Assignment:
Application Assignment: Diversity and Family Counseling
Overview
What is normal? While the concept is a difficult one to apply uniformly across various structures of marriage, couples, and families; there are developmental models that we can use as reference points for our work. Because it is unlikely that you will work with only one type of marriage, couple, or family structure, it is important to become familiar with a variety of developmental models. As you might guess from your own life experience, each stage of development poses new opportunities and challenges. Think about the various stages of the family life cycle that your own family has experienced. Would having a developmental understanding of behaviors and emotions that emerged at each stage have helped you to navigate change more effectively?
In this assignment, you will compare stages of family and couple development for samesex couples and other diversity groups. You will describe the opportunities and challenges that may be present at various points in these models.
Directions
Review this Learning Resources and think about the different qualities of healthy and dysfunctional families. Also think about the various issues that culturally diverse families face. Select a case example from your text. Consider the interventions that might be applied in the case selected. Consider the resources and challenges you might encounter working with this case study.
• Discuss the family life cycle for the case selected and what other information you might need to gather to understand the family life cycle stage for the case study.
• Explain at least two strategies for working with the case study you selected.
• Support your selected intervention strategies with at least one citation from a professional journal in the Lamar University Library. The resource should provide evidence of the efficacy of the intervention.
• Reflect on your own cultural background and what strategies might work with your family.