Counseling Strategies for the Single-Child Family: A Structural Family Therapy Model

Abstract

When counseling the single-child family, structural family therapy provides a viable clinical model that defines and strengthens the family's structure, subsystems, and boundaries while supporting the mastery of each individual's age-appropriate developmental tasks. Along with an illustrative case example, strategies developed by the author for counseling this specialized family system provide professionals with creative alternatives to achieve a healthy balance within this family system.