AFTA SpringerBriefs in Family Therapy – serie

This insightful work answers essential questions in family therapy by exploring the ethical use of religion and spirituality in the clinical context. Its justice-informed framework explores how to employ the spiritual as a source of resilience and empowerment as well as counter harmful spiritual and religious influences in situations that cause families and couples stress, particularly relating to gender, sexuality, race, culture, and identity. Powerful case studies show therapists and clients collaborating on meaning-making and comfort in the face of longstanding conflict, acute and chronic illness, estrangement, and loss. Coverage also explores the ethical responsibilities of determining whether beliefs are helpful or harmful to client mental health and offers guidelines for therapists navigating personal biases regarding faith. This vital text:·         Spotlights the influence of an often-overlooked aspectof mental health·         Provides detailed examples of religion and spirituality across diverse families and issues·         Outlines practical strategies for integrating helpful aspects of clients’ relationship with the sacred into treatment·         Offers a framework for countering harmful aspects of clients’ religious beliefs or practices·         Includes interventions used with couples, parents/children, and other family units·         Adds a socially just perspective on the spiritual dimension of mind/body concerns·         Encourages readers’ professional development and self-reflection  Addressing critical issues where belief frequently takes center stage, Socially JustReligious and Spiritual Interventions is an invaluable resource for family therapists, psychotherapists, and other professionals pursuing a socially just, clinically relevant approach to spiritual and religious therapeutic integration.

This innovative book examines how family health and well-being have been impacted by increased alienation from the natural world and calls for greater incorporation of ecological issues into therapeutic practice. Positioning environmental activism as a critical social justice issue, the book highlights the unique opportunities for family therapists to promote reconnection, healing, and sustainability by integrating attention to nature and the environment into their work. Contributors also recommend clinical ideas, strategies, and interventions that can be employed as part of this approach to therapy, research, and teaching.Among the topics covered:Developmental benefits of childhood experiences with natureApplications of indigenous healing methods in Western practiceWilderness and adventure therapy immersionClinical, educational, and supervisory applications of an eco-informed approach to therapyThe first work of its kind to address the overlap in environmental and family sustainability in the field of family therapy, Eco-Informed Practice: Family Therapy in an Age of Ecological Peril fills a significant gap in family therapy literature. Students and professionals in mental health fields will find this book an enlightening perspective on family therapy as well as a set of useful guidelines for implementing this exciting new approach in clinical practice.

This brief explores how the “person” of the therapist is developed when training and working in medical settings. It highlights important and often unspoken topics such as the personal, professional, cultural, ethical, and competency dilemmas new clinicians regularly face. The brief also addresses how personal experience with illness, death, cultural differences, and stigma may impact professionals in everyday practice.Topics featured in this Brief include:Helpful tips and tricks for new professionals entering a medical setting for the first time.Working with patients who suffer from chronic and terminal illnesses.Sociocultural norms and values that are often present in a medical setting.A new framework for identifying and treating professional burnout.How to handle ethical situations in medical organizations.Self of the Therapist in Medical Settings is a must-have resource for clinicians, professionals, supervisors, and faculty working in medical settings.

This volume advocates for justice in language rights through its explorations of bilingualism in family therapy, from the perspectives of eighteen languages identified by the authors: Black Talk/Ebonics/Slang, Farsi, Fenglish, Arabic, Italian, Cantonese Chinese, South Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Chilean Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Colombian Spanglish, Madrileño Spanish, Spanglish, Pocho Spanish, Colloquial Spanish, and English. It identifies standard English as the current language most often used across family therapy programs and services in the United States. The book discusses efforts to respond to the rapidly changing linguistic landscape and the increasingly high demand for appropriate therapy services that respond effectively to diverse families in America. It discusses recruitment and training of linguistically diverse family therapists and strategies to promote linguistic equality to support the rights of family therapists, their practices, and the communitiesthey serve. Chapters explore ways to integrate languages in professional and personal lives, including the improvisational, self-taught translanguaging skills and practices that go beyond the lexical and grammatical rules of a language. The book describes the creative use of native or heritage languages to ensure that the juxtaposition of English therapeutic and daily-life landscapes is integrated into family therapy settings. It discusses contextual, relational, therapeutic, and training potential offered by bilingualism as well as the necessary transmutations in theory and practice.This volume is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health as well as all interrelated disciplines.

