Family Assessment, History, and Life Cycle Development

Pamela Parkinson, Ph.D., LCSW 

Training Description

We can’t know what we are treating if we don’t do a full assessment of the youth’s context including family relationships, historical trauma, and intergenerational influences.  Learn how the history of the biological families of our youth impacts their current functioning and how a family’s life cycle developmental challenges are intricately related to a youth’s own developmental challenges and attachment issues.  We will review the importance of utilizing genograms and timelines with families in order to learn about their culture/stressors/life experiences and other important values.  This information guides our case planning and service provision of all kinds.  Without context, we cannot possibly understand what the behaviors of our kids mean or how we might go about healing the pain and achieving positive outcomes.

Learning Objectives

This course is designed to help participants:

• Review Family Systems Theory and the Importance of Assessment