The impacts of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy differ significantly when applied to an individual and when used in a group setting (McLeod, Tully, Weisz, & Kendall, 2016). In both settings, the counselor is bound to come across challenges of which he/she must address professionally to achieve optimal final results since each case presents different forms of challenges. In this case, the family of the client who has been having suicidal thought presents challenges in the form of the hierarchical and structure of the family and lack of clear communication which may inhibit the healing process of the client.
The most effective strategies that could be applicable here is that the counselor ought to view the whole family as the client other than narrowing down to the affected client to enable comprehension of client in the context of the family system ( Knopf, 2017). By doing so, the counselor will come up with the most appropriate therapeutic interventions that will address the root cause of the problem.
In addition, the counselor should develop a strong therapeutic alliance with all the members in this setting to cultivate values such as trust and ensure that they have confidence in him/her (Brown, Gallagher, Petersen & Asnaani, 2018). These aspects will facilitate open communication from all the participants which will enable the counselor to analyze the patterns in their behavior and thoughts, which are essential in offering the most effective intervention. In addition, they will also aid in streamlining the values and beliefs of the family members who seem to have divergent thoughts and opinions on the cause of the problem. Additionally, the counselor will need to assess the behavior of all the family members to ensure that the intervention recommended will yield positive results.