This book highlights the need for family therapists to identify their social location characteristics, evaluate the impact of their social location on their professional relationships, and process the role social location has on their academic, supervisory and clinical position.

This book examines international perspectives on intimate partner violence (IPV). It highlights the current state of IPV prevention and intervention efforts across countries, including Colombia, Iran, Russia, China, India, Turkey, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Finland, and the United States. The book examines the countries of origin in context (e.g., population, area, religion, ethnic diversity) and includes current rates of IPV in each country. In addition, it addresses growth areas and challenges regarding IPV prevention and intervention, including legal issues as well as cultural and social contexts and their relation to IPV – and the clinical interventions used – within each country. The book discusses challenges and opportunities for growth and seeks to gain a more robust and systemic perspective on the global phenomenon of IPV. It examines how larger social, cultural, and global factors affect the lives of the individuals whom family therapists serve and advocate for as well asprovide guidance for culturally appropriate clinical and prevention practices. Key areas of coverage include: ·         International perspectives on intimate partner violence.·         Intervention and resources available for victims of intimate partner violence.·         Policies and laws relating to intimate partner violence. International Perspectives on Intimate Partner Violence is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health, as well as all interrelated disciplines.

The book examines the lived experiences of systemic family therapy educators. It addresses the issues of power and justice that they face in family therapy training programs, including their teaching experiences with students, interactions with faculty, and challenges within academic institutions. It describes how family therapy programs attempt to incorporate cultural awareness with mixed results (e.g., focusing only on how to work with diverse clients or not supporting faculty from across social locations). The book explores the ways in which family therapy educators with intersecting marginalized identities continue to be oppressed across different areas of academia.The book addresses issues of power that systemic family therapy educators face within the academia itself at three different levels:Personal interactions with students that create more complete understanding of issues of power.Professional interactions with colleagues that provide support and accountability.Political interventions aimed at changing the larger academic institution.Chapters focus on countering unjust practices in academic settings. Authors reflect on personal experiences across these three levels and, then, offer concrete suggestions for intervention. These include teaching experiences or meaningful interactions with students that support empowerment or increased awareness; relationships with colleagues that promote accountability and growth; and needed changes or challenges to the larger structure of academia.Social Justice and Systemic Family Therapy Training is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health as well as all interrelated disciplines.

This book examines the effects of sociocultural trauma throughout the 20th century on interpersonal and family relationships in five Eastern European countries, drawing on the perspectives of mental health practitioners. Chapters employ a systemic perspective to explore the unique social, political, and cultural contexts that influence relationships in each country with a particular focus on implications for psychological and relational well-being. The volume demonstrates the importance of examining the cultural and sociocontextual nuances and complexity that may influence the impact of historical events on relationships, elucidating similarities and differences among countries in how the collective trauma has influenced them. It assists family therapists and other mental health practitioners in recognizing cultural and social factors that may influence their work with families, individuals, or couples living in these countries or who have immigrated from them.Keyareas of coverage include:Descriptions of each country’s experience of sociocultural trauma and the current social-cultural-economic-political contexts.Impact of trauma on interpersonal relationships across various social locations and national and ethnic identities within the existing borders.Current challenges, recommendations for clinical practice, and future directions for research and practice.Sociocultural Trauma and Well-Being in Eastern European Family Therapy is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health as well as all interrelated disciplines.

