Program for a family counseling center: file questions and participants

Family counseling is the most difficult model for systems, because the client is not an individual but a relationship. A session attended by two parties, an individual session with one of them, and information said by one of them that may not reach the other – and all of this within one case.

A system that does not separate the individual file from the shared case file will force you to make two bad choices: one file in which everyone sees everything, or separate files that lose the context of the relationship.

This operational model needs

A structural separation between three levels: a file for each individual, a shared status linking them, and documentation for the group versus notes for each individual. Moreover: participation permissions differ from one party to another within the same case.

Jobs that deserve priority

• Individual files related to: Neither a single family file nor separate files without a link.
• Common case: With its parties, plan and sessions, with the possibility of individual sessions within it.
• Documentation chapter: The documentation of the joint session concerns the case, and what was said in an individual session concerns the file of the person who said it.
• Setting what is shared: Each party has what they have the right to see, and this is determined by a professional decision, not by default.
• Multiple approvals: The scope of each party’s consent, and the effect of one of them withdrawing its consent.
• Reports: A clear policy for one party to request a joint status report.

Suitability review practical scenario

• Create a two-party shared state, and record a shared session: Where is the documentation saved?
• Record a one-on-one session with one party: Can the other party access it? Expected: No.
• Open one party’s account in the portal: What does he see from the shared status?
• Withdraw one party’s consent: What stopped?
• Request a report for one party: does it contain information about the other?
• Add a minor child to the case: How are parental privileges managed over him?

In the demo, request that this particular form be run and not the single case form. Many systems present family counseling as a regular case with an additional client, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to separate what was said in an individual session from the joint case.

Scope options and access limits

• Blocked by default: In family situations, the principle is that one party should not see anything about the other unless it is explicitly stated otherwise.
• Current dispute: When the situation is in the context of a dispute, control is twice as important — and ask the provider specifically about it.
• Report Requests: A pre-written policy of who is entitled to ask for what, this is the most embarrassing situation.
• Separation and independence: If the relationship between the two parties ends, how is their situation resolved? Ask before you need.

The next step is to request a suitable offer

Write your policy for sharing information between parties in the case, and send it along with your requirements. See Family guidance page.