Adolescents and family therapy - does it work?Author: Kerry Proctor My experience of young people from Maltese family backgrounds is that they do not want to lose touch with their families. They do not want to 'individuate' or separate out from their parents, as is often assumed by professionals working with young people and their families in trouble. But they do feel 'unheard', and tom between two loyalties, without really understanding what it is their parents are loyal to. They speak often of the need to belong, and that this need to belong and to 'fit in' can mean that they belong to a peer group that iscausing them trouble. By being loyal to the belief that 'belonging is paramount to survival'they straddle both the belief system of their parents and that of the dominant culture of their 'upbringing. This, of course, causes chaos in the family system, and at school ' in the playground and at home. When the non-Maltese family therapist also has no real understanding of where the beliefs, values and experiences of the adult family members have come from they can inadvertently compound the experience of alienation between the generations within the family system. I knew almost nothing of the impact on Maltese families of the trauma, devastation and deprivations suffered through the two World Wars: the struggle for survival, loss of family members, the consequences of colonial policies that marginalised and disempowered the Maltese language and the historical pride and identity attached to it. The impact of this subjugation of a language rich in meaning, and expressive of a relational, holistic, and spiritual life that encompasses both Eastern and Western views of the world, can only be surmised and wondered about, as there seems to be very little written that describes the possible enduring psychological impact of such experiences. The system of 'closed apartheid' whereby to be Maltese in one's own homeland was to be deprived of their right to positions of seniority, authority, power and responsibility, may resonate in the migration experience, whereby access to education, health services, adequate language classes and secure employment is dependent on assimilation within a cultural milieu that continues to demand survival through adaptation and co-operation, rendering the essence of the culture invisible to its youth. I also wonder what the impact on families has been to move from an intensely communal and closely-connected small island culture to the sprawling, spacious and highly privatised suburban life here. There has been much talk at this forum of the need to privilege the teaching of the Maltese language to young people of Maltese background. I would also like to place a plea for the Maltese language to be taught as a community language across the school curriculum to both Maltese and non-Maltese students. The need to familiarise the non-Maltese community with what are the essential ingredients of Maltese history: culture, the stories of immigration, the passions that have enabled a people to survive almost against the odds, and the courage that continues to drive the determination to survive in the country of adoption. All seem to me be as important for enchanting and maintaining the self esteem of the young people as anything else. I have learnt as a family therapist not to 'fix things up'. I try to create a space where 'listening' can occur, even when it appears that everyone is talking at once! Often all it takes -is for the young people to hear the stories of the pain, courage, sacrifices, hopes and dreams of their significant adults, in order for them to find it easier to feel that they belong to something that intuitively they know is theirs. It seems important that more of these stories are told. I would hope that this forum is the first of many. Source: Maltese Background Youth - Editors Cauchi M, Borland H, Adams R, 1999, [Europe Australia Institute], p 83
   
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