“I don’t want my parent involved! Or do I?”: Conceptualizing and addressing resistance to caregiver involvement

Family-oriented therapies and parental involvement are increasingly regarded as best practice in the treatment of mental health issues. However, some teens/young adults refuse to invite their parents or alternate caregivers into their treatment. This presentation will explore underlying drivers of resistance to caregiver involvement. It will also introduce interventions for clinicians to clarify and work through ways that honour the client’s capacity to make treatment decisions.

Learning objectives:

• Discuss the rationale for parent involvement
• Identify common reasons for client refusal/resistance to parent/caregiver involvement  
• Discuss strategies for working with refusals using an emotion-focused family therapy (EFFT) approach 
• Discuss strategies for addressing clinician resistance related to parental involvement