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Who has naming rights? The framing of children's mental health issues in discursive therapy with their caregivers

Reid, Katherine
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Reid, Katherine
Abstract
Children in Western countries are being referred for therapy at increased rates. There is, however, a lack of research that explores how social workers, in the role of therapist, engage children and their caregivers to determine the ‘presenting concerns’ for therapy. This study uses a Critical Discourse analysis of therapy transcripts to investigate if and how children are afforded the right to name the issues they may face. The study examines the politics of knowledge production in the therapeutic triad between the therapist, child and caregiver. The messy realities of child-centred practice are shown. The findings reveal the complex operations of power in therapy interactions and the influence of behavioural discourses in framing children's mental health issues, positioning children as therapeutic subjects. Findings underscore the need for social workers to find socio-political ways to conceptualize, with children, the issues that impact on their lives, using externalizing practices and therapeutic resources.
Keywords
children, critical discourse analysis, discursive therapy, mental health, social work
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Child and Family Social Work
Book
Volume
29
Issue
1
Page Range
48-57
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Allied Health
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
National School of Allied Health
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OA_Reid_2023_Who_has_naming_rights_The_framing.pdf
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URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14802/17504
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DOI
10.1111/cfs.13050
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Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Open
Notes
© 2023 The Author. Child & Family Social Work published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.