What phenomena are at work in a family? The Systemic Model – Theory and Self-Experience

theme No.: 30d
responsible federal state: Saxony-Anhalt
date: 01.10.2023 - 06.10.2023

This conference is primarily intended for judges engaged in jurisdiction relating to family-law matters as well as criminal judges and public prosecutors working on criminal cases involving young people.
The main points of emphasis will be as follows:
In their everyday professional work, judges and public prosecutors are regularly or occasionally confronted with family problems and or children and adolescents with behavioural problems. They often come across modes of behaviour that are difficult to understand and resolve with legal knowledge alone.
In such cases, knowledge about Systemic Family Therapy can be useful. This form of therapy sees the family as a unit, in which the members mutually influence one another. The idea at the core of systemic work is the assumption that the key to understanding and changing problems lies not so much in the person displaying problematic behaviour themselves, but rather in the family context.
This seminar deals with the systemic relationships within a family, particularly the position of parents and children within the system, the complex problems of patchwork families and the effect of separation and the death of individual members on the system as a whole, as well as typical conflicts and possible approaches to conflict resolution, presenting these in a tangible way and opening them up to discussion. For day-to-day work, and also in the private sphere, it can be helpful to view a family system from a distance and understand its mode of operation according to the systemic model. The seminar is intended to raise the participants’ awareness of the effects that their legal decisions may have on the family system concerned.
In addition to presenting the theoretical model, the emphasis in the seminar will be on self-experience. By carrying out various structured physical and expressive activities, conducting systemic interventions and sharing experiences in the group within a secure environment, the participants will develop a greater awareness and understanding of various family systems and their interrelationships, as well as exploring possibilities for the modification of problems.
All participants are required to be willing to engage in processes of group dynamics and take part in self-experience exercises.
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