Matters of Interpretation: Reciprocal Transformation in Therapeutic and Developmental Relationships with Youth - Hardcover

by Michael J. Nakkula (Author), Sharon M. Ravitch (Author)

An effective new therapeutic model that integrates the client's and therapist's values

This groundbreaking book offers therapists and counselors an effective new therapeutic model based on hermeneutics--the art and science of interpretation. It recognizes that the clinician is not a neutral observer in the therapeutic process but brings to the interaction his or her own values, judgments, and prejudices.

Grounded in theory yet deeply inspirational, the book is filled with rich personal reflections from real-world clinicians who have used this model and found the process to be deeply transformative. This new approach not only deepens the therapeutic relationship but has proven to be especially effective with young clients at risk for negative outcomes.

Front Jacket

Matters of Interpretation presents and develops a self-reflective approach to therapeutic interventions and psychosocial research that is particularly relevant to working with children and adolescents at risk for negative life outcomes. The approach recognizes the value-laden aspects of human science and allows for the integration of the therapist's and the researcher's values into the processes of psychological inquiry and clinical or counseling psychology. At the core of this orientation is an explicit acknowledgment that therapists and researchers are not objective observers, but instead bring values, judgments, and prejudices to every client interaction and to every act of psychological inquiry.The theoretical framework behind the authors' approach is hermeneutics?fundamental for many years to philosophical and literary studies and of increasing interest to psychologists. Hermeneutics is the art or science of interpretation, such as the interpretation of values in philosophy or the interpretation of a text in literary studies. In this book, a distinctly expressed connection is made for the first time between the abstract realm of hermeneutics and the real world work of both applied psychology and psychosocial inquiry. The authors present a dynamic system wherein therapists simultaneously interpret their client's concerns and their own responses to these concerns. This interpretive process is presented both as a form of intervention and as a systematic approach to the study of human growth and change.The descriptive and theoretical presentations in Matters of Interpretation are richly enhanced by cases from graduate students in training in the Risk and Prevention Program at Harvard University. These original and very personal reflections document the students' in-depth self-assessment as "applied developmentalists"?counselors, therapists, and educators. The students find that working with clients using this approach is a deeply transformative process as it r

Back Jacket

Matters of Interpretation presents an integrative, self-reflective approach to clinical and counseling psychology and psychosocial inquiry that is based on hermeneutics?the art and science of interpretation. This effective approach?particularly relevant to working with children and adolescents at risk for negative life outcomes?allows for the integration of both the client's and the therapist's values in the therapeutic relationship. The goal is a mutually transformative experience that results in increased self-understanding and a deeper therapeutic relationship.

Author Biography

MICHAEL J. NAKKULA is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he has helped to create the program in Risk and Prevention. He is also cofounder and director of Project IF: Inventing the Future, a school-based preventive collaborative involving Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Boston Public Schools. SHARON M. RAVITCH is a doctoral student in the Education, Culture and Society Program, an interdisciplinary program in anthropology, sociology, and education, at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She is a research fellow at the Cantor-Fitzgerald Center for Research on Diversity in Education at the University's Center for Urban Ethnography.