What is the role of values in marriage and family therapy? Is there...

To begin with, I think values come into play regardless of therapy modality. In the case of marriage and family therapy, there just may be more values to consider. For instance, in individual counseling if there is a conflict in values, the conflict may be between your values and the values of your client. In addition, the counselor’s values impacts their connection with and understanding of the client as well as impacting how they proceed to work with that client. The same can be said of couples counseling in that the therapists values directly impacts their connections with and understanding of the clients and their relationship as well as impacting how they proceed to work with those clients (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2010). On the other hand, in family and marriage therapy, the value conflict may be between the identified clients. For instance, a couple may come in because of a dispute about abortion, with one parent in favor of the idea and the other parent opposed to the idea. This value conflict may even be the source of the therapy as opposed to a potential obstacle in the case of individual counseling.