Structural Family Therapy With Incarcerated Families

Abstract

“Research has shown that close and supportive family relationships are a key ingredient of successful offender rehabilitation and that intimate partners and minor children may play a critical role in the process” (Datchi & Sexton, 2013, p. 280). Those affected by incarceration are underserved, specifically in the realm of mental health. There is a need for a better understanding of how systemic theories, such as structural family therapy (SFT) can be utilized with the incarcerated population. SFT is an evidence-based systemic model and defines a problem in terms of family structures, boundaries, hierarchies, roles, rules, and patterns of interaction and coalitions. Thus, the current case study examines family therapy utilizing the SFT model with a family, in which a father was incarcerated. The implication of the current case study is to explore the effectiveness of using the SFT model as the primary approach to treating the incarcerated population.