This book examines issues of intersectionality and multicultural competency, humility, and sensitivity necessary to work with interracial, intercultural, and interfaith couples. It describes a therapeutic approach that combines a social constructionist framework with ecological systems theory using an intersectional lens. Chapters explore key issues relevant to interracial, intercultural, and interfaith couples across the lifespan, including attraction and dating, cohabitation, marriage and polyamory, children, retirement as well as such potentially challenging topics as sex, politics, and religion.Featured areas of coverage include:How to apply ecological systems theory and social constructionism to guide self of the therapist reflections and clinical interventions that address the nuances of intersectionality among interracial, intercultural, and interfaith couples across the lifespan.Attention to intersectionality between therapists and clients.Strategies for addressing challenging issues within the current political environment in which diversity is debated and may become divisive.Case applications and extended reflectionsInterracial, Intercultural, and Interfaith Couples and Families Across the Life Cycle: A Clinician’s Guide is an essential resource for clinicians, therapists, and practitioners as well as researchers, professors, and graduate students in family studies, clinical psychology, and public health, as well as all interrelated disciplines.

This Brief from the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) is a collection of chapters from the AFTA Monograph Series. The chapters specifically address responses to a wide range of contextual phenomena from a relational family therapy perspective. Chapters are grounded in family systems concepts and informed by postmodern perspectives including social justice. The collection provides cutting edge thinking and practices for a variety of experiences that strongly impact individuals and families. Authors address the treatment of couples and families oppressed by socio-contextual phenomena such as war and poverty, and of those marginalized by the insidious impact of dominant discourse on relationships and on the therapeutic context, for example, sexual/gender identity and sexual practices. Established practitioners and scholars with particular expertise in the areas addressed bring exceptional transparency and knowledge to the descriptions of their work. Researchers, clinicians, educators, and students of family and couples therapy will find this volume very useful.

This path-breaking volume introduces Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy for clinical work with troubled couples. Practice-focused and engaging, it integrates real-world knowledge of the intersections of gender, culture, power, and identity in relationships with empirical findings on the neurobiology of attraction. Case examples detail the process of therapists in the moment as they develop both their clinical skills and their understanding of the social contexts fueling couples' difficulties. Applications of the method, which can be used with same-sex couples as well as heterosexual ones, are shown in addressing infidelity, tapping into partners' spirituality, and modeling and encouraging mutual respect and support.Among the topics covered:Undoing gendered power in heterosexual couple relationships.Interpersonal neurobiology, couples, and the societal context.How gender discourses hijack couple therapy—and how it can be avoided.How SERT therapists develop interventions that address the larger context.Building a circle of care in same-sex couple relationships.Couple therapy with adult survivors of child abuse: gender, power, and trust.Socio-Emotional Relationship Therapy opens out practical new possibilities for marriage and family therapists, clinical psychologists, social workers, and counselors seeking ideas for more meaningful couples work.

This volume applies critical social theories to family therapy practice, using sociopolitical context for a clearer focus on the power dynamics of couple and family relationships. Its decolonizing approach to therapy is shown countering the pervasive cultural themes that grant privilege to specific groups over others, feeding unequal and oppressive relationships that bring families and couples to treatment. Therapy is shown here as a layered and nuanced process, with practitioners developing an ethical human rights perspective toward their work as they aid clients in negotiating for greater justice and equity in their relationships. The book bridges theory and practice by giving readers these essential tools:Strategies for asking clients about social class.A framework for understanding gender issues within the larger patriarchy.Guidelines for relating concepts of race and class in therapy.Structure for creating the family cartography.Ways to utilize a queer perspective in therapy.Illustrative case examples throughout.Breaking new ground in family therapy, Applying Critical Social Theories to Family Therapy Practice challenges social workers, social work researchers, therapists, and psychologists to push beyond current ideas of social awareness and cultural competence toward truly liberatory client-centered practice. .

This thorough reviewof social justice in family therapy guides practitioners to incorporateconcepts of equity and fairness in their work. Expanding on the relationshipsbetween larger social contexts and individuals’ family functioning, it offers practicalstrategies for talking with families about power disparities, injustice, and respect,and for empowering clients inside and outside the therapy room. Case studiesand discussions with therapists illustrate how family challenges are commonly exacerbatedoutside the home, and the potential for this understanding to help clients worktoward positive change while improving therapists’ professional development. Thebook’s accessible, solution-focused approach shows small therapeutic steps changingfamilies, communities, and clinical practice for the better.Included in thecoverage:Family therapy + social justice + dailypractices = transforming therapy.Researcher as practitioner: practitioneras researcher.Learning to speak social justice talk infamily therapy.Supporting the development of novicetherapists.Everyday solution-focused recursion:when family therapy faculty, supervisors, researchers, students, andclients play well together.Family therapy stories: stretchingcustomary family therapy practices.At once down-to-earth and inspiring, Family Therapy as SociallyTransformative Practice is a must read for those interested in familytherapy and family-centered practices and policies.

