The 'Similar but Different' Family role-play is a technique used within the Resolutions approach. By setting the context in a different, hypothetical, family, the technique facilitates discussion of issues that the real family may consider to be too close to home.

This part of Resolutions work involves carers who co-construct with the Resolutions worker a 'Similar but Different' family scenario, choosing names for parents and children that are different to their own family names. Many details about the lifestyle of the 'Similar but Different' family may be different to those of the real one: the number of children is different, as are the ages - but the abuse will be similar enough.

When in role, the carers consider the point of view and feelings of the 'Similar but Different' family members: a child/victim, siblings, the abuser, the safer carer, the extended family.

There is also a future orientation that considers life in the 'Similar but Different' family in five, ten, twenty, perhaps thirty years time, when the hypothetical carers are by then grandparents. By this means the long-term narrative of the 'Similar but Different' family attempts to provide a model of the future for the real parents.

At the end of the 'Similar but different' family sessions the carers (now out of role) are invited to consider any connections these sessions may have for them in their real family and situation.

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