Family cases – points to consider
We rely on the data you record in Gambler’s Help Connect to plan and resource the treatment service. Hence it is really important that we see a common approach to reporting family therapy cases. Without that shared clarity, the reliability of the data is jeopardised and our ability to plan the future development of the service is impeded.
When deciding to set up a family therapy case you should consider the following:
Sometimes, the gambler in this scenario has an individual case as well as the family therapy case, while the partner is only associated with the family case. However, there is nothing to prevent the partner having an individual case as well if the circumstances indicate.
Are
both partners are expected to receive therapeutic benefit from their joint participation in the case? If one partner attends solely as an aid to the therapy of the other,
even though the therapy takes place in a family sensitive context, you don’t record it as a family therapy case – although there is nothing stopping you noting the fact of the attendance of that family member in the activity notes.
It is possible that from time to time you might set up a family case where
neither partner has a current therapeutic counselling case. Should you do this, the expectation is that
both will attend the majority of sessions where
both will receive therapeutic benefit. If you find, your efforts are preponderantly directed towards therapy for an individual, then you should set up an individual therapeutic counselling case for them.