Journal Potuguese Release - February 2024 - Flipbook - Page 43
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and Daniel. The child's audio explained that the green part is the calmness that
makes the ghost stop disturbing. I asked if he (Daniel) had any part in this difficult
task. Through the audio I heard: “I'm helping my mother to stay calm, tía.”
After many weeks of distancing, a second face-to-face meeting was decided,
which would allow the participation of the father. The children were excited and,
in my view, missed the meetings. They quickly turned the therapy room into a
playroom. The room was populated with different toys and Daniel announced:
“My father is good at Lego. When he has time, we play at home.”
In another article (César, 2012), I discuss playing freely in family therapy with
children as a privileged opportunity in which they show solidarity and welcome
the parents with whom they explore a collaborative world, dissipating
intergenerational boundaries, and softening the shadows of the problems that
brought them to therapy. One of the significant factors that contributed to family
tensions was the weakening of the interaction between the father and the
children due to the intensification of his work. Through Daniel's hospitable hand,
the father found an environment safe and relaxed enough to offer his children his
unconditional presence.
At the end of this session, the boy-artist proposes another ghost to be
externalized:
D: I already know who will be the next ghost when we get back!
T: The ghost family is growing!
D: It will be the Ghost of Play.
“Ghost of Play with a ball in hand.”
The Bad and the Good Ghosts: A Story of Reauthoring in Narrative Therapy with Children
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, February 2024 Release, www.journalnft.com, p. 2446.