Family Therapy in Probation
| Author | Lesley Thompson,Roger Clare |
| Published date | 01 September 1978 |
| Date | 01 September 1978 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455057802500303 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
79
collusion
which
just
about
keeps
both
sides
happy.
We
may
have
been
successful
in
containing
fear
and
risk,
but
at
the
price
of
often
seeming
to
deny
freedom
and
responsibility.
The
task
is
to
rediscover
the
initiative
for
freedom
and
responsibility,
cultivate
new
structures
to
endorse
it,
and
yet
not
lose
the
obligations
of
accountability.
REFERENCES
1.
Richard
Sennett,
The
Use
of
Disorder.
Pelican
Books
1973,
pp.
96.
2.
Bill
Jordan,
Freedom
and
the
Welfare
State.
Routledge
&
Kegan
Paul
1976,
pp.
168-169.
3.
Particularly
relevant
here
is
the
argument
presented
by:
Isobel
Menzies
in
The
Functioning
of
Social
Systems
as
a
Defence
Against
Anxiety.
Tavistock.
(David
Millard
was
formerly
a
Senior
Probation
Office
at
the
Sheldon
office,
Staffordshire.
He
is
now
Assistant Regional
Staff
Development
Officer
for
the
Midlands.)
Family
Therapy
in
Probation
LESLEY
THOMPSON
and
ROGER
CLARE
PROBATION
OFFICERS
generally
recognise
the
importance
of
the
client’s
family
in
&dquo;diagnosing&dquo;
his
problems.
However,
if
we
are
honest,
this
recognition,
for
many
reasons,
rarely
extends
beyond
the
compilation
of
&dquo;SIR’s
and
Part
VII’s&dquo;.
There
is
a
growing
interest
in
Family
Therapy
as
a
method
of
putting
this
recognition
into
practice.
However,
the
initiate
can
easily
be
discouraged
by
much
of
the
literature,
particularly
that
of
the
American
and
Tavistock
genre.
Frequently
overladen
with
jargon,
at
its
best,
it
reads
like
the
mystical
writings
of
some
cabalistic
sect.
Some
may
have
been’prompted
to
explain,
as
did
one
of
our
col-
leagues
recently,
&dquo;What’s
all
this
got
to
do
with
Probation?&dquo;
Readable
literature
on
the
subject
is
rare,
and
to
our
knowledge,
this
journal
has
had
no
previous
articles
on
the
subject.
We
have
both
had
fairly
tradi-
tional
careers
and
approaches
in
probation,
and
we
do
not
consider
our-
selves
as
&dquo;experts&dquo;
in
Family
Therapy.
We
feel,
however,
that
the
experience
we
have
gained
in
working
with
several
families
can
be
usefully
shared
with
other
colleagues.
We
have
chosen
to
describe
a
piece
of
our
earlier
Family
Therapy
work,
with
all
its
blemishes,
in
the
hope
that
this
may
encourage
others
to
&dquo;have
a
go&dquo;.
.
The
Smith
Family
&dquo;Setting
the
Scene&dquo;
.
The
Smith
family
had
been
known
to
the
Service
for
approximately
seven
years,
during
which
time
there
had
been
involvement
by
seven
officers.
The
three
boys,
John
(16),
Michael
(15)
and
Andrew
(13),
were
subject
to
Matrimonial
Supervision
Orders
and
Michael
was
also
under
supervision
for
an
offence
of
burglary.
As
a
result
of
the
somewhat
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