When: Friday, February 16, 2018
Where: 40 Center Street, Northampton, MA 01060
Instructor: Howard Wolfe, LMFT
This workshop was about how children can destroy family life through acts of revenge. They can ruin meal times, playtimes, vacations, morning and bedtime routines. These small and big moments are often acts of revenge. The child gets “hurt” by a parent and then seeks revenge. Unlike some family issues which can be easily corrected, the child who seeks revenge develops a narcissistic and self protective shell which can insulate him or her from all reason and correction. Parents often react by hurting back, creating and reinforcing a feud. This workshop presented an overview of a family systems approach to working with young children (age 3-11), explained the dynamics involved in revenge and discussed methods to prevent and heal it.
Howard C. Wolfe, MA, LMFT was trained as a Family Sociologist before completing two marriage and family therapy programs, one at Penn State (MA) in Human Development and one at The Minnesota State University (PhD program) in Home Economics. He has been practicing for many years in a variety of settings including street work with youth, mental health clinics (as a clinician, supervisor, and director), and in private practice.