Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2021
Publication Title
Family Process
Abstract
Despite current interest in collaborative practices, few investigations document the ways practitioners can facilitate collaboration during in-session interactions. This investigation explores verbatim psychotherapy transcripts to describe and illustrate therapist’s communications that facilitate or hinder centering client’s voice in work with socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Four exemplar cases were selected from a large intervention trial aimed at improving shared decision making (SDM) skills of psychotherapists working with low-income clients. The exemplar cases were selected because they showed therapist’s different degrees of success in facilitating SDM. Therapist’s verbalizations were grouped into five distinct communicative practices that centered or de-centered the voice of clients. Communication practices were examined through the lens of collaborative approaches in family therapy. The analysis suggests that cross-fertilization between SDM and family-oriented collaborative and critical approaches shows promise to illuminate and enhance the challenging road from clinician-led to client-led interactions. This paper also stresses the importance of incorporating relational intersectionality with individuals and families who may not feel entitled to express their expectations or raise questions when interacting with authority figures.
Keywords
Collaborative Practices, Intersectionality, Low-income Populations, Shared Decision Making
Volume
60
Issue
2
First Page
670
Last Page
687
DOI
10.1111/famp.12558
ISSN
00147370
Recommended Citation
Falicov, Celia; Nakash, Ora; and Alegría, Margarita, "Centering the Voice of the Client: On Becoming a Collaborative Practitioner with Low-Income Individuals and Families" (2021). School for Social Work: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ssw_facpubs/37
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.