The article, ‘ Articulating a Child and Youth Care Approach to Family Work ,’ by Jones examines tow key counseling approaches, including the solution-focused approach and the Child and Youth Care (CYC) methodology (Jones, 2007). The majority of CYC practitioners highly support the solution-focused approach; however, although the approaches are significantly similar, they are also distinct particularly from the perspective of the practitioner’s role, change conceptualization, and their theoretical basis. The article highly contributes to the field of Child and Youth care since it illustrates the importance of incorporating elements of the solution-focused methodology, which presents unique attributes that can help in bringing out better outcomes for the clients.
The solution-based theory focuses on establishing solutions to the issues that a client demonstrates presently rather than concentrating on addressing the problems that are rooted in the client's past experiences. The approach is founded on the concept of cooperation between the subsystems of the clients and the therapist, therefore creating a system that combines both the client’s subsystem and that of the therapist. According to the theory, all the client have the potential to change, and they are actively engaged in finding the required change to correct their undesirable behaviors (Jones, 2007). The theory also holds the belief that individuals and families possess the inherent capabilities that allow them to address their lives' complexities effectively. Regarding the role of the therapist, the theory considers him or her as a change facilitator, who helps clients to utilize their abilities creatively in resolving their problems as well as helping them to maintain a hopeful, future-oriented, and empowering outlook.
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Conversely, the CYC approach is based on the maintenance and creation of therapeutic relationships within the client's living spaces. Other theoretical applications and intervention strategies come second after creating and maintaining this crucial element. One of the critical challenges that practitioners who adopt this approach encounter are that most clients are initially skeptical about the practitioners’ involvement in their lives (Jones, 2007). To overcome the challenge, the practitioners mainly embrace a strengths-based approach, which is supported by other practitioners' experiences in residential settings. The CYC approach pertains to maintaining close relationships with families during their ordinary life events and utilizing the events for therapeutic purposes. The approach acknowledges families as experts, affirming the need for parents to raise their children.
The approach requires the practitioners to observe the clients’ behavior and co-create appropriate interventions from within the family setting through sharing experiences. After identifying problematic areas, the practitioner together with the client creates common experiences that help to challenge and provide alternatives to maladaptive behaviors. Concerning the perception of change, the approach maintains that each youth and family has the potential for change, therefore indicating families act as open systems that are goal-oriented and adaptive, which allows them to effectively affect change and find solutions to the widespread problems (Jones, 2007). The CYC methodology is primarily founded on the idea of valuing and accepting the unique beliefs that define each family system; hence, it requires practitioners to be mindful of the family rhythms and learn to integrate with the individual factors so that they can adequately influence a therapeutic function.
The article demonstrates that both approaches focus on establishing alternatives that are solution-focused to the clients that clients have helped to identify. However, the approaches differ in their effective delivery. While the solution-focused therapy is brief in nature, which indicates that intervention strategies under the methodology are intensive, short, and implemented from a structured location, which often makes it expensive for clients, the CYC approach does not involve costs since it does not involve therapy but focus on creating and maintaining therapeutic relationships; it is majorly delivered through non-profit organizations. In this context, the solution-focused approach is ideal for individuals who are situated locally and are willing and able to commute. Conversely, the CYC approach is ideal for nearly all clients since the location is nearly irrelevant under the methodology. However, it is inappropriate for clients who would opt to seek services from clinical environments.
In conclusion, based on the above analysis, the knowledge that the article presents to the child and youth care field is essential since it demonstrates the need to incorporate the ideas of such traditional methodologies as the solution-based approach, which plays a crucial role in overcoming the weaknesses of the CYC approach, including providing clients with a physical location to seek services from a clinical physical facility. Further, the article emphasizes the need for CYC practitioners to continually advocate for and support the ideas of the solution-focused theory in their practice.
References
Jones, L. (2007). Articulating a child and youth care approach to family work. CYC-Online,104. Retrieved from http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0709-jones.html
