Applying Family Therapy: A Guide for Caring Professionals in the Community Book

All caring professionals encounter families or individual members in at least part of their work. This front-line reality is reflected in the family being the focus of health and social policy strategy. It is essential that caring professionals have high quality skills to bring effective intervention to families' problems. This comprehensive, practice-focussed text offers qualified, experienced workers, and trainees: an important therapeutic resource which links with and strengthens family support, early intervention and preventive practice with individuals or families; a framework for both assessment and intervention for use with children, young people and families, including adults receiving community care or mental health services; an opportunity to step back from direct work and understand how organisational and structural systems affect communities and the context of therapeutic work; a rich source of contemporary theory and knowledge to enhance a psycho-social perspective to deliver empowering, service-user focused practice; guidance on how to promote and deliver socially inclusive and culturally competent therapeutic practice within an ethical and empowering framework; guidance on how to synthesise attachment theory with systems theory to foster the optimum conditions for engaging with and understanding intra-familial relationships; a review of effectiveness evidence, best practice of family therapy, and guidance on how to include evaluation in everyday work. It is "...a refreshing read...in places positively inspiring. It allows you to organise your thinking and practice and then consider how it may be adapted or extended. It is a welcome addition to the literature on how to engage with families and focus on the areas of concern whilst also maximising the emphasis on change potential and strengths." Martin C. Calder.Read More