Reflection Of My Practicum Theory In My Personal Life

I began this program the spring semester of 2014 and enrolled in working with families because it was offered on a Saturday and this didn’t disrupt my own family. Unaware at that time how much I would relate to this theory in my personal life. In moving forward I have been able to connect many situations during my practicum experience to this theory as well. During practicum one I witnessed quite a bit of Differentiation of Self, most of the boys were placed in a detention facility because they were seeking approval of others and most often it was their father or father figure. One youth in particular stands out to me, he was raised by his father who was a known gang member and his mother was estranged. He believed the other boys were inferior

A brother and sister stand out most to me. They lost their dad suddenly, she is 17 and he is 13 years old. He will not speak to anyone within the grief center and his sister will attempt to speak for him constantly. She is a straight A student about to graduate high school with her associates degree. I observed as she created a collage of words from a magazine, she cut each letter out with precession and glued them to the paper aligned straight showing she is conscientious. She advised that prior to her dad’s death her brother was outgoing and never missed an opportunity to have fun with his friends. Since, he spends more time alone. She also advised that he gets in trouble in school more often and has break downs at home which place a great deal of focus on him. Although these are characteristics of grief, Bowen also describes these as being the youngest sibling in a family. I witnessed mild emotional cut off with this boy and his family as he rarely speaks about his father, but I met a young girl who had lost her mother who showed no emotion toward her family. She never spoke of her mom and her grandmother never explained death to her, she just said that her mother was away. There is good reason to believe the child is aware that this is not true, she does not speak to anyone in regards to her mother and although he grandmother is her primary caregiver, it is advised that she shows little affection to her and only expresses her needs for survival and emotional needs. It is disappointing that I will not be able to see them evolve through therapy, but the grandmother is getting closer to acknowledging her daughter’s death and expressing this to her grand-daughter. I hope they remain in therapy to continue to heal and not allow this emotional divide to grow