Week 4 dq 1 response 4 449
Stephanie Flores
Hello Professor Smith and Classmates,
When we talk about congruency in social work and in counseling, from my understanding, it means that a person is accurately expressing verbally what they were thinking and feeling during a specific moment. It seems to be a broa term used to explain that a person’s verbal and nonverbal communication matches. It is often used interchangeably with genuiness, authenticity, and transparency. (Sutani, N., 2020) In the video “Home for the Holidays” when we look at the congruency of Anna’s messages, we are looking to see if what Anna is saying is matching what she was feeling during specific events her and Jackie are talking about. Anna was able to clearly and effectively express that her frustrations with Jackie’s family was not exclusive to one singular event but multiple events over the course of their relationship. She explains her frustrations with how her family treats her when they get together and feeling like she “can’t be herself” around Jackie’s family. She is able to convey that part of this is her own fault but that the treatment from Jackie’s parents and family does not help.
In family systems theory boundaries “are invisible lines that identify people as insiders and as outsiders” (Hepworth, D. H., Rooney, R. H., Rooney, G. D., & Strom-Gottfried, K., 2017) Essentially, how open or closed a family’s boundaries are will determine how external influences and those outside the family are able to enter the family. If we think about Jackie’s family, they could be described as having rigid boundaries. “Rigid boundaries can serve important functions for the family by preserving territoriality, protecting the family from undesired intrusions, and safeguarding privacy, among others. ” (Hepworth, et al, 2017)
Homeostasis in a family is how the family balances their family dynamic. Feedback loops are the interactions (or expected interactions) that influence the family and it’s members. (Hepworth, et al, 2017) For Jackie’s family, this balance in the family is the comfortable state they felt prior to Jackie coming out to them. The feedback loops can be found in the way Jackie explains how she told her parents she was moving in with Anna and her parents response were to leave the room/situation (her father) and change the subject (her mother). This can be seen as push back to the idea of Jackie being gay and Jackie refusing to push the subject of her sexuality and discuss the issue further with her parents can be seen as her families attempt to maintain homeostasis.
From how Jackie and Anna explain the conflict handling within Jackie’s family, it can be understood that the family heirarchy is that her father is at the top, followed by her mother, and the children are at the bottom. Her father is the decision maker, her mother follows along with this, and Jackie conforms to their expectations or actions. If her parents do not want to discuss or face conflict, they avoid it and Jackie will not bring it up any further therein, avoiding the conflict and addressing issues within the family altogether.
Respectfully,
Stephanie
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References:
Hepworth, D. H., Rooney, R. H., Rooney, G. D., & Strom-Gottfried, K. (2017). Assessing Family Functioning in Diverse Family and Cultural Contexts. Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Sutani, N. (2020). Understanding congruence in person-centred counselling practice: A trainee counsellor’s perspective. ProgCounc: Journal of Professionals in Guidance and Counseling. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21831/jjpip.v13i1.100000
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Week four dq one answer four four-four-four-four-four-four-four-four-four-four
Flores, Stephanie
Good day, Professor Smith and classmates.
When we talk about congruency in social work and therapy, it means that a person is appropriately expressing vocally what they were thinking and experiencing at a certain time. It appears to be a broa phrase used to describe when a person’s verbal and nonverbal communication are in sync. Genuineness, authenticity, and openness are all terms that are frequently used interchangeably. N. Sutani (Sutani, 2020) In the video “Home for the Holidays” when we look at the congruency of Anna’s messages, we are looking to see if what Anna is saying is matching what she was feeling during specific events her and Jackie are talking about. Anna was able to express herself clearly and concisely.
