessible service delivery systems that are flexible, culturally competent, and responsive to family-identified needs. ECOLOGICAL-SYSTEMS APPROACH: "PERSON IN ENVIRONMENT" MODEL
Ecological 1. Views child/family development as “situated” in their environment. 2. Child and system considerations when assessing and intervening. 3. Strength-based and culturally sensitive model. 4. Interactive approach Examines interactions of child factors (e.g. temperament, intellectual, neurobiological, medical, psychological, etc.) and environmental factors (e.g. strengths and stressors related to the family, school, culture, and community). 5. Recognizes dynamic connections between child, family, and environment; no simple cause and effect; non- linear processes exist. Family Systems 1. Child and family are viewed as a whole-- that is, through the arrangement and relationships between parts that connect them to a whole. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” 2. Processes are the emphasis of intervention (e.g. The husband nor the wife would be blamed for a dispute, but rather the communication process when the two of them argue together would be explored. Exploring the role the child’s acting out plays for the family system might be the focus of intervention versus blaming the child for the family’s problems.) 3. Chaos and distress are viewed as normal aspects of human experience that lead for further adaptation. Crisis viewed as opportunity for positive and necessary change. 4. Non-linearity is also emphasized in systems theory, especially as it relates to the change process. Systems changes are not amenable to simple cause and effect models and may not be proportional. One cause can lead to different results, and rapid and qualitative change may occur with a small amount of input at various places in the system. Hence, using an ecological-systems approach it is understood that: • Not all children with the same experiences or mental conditions develop the same way. • There are no “cookie-cutter” or “one-size-fits-all” answers to intervention with children & families. • Families function as a ‘whole.’ • Crisis poses opportunity for growth and change. • Change can occur through multiple paths (child, family, or environment).
