ABSTRACT
When discussing high conflict families with therapists, the authors explored together the idea of seeing the child from the high conflict family separately from the parents. This was to help the child explore how to communicate to their parents what the child wants the parents to know or hear. The use of music to do this was viewed as a good fit. While some therapists questioned why one would use anything other than words, others commented that exercises such as the internalised other art exercise were easier through art than words, therefore indicating that the techniques could allow systemic ideas to be utilised within a broader age range. When words fail, the potential of non-verbal techniques to allow the therapist to truly join the young person was recognised. It was recognised that family culture was naturally going to influence the family's relationship to music and its use in therapy.
