ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the usefulness and application of family mapping and portraiture as clinical skills central to the Collective Intervention Strategy. In practice, these two methods of qualitative inquiry work together to illuminate the stories behind the stories: the motivations, the causes, the driving forces of mental health disorders. When applied correctly, the clinical tools of family mapping and portraiture can be used to visualize what clinicians learn during the process of inquiry. Indeed, the visual diagram of a family map helps clinicians define what is truly going on within the family system and to determine which issues to tackle first. Likewise, portraits unearth a complicated view of an individual or a family system, with a deep appreciation for its failures and imperfections.
The chapter describes in detail how to create a family map and how to create a portrait, offering examples and case studies for each. The authors encourage behavioral healthcare professionals to allow the data to tell the story, to create an objective view of what’s really going on. In sum, the processes are central to successful systemic change, as they unearth the good and the bad, reflecting reality through the lens of change.
