The diversity and possibility of psychological support in the field of child welfare : The psychological clinic of a child guidance center and a child welfare institution

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Other Title
  • 子どもの福祉領域における心理的支援の多様性と可能性 : 児童相談所と児童福祉施設の心理臨床
  • コドモ ノ フクシ リョウイキ ニ オケル シンリテキ シエン ノ タヨウセイ ト カノウセイ : ジドウ ソウダンショ ト ジドウ フクシ シセツ ノ シンリ リンショウ

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the diversity and possibility of psychological support in the field of child welfare by taking up the practice at a child guidance center and a child welfare institution as a subject for discussion. Since a clinical psychology in Japan has developed centering on psychoanalytic therapy, the primary emphasis is on individual psychotherapy in a room, which focuses on the internal world. However, in order to solve child maltreatment it is necessary to have the idea of improving daily life and the environment of children and parents by creating a social network because children are immature and strongly influenced by the external environment. Therefore, it is required for a child welfare psychologist, as a member of the multidisciplinary team, to go out of a room to approach not only the internal world but also the external world. The greatest characteristic of the support system at a child guidance center is a multidisciplinary team approach. The assessment and planning of all cases of a child guidance center are carried out collaboratively by the council system, in which a psychologist is expected to play a role in psychological assessment. Since child maltreatment became a social problem, a child guidance center has been asked to actively intervene in the family suspected of child maltreatment for the purpose of child protection. As a result, the workers at a child guidance center in Japan sought for a new approach, until safety oriented child protection frameworks such as Signs of Safety Approach (SoSA) and Partnering for Safety (PFS) were introduced from foreign countries. In the field of child welfare institutions, psychological support is provided in daily life instead of in a room. It is essential for a psychologist to approach not only an individual child by play therapy but also the environment surrounding a child by consultation for the care workers. A psychologist in a child welfare institution is expected to promote a therapeutic function of network support by bringing the perspective of clinical psychology. It is necessary for a child welfare psychologist to take an integrative approach based on daily life, which deals with both the internal and the external world because child maltreatment occurs when the bio-psycho-social multidimensional factors are complexly intertwined. With the diversity of clinical psychology increasing in this way, unique and innovative approaches such as Holonical Therapy and Open Dialogue have been established as a possibility of new types of psychological support. Although there are already many good practices in the field of child welfare, there are few academic theses which collect such clinical wisdom. It is an urgent task to construct the psychological support model which is effective in the field of child welfare.

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