This brief applies variations in poststructural thinking and practice to the field of family therapy. Poststructural thinking pervades the world of therapeutic practice in ways that are often invisible to both the theoretician as well as the practitioner.  In this brief, the authors focus on what poststructuralism has brought to our understanding. What follows are chapters that speak to training and teaching principles as well as to practices that draw on ideas about “becoming,” “relationality,” and “the aesthetics of engagement." Each chapter builds on the other with the last one reprising a key component of narrative understanding. From a teaching institution in Auckland, NZ to an online training program in Minneapolis, from new thinking about “auto-ethnography” to a “de-centered” practice to “poetic” resistance, the chapters in this brief offer exciting ideas and practice possibilities.

This book brings together a diverse set of clinicians, scholars, and researchers actively using systemic family therapy ideas within the context of ongoing or recent humanitarian intervention. The contributions focus on critical issues specific to the practice of family therapy within global mental health contexts, with a particular attention to the humanitarian sphere. Issues covered include treatment across cultures and language barriers, work in settings with covert and overt threats, practice in low-resource situations, and the creation of a family therapy program that relates to peace-building, reconciliation, and post-war discourse. The diverse group of authors contributes practical information and content specific to the training, supervision and/or delivery of family-based services, and offer specific principles and recommendations for family therapy practitioners and researchers.

This research-to-practice volume grounds clinicians in a robust, culturally-informed framework for conducting effective therapy with Asian-American couples, families, and individuals. Family, cultural, social, and spiritual dynamics are explored across ethnicities, generations, relationships, and immigrant/citizen experience to reflect a diverse, growing population. Discussion and case examples focus on contrasts, conflicts, and balances involved in acculturation and change, notably the shift from collectivist cultural tradition to a more independent view of the self, gender, choices, and relationships. The contributors’ finely shaded guidance and accessible approach will help therapists provide appropriate services for Asian-American clients without minimizing or pathologizing their experiences.Included in the coverage:How Asian American couples negotiate relational harmony: collectivism and gender equality.Through religion: working-class Korean immigrant women negotiate patriarchy.The role of Chinese grandparents in their adult children’s parenting practices in the United States.Balancing the old and the new: the case of second generation Filipino American women.Bicultural identity as a protective factor among Southeast Asian American youth who have witnessed domestic violence. Transition and Change in Collectivist Family Life is a cogent clinical resource for practitioners and mental health professionals with interests in Asian-American family therapy, psychotherapy, collectivism, and faith-based community and counseling.

This important resource offers theoretical and practical approaches to understanding and working with cultural realities in training and supervision, particularly in family therapy. Clinical wisdom, empirical findings, real-world examples, and hands-on suggestions demonstrate the vital role of building and sustaining cultural awareness, both in supervisory work with trainees and in therapists providing fair, effective, and relevant services to clients. In the book’s multiple perspectives on the complexities of cultural identity, the attainment of cultural safety is shown as an ongoing process, part of professional development as well as self-knowledge across the lifespan. Critical distinctions are also drawn between cultural safety and relatively static concepts within cross-cultural competencies.Included in the coverage:A framework for integrating an understanding of oppression dynamics in clinical work and supervision.Expandingconversations about cultural responsiveness in supervision.When dominant culture values meet diverse clinical settings: perspectives from an African American supervisor.Safety and social justice in the supervisory relationship.Towards safe and equitable relationships: sociocultural attunement in supervision.Comprehensive multicultural curriculum: self-awareness as process.        Developing cultural awareness and sensitivity through simulation.Creating Cultural Safety in Couple and Family Therapy will enhance the work of social workers, mental health professionals, and practitioners working family therapy cases seeking perspectives on addressing diverse multicultural realities as they intersect with clinical supervision and training.