Connecting authority Towards a new form of authority, based on the principles of nonviolent resistance

Bom, H dr (Hans)
Nederland

Submission type

Oral and Poster

Scheduled

Poster, Beurs van Berlage , Grote Zaal

Kernwoorden

Helplessnes Parents Paradox Connection Authority;

Onderzoeksgebied

Child & adolescent

Doelgroep

mensen met veel ervaring met het onderwerp

Workshop

Psychotherapists working in the Dutch mental health care system (GGZ) for youth are often confronted with parents who feel terrorized by their child. The externalizing or internalizing problem behaviour that these children exhibit makes them feel helpless and desparate. Regular escalations combined with children unmotivated to seek help results in both parents and carers veering towards using classic authority based on punishment, force and pressure. The focus of this workshop is on a new way of looking at authority: connecting authority. We will link the search for authority to the correlation between authority and forming one’s identity as well as to societal changes in the past decades, giving rise to tensions between authority and attachment. Connecting authority is based on the principles of nonviolent resistance (Omer, 2004) and performs the seemingly impossible task of uniting extremes: hierarchical difference with relational proximity, a loving environment with clear boundaries, resisting the unacceptable behaviour with belief in the other’s potential. This is conveyed in a practical way, as a method that provides anchor points for parents and therapists in their difficult and paradoxical quest to integrate connection with authority, in case of serious behavioural problems, as well as for ordinary educational issues.