ADOPTIVE FAMILIES

The Swanick-Chroma

Intervention: Including the Adoptive Family in Therapy

Without understanding, conflicts within the adoptive household can form and progressively worsen if not addressed. It is therefore important that children and parent(s) are included in the therapy setting, to work through any issues and support them in moving forward in a positive way.

In response to a clinical need for adoptive families who were referred to Chroma, Chroma developed the Swanick-Chroma Intervention – a unique creative arts therapy intervention for parents who need support in their attachment relationships. Based on Lambert’s 1992 paper on the factors for effective therapy, alongside the therapeutic models of reflective functioning and mentalisation (Fonaghy, 2000), the intervention looks at the four areas to think about when providing good enough therapy. These included the relationships between therapist and client, the sense of hope for positive outcomes, the personal characteristics of the therapist and the mode of therapy. Fonaghy’s theory of mentalisation supports the notion that when we can reflectively think about the feelings and thoughts of another person, we have a better sense of empathy and understanding, and this fosters a feeling of strengthened attachments. As in the case of this mother and son. Mom was frustrated by her son’s behaviours – his overwhelming need for attention, talking and wanting to play music all day. Following a referral to Chroma, her son began working with an art therapist and she undertook the five SCI sessions with a trained therapist. Through talking with her therapist and using the SCI intervention, mom realised that her frustration was caused by their different attachment strategies: She liked to have her own space and her son needed someone with him to share his thoughts and feelings. Her son used music as a way to connect with her - playing her favourite songs but because she was feeling stressed with her daily parenting responsibilities, she was taking this act of kindness as a defence. When she started to practise the mentalisation techniques of imagining her son’s feelings, alongside exploring her own feelings of being close to someone, she realised the act of playing music was her son’s way of thinking about her and showing her how appreciative he was of her as a mother. This greatly helped the parent-child relationship and mom started to feel warmer feelings towards him. When parents are struggling to understand their child, or to support challenging behaviours, it’s often because the stress of daily life has affected their ability to think about their child within the context of their whole life experiences. The use of the SCI can help families to re-think the way they react and act with their child in difficult situations, creating a deeper understanding of behaviours and a more attuned way to be together.

For more information on Chroma’s work go to www.wearechroma.com, call 0330 440 1838 or email: sayhello@wearechroma.com.