ABSTRACT
The influences of both parental separation and the complexity of family structure on the adolescent’s emerging sense of self are outlined in this chapter. The experience of being overlooked is identified as the principal challenge to the adolescent’s integrity. The author details interventions to support the young person to integrate these aspects of his experience into his overall identity and to make meaning of intraparental hostility in a non-shaming, non-defining manner. In addition, strategies for supporting separated parents to attune more richly to their adolescent children are presented.
