ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a clinical approach to intervention with fathers. The narrative-oriented model proposed emphasizes the roles that paternal images and emotional interaction have in fathering. Clinical interventions with fathers and their families intersect the social domains of paternity and masculinity. The chapter provides support for a narrative intervention as illustrated in the pivotal roles that paternal images play in the formation and practice of fathering. Concepts of fatherhood tie together assumptions about parenting roles and masculinity. As initial goals are accomplished and the relationship between the father and the therapist is strengthened, the therapist is better able to facilitate discussions of the father's emotional experience and the family's experience of him. A father's participation in therapy is pivotal to narrative approach and several practical steps are recommended to support his involvement. A therapist's narratives of fatherhood may keep the clinician from recognizing the possibilities a father's presence brings to family therapy.
