ABSTRACT
The therapist/practitioner is partly observing and also contributing from the "inside", listening to himself reflect on the overall picture of the child–family–therapy system. The therapist's reaction may be significantly different from the feared response anticipated by a child. The metaphor of voice also helps focus attention on the individuality and resourcefulness of the child, which may otherwise have been ignored or overlooked particularly in top-down styles of practice. The therapist needs to be mindful of a child's anxiety about coming to the therapy and particularly about the dangers of therapeutic expertise that may lead young clients into conversations that they would later regret. Establishing a playful domain requires the therapist to persist in building a picture of how things came to be the way they are—that is, the logic of the child and family's ways of relating to one another.
