Becoming A Family Counselor

A complete and accessible resource for working with couples and families Becoming a Family Counselor sets a new standard for family therapy texts. Working from a broad historical orientation, it focuses on the common themes that reappear across various theoretical approaches and connects family practice with individual approaches. Crossing boundaries of generation, gender, race, and culture, this useful introduction presents current thinking related to today's practice issues. The text begins with an overview of couple and family counseling, emphasizing the diversity and unity in the field. The development of the field is examined, from its roots in the nineteenth century through its identity crisis in the 1980s. Subsequent chapters lay out an integrated approach to contemporary family research, theory, and therapy; core chapters focus on understanding the contributions of behavioral, organizational, narrative, emotional, and spiritual perspectives. The last section of the book offers practical chapters on conducting family therapy in organizational contexts that often define the client in individual terms. Readers are encouraged to balance a change orientation with a respect for continuity and tradition. Complete with illuminating case studies, self-evaluation exercises, suggestions for independent study, and current ethics codes, Becoming a Family Counselor is a dynamic resource suitable for both students and practicing mental health professionals.

A complete and accessible resource for working with couples and families Becoming a Family Counselor sets a new standard for family therapy texts. Working from a broad historical orientation, it focuses on the common themes that reappear across various theoretical approaches and connects family practice with individual approaches. Crossing boundaries of generation, gender, race, and culture, this useful introduction presents current thinking related to today's practice issues. The text begins with an overview of couple and family counseling, emphasizing the diversity and unity in the field. The development of the field is examined, from its roots in the nineteenth century through its identity crisis in the 1980s. Subsequent chapters lay out an integrated approach to contemporary family research, theory, and therapy; core chapters focus on understanding the contributions of behavioral, organizational, narrative, emotional, and spiritual perspectives. The last section of the book offers practical chapters on conducting family therapy in organizational contexts that often define the client in individual terms. Readers are encouraged to balance a change orientation with a respect for continuity and tradition. Complete with illuminating case studies, self-evaluation exercises, suggestions for independent study, and current ethics codes, Becoming a Family Counselor is a dynamic resource suitable for both students and practicing mental health professionals.

Suitable for readers experiencing their first foray into family counseling, as well as for seasoned practitioners confused by the competing array of theoretical orientations and technical approaches, Becoming a Family Counselor first orients the reader to the field of family therapy and then presents five themes inherent in successful family intervention. The book concludes with practical chapters on conducting family therapy in an individually oriented reimbursement environment, developing change-oriented interactional styles, and engaging in ethically sound practice.

How does one obtain employment and succeed in the growing yet competitive field of family therapy? For anyone asking themselves this question, The Marriage and Family Therapy Career Guide is the resource to read. It is structured around a series of interviews with successful graduates of accredited MFT programs and covers a wide range of career options. Not only is up-to-date information on licensure and practice requirements for each state included, the authors also present agency, residential, coaching, medical, legal, tribal, academic, corporate, faith-based, and private practice options. The book ends with a section for those professionals who wish to practice abroad. This is an indispensable guide for marriage and family therapists wishing to start their career, or change their area of practice.

Introduction to Family Counseling: A Case Study Approach presents basic knowledge about family counseling and applies various theoretical models to a case example looking at one nuclear family, along with its extended family members, that readers follow throughout the text. Judy Esposito and Abbi Hattem’s multi-generational family is constructed from their experiences as professors and family therapists to exemplify the concepts and theories of family counseling. Beyond the theories of family counseling, students learn about the family life cycle and various tools for assessing families as well as the history of family counseling. Ethical issues relevant to family counseling are also included along with transcripts from hypothetical family counseling sessions throughout the book. In addition, the book focuses on working with diverse families and takes special care to emphasize multicultural issues.

"What the heck is my partner thinking?" is a common refrain in romantic relationships, and with good reason. Every person is wired for love differently, with different habits, needs, and reactions to conflict. The good news is that most people's minds work in predictable ways and respond well to security, attachment, and rituals, making it possible to actually neurologically prime the brain for greater love and fewer conflicts. Wired for Love is a complete insider's guide to understanding a partner's brain and promoting love and trust within a romantic relationship. Readers learn ten scientific principles they can use to avoid triggering fear and panic in their partners, manage their partners' emotional reactions when they do become upset, and recognize when the brain's threat response is hindering their ability to act in a loving way. By learning to use simple gestures and words, readers can learn to put out emotional fires and help their partners feel more safe and secure. The no-fault view of conflict in this book encourages readers to move past a ""warring brain"" mentality and toward a more cooperative ""loving brain"" understanding of the relationship. Based in the sound science of neurobiology, attachment theory, and emotion regulation research, this book is essential reading for couples and others interested in understanding the complex dynamics at work behind love and trust in intimate relationships.

Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) is a profession that is expected to grow rapidly over the next ten years. This timely text provides the essential knowledge base for all facets of supervision in marriage and family therapy that is required to become an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. The book focuses specifically on the distinctive model of supervision used in Marriage and Family Therapy and further examines the unique supervisory issues arising within different approaches to the profession. Distinguished by its use of a single case example across chapters to help clarify how different theories differ and overlap, the book embraces the full range of theoretical approaches, in addition to featuring a “nuts and bolts” approach to the day-to-day fundamentals of MFT supervision. Grounded in the most up-to-date literature, the text discusses methods and issues of MFT supervision within multigenerational, structural, cognitive-behavioral, narrative, feminist, integrative, brief, and other supervision models. The text also surveys the most important and emerging settings and populations in which marriage and family therapists work, including medical and post-disaster trauma-informed practices. It covers legal and ethical issues and discusses how culture, gender, and ethnicity must be considered during the supervision process. The text also addresses how to tailor supervision to the supervisee’s developmental level. Examples of common supervision dilemmas vividly demonstrate foundational principles. With contributions from leading marriage and family therapy educators and experienced supervisors, the text is designed for therapists at both the Master’s and Doctoral levels who seek the Approved Supervisor Credential and for MFT faculty who teach the AAMFT supervision course. Key Features: Meets the learning requirements for AAMFT-mandated courses leading to certification as an approved supervisor Covers the fundamentals of supervision in the systemic context that lies at the heart of marriage and family therapy Covers supervision in the major approaches to MFT, including cognitive-behavioral, brief, narrative, structural, and other orientations Provides an illustrative case study across all supervision models to demonstrate the uniqueness and similarities of each approach Includes coverage of important populations and settings for MFT, such as medical and post-disasters.