A Quick Review

Systems
Systems are self-regulating
We may not always understand anothers system
This does not mean there is no logic or coherence for
others
Systemic Approaches attempt to understand this
What works / why / how?
What is working well or is struggling?
 Not Problem
Saturated
Problems are not within but between
The person is not the problem
Theres always an exception to the rule
Problems can be related to environment &
systems
Everyone comes from and is constantly
influenced by multiple systems / context:

Culture

Family values / beliefs

Religion

Work

Education
 An acronym for thinking about
anti-oppressive & anti-discriminatory practice

John Burnham & Alison Roper-Hall (1992)

and updated by Burnham and other colleagues since 6
(1993, 2005, 2008, updated 2012)
 The focus in Systemic Practice is on
relationships and patterns

Patterns which connect between people,

rather than separate.
How does each person contribute to the
functioning?

Patterns can be complementary or

symmetrical
 Change
Change in one person has an effect on another

Change occurs when we are curious about relational

patterns

Change occurs when we become less certain, and more

open, to different possibilities

Change occurs when we are less dominated by problem

saturated.

Change is more likely to occur when families feel they

own the ideas- not that ideas are forced by others/us.
 Reframing Stories

Finding different ways of looking at & describing

problem behaviours
Using respectful invitations to see things
differently opening up new possibilities
Central to this is our

use of self,

self-positioning & use of

reflexivity
From Unawareness
To Awareness
To Reflection
 Making sense of
Thinking i.e. Intentions

Feeling Doing Managing Decisions

emotions into
interventions

From reflections to REFLEXIVITY!

Research shows that interventions
promoting confidence in
challenging situations reduces the
incidence of abuse and neglect.
 Risk: Resilience Approaches
Social Work is an industry trying to arrive at certainty
A guarantee of absolute safety is never possible
Risk and safety are not definitive truths = uncertainty
There is not one but there are multiple hypotheses
Look for positive exceptions within negative family patterns
Scripts/patterns - how can these exceptions be enhanced?
Using a both/and approach to arrive at safety plans
Reflections &
Questions?