Successful therapists are alert and pay close attention to the unfolding narratives of the families with whom they work. To gain experience in listening to narrative developments and in understanding your own family stories and how you respond to and assess stories of the families you see in practice, please respond honestly to the following items as you consider the narrative of your own family (Excerpted and modified from Goldenberg, Stanton, & Goldenberg, 2020).
1. How does your family express its problems or limitations (by anger, attacking the outside world, withdrawing from the outside world, etc.)?
2. What roles do you find the family has assigned to individual members (such as “brother is the smart one,” sister is the athlete,” or father is the depressed one,” etc.) Please discuss your own role.
3. Have any losses (of a home, job, family members through death, etc.) affected the way your family functions? Please describe.
4. Have gender or sexual identity issues been important in your family narrative (gay parents or siblings, transgender family member, etc.) Please discuss/describe.
5. How important is achievement (monetary, social class, education, athletic status, etc.) as a value to your family. How do you know this?
6. Does your family strongly identify with an ethnic, racial, or religious heritage?
7. Describe an important family ritual and explain how it influences the family’s appreciation and understanding of itself.
8. Has your family retained its socioeconomic position over generations? What is your evidence?
Paper should be typed, double-spaced, 12-point font in Times Roman. Page limit is 5-6 pages, FIRM! APA formatting requires heading for each response, references, etc. Please refer to an APA manual online on at the library for correct/professional formatting.