Family Therapy vs. Therapeutic Visitation

Family Therapy – is a specialized psychotherapy typically conducted by a licensed mental health professional with specific training in family and/or marital therapy. It is psychotherapy that involves all members of a nuclear family or stepfamily and, in some cases members of extended family (e.g., grandparents). A therapist or team of therapists conducts multiple sessions to help families deal with important issues that may interfere with the functioning of the family and the home environment.

• 
  
• improve communication
• solve family problems
• better define family members roles within the family
• understand and handle special family situations (e.g., death, serious physical or mental illness, parenting issues, child/adolescent development issues)
• goal to create a better home environment

In the case of Family Therapy, the family is seen as the “client” by the trained mental health professional. The family works with the therapist to define specific goals that are brought willingly to the attention of the therapist(s).

Therapeutic Visitation – is not a concept that originates from mental health practice, but rather from the legal system. Most mental health practitioners have no training and/or awareness of this concept. A main difference between this concept and traditional family therapy is that in therapeutic visitation the Court is the “client” and these families are not generally coming to the process with the conscious, willing intention of working better together (i.e., typically they are in an adversarial process of a court proceeding).

Additional differences include:

• typical focus is on the child/children and a relationship with one parent
• trust issues around one parent allowing another to have access to the child is being addressed
• a court order MUST name and direct the mental health professional to address specific goals set for the family by the Court. This court order provides professional protection for the mental health professional against certain risk factors associated with later filing of grievances with their professional licensing agency. In this process the mental health professional should be given access to all court filings as well as any forensic evaluation. Goals must be defined for the therapist, who can later inform the Court as to whether the family made or was capable of making progress on these goals.
• All parents should participate in the “intake” process, however, typically one parent and the child/children will be the main participants in the sessions that are conducted. The custodial parent may require separate sessions with the mental health professional to work on issues of trust and to be informed about potential progress being made.