EFTA Research Café: Assessing Competencies in Systemic Family Therapy: Navigating the Tension Between Complexity and Standardisation

With Dr Marina Everri & Dr Mattia Messena

Chairperson: Matthias Ochs

The assessment of psychotherapeutic competencies in systemic family therapy is marked by a fundamental tension between the epistemological foundations of the systemic approach, grounded in social constructionism and second-order cybernetics, and the demand for standardised evaluation procedures. Current assessment tools reported in the literature and employed in systemic family therapy training appear to address this tension only partially, either lacking sufficient comprehensiveness or failing to incorporate a genuinely second-order evaluative perspective.

This contribution presents an overview of international research on competency assessment in systemic family therapy, alongside ongoing research conducted within the Systemic Family Therapy Programme at the UCD School of Medicine, Dublin, Ireland. In particular, we first report the findings of a systematic review of methods used to assess competencies in systemic family therapy. Subsequently, we describe a collaborative research project, undertaken in partnership with the Centro Bolognese di Terapia Familiare, which focuses on the development of a novel tool for the assessment of psychotherapeutic competencies.

By bringing these strands of work together, we aim to stimulate critical discussion on assessment practices and curriculum design in systemic training, and to contribute to the development of assessment tools that meaningfully support reflexivity in systemic clinical practice.

Dr Marina Everri (She/Her): Dr. Marina Everri is a social psychologist, systemic psychotherapist, and Assistant Professor at the UCD School of Medicine, Dublin, where she also serves as Deputy Programme Director for the Professional Masters in Systemic Psychotherapy. Her research investigates adolescent development, family functioning, and the impacts of stigma and discrimination, looking at how social relations, mental health, and power intersect. Additionally, she has established an international collaboration between Ireland, Italy and North America focusing on immersive virtual reality training for family therapists and social and healthcare professionals. At UCD, Dr Marina Everri founded and directs the AdoDigitFam Research Lab, which brings together international postgraduate students and visiting scholars working at the intersection of mental health, digital technologies, social relations, and inequality. Alongside her academic roles, she provides consultancy and supervision to professionals in healthcare, education, and social services in Ireland and Italy.

Dr Mattia Messena (He/Him): Dr Mattia Messena is a psychologist and systemic psychotherapist. He is currently a Lecturer and Clinical Service Coordinator for the Professional Masters in Systemic Psychotherapy at the UCD School of Medicine, Dublin. His research examines the role of digital technologies in child development and family dynamics, with a specific focus on digital skills acquisition. He is a member of the AdoDigitFam Research Lab at UCD, which investigates the intersections of mental health, digital technology, and social relations. Recently, his work has expanded to focus on the assessment processes used to evaluate psychotherapeutic competencies in systemic psychotherapy training programmes, a project conducted in collaboration with the Centro Bolognese di Terapia Familiare in Italy.
 

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