Integration of Relational Family Therapy in the Planina Residential Centre

Abstract

The study examines the process of introducing relational family therapy (RFT) at the Planina Residential Care Center and analyzes the organizational, procedural, and relational factors that enable the effective integration of family therapy into the treatment of children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Numerous studies emphasize that parental involvement is one of the key factors in long-term changes in children‘s behavior and their emotional stabilization. The family is the primary environment for the formation of a child‘s personality and emotional structure and relationship patterns, so long-term change is not possible without the involvement of parents in the therapeutic process. The implementation of family therapy in an institutional setting is therefore not only professionally justified but also necessary if we want to promote the reintegration of children into their primary environment. Despite these findings, family therapy is not systematically integrated into Slovenian professional centers, even though the law provides for family involvement. This means that children often lack the necessary connection between individual treatment and the family environment to which the child returns after placement. The development of therapeutic practices that incorporate both systemic and relational perspectives is therefore crucial. The research is based on RFT and connects the systemic, interpersonal, and intrapsychic levels of experience, understanding affect regulation as the central mechanism of therapeutic change. The model enables an understanding of recurring relational patterns and the transformation of family dynamics, which is essential when working with children with EBD. The purpose of the research was to examine how RFT can be gradually and comprehensively integrated into the institutional treatment of children with EBD and what conditions need to be ensured for therapy to become a permanent and complementary part of multidisciplinary practice. The research fills an important gap in Slovenia, where there is a lack of studies dealing with the integration of family therapy into institutional settings, and offers guidelines for the development of integrated, multisystemic approaches.