Family Therapy Supervision in Extraordinary Settings : Illustrations of Systemic Approaches in Everyday Clinical Work

Family Therapy Supervision in Extraordinary Settings showcases the dynamism of systemic family therapy supervision/consultation as it expands beyond typical and historical traditions. In this unique collection, contributors write about their innovations, unexpected learnings, and “perfect accidents” in the context of systemic therapy. These essays highlight creative approaches to supervision, present a wide variety of clinical cases and therapy settings, and demonstrate how training takes place in real time.

Each chapter illustrates increasingly diverse settings in which systemic family therapy services are delivered, whether in public mental health care for families across high-, low-, and middle-income countries, in areas of armed conflict or instability due to political violence or war, or stable, liberal democracies with robust public mental health systems. Each setting of supervision is extraordinary in the way it supports family therapy service delivery. Given the wide variation in access to systemic family therapy services, and the diverse settings in which systemic family therapy services are delivered, a set of brief, specific, and lively cases is called for that focus on the dynamic nature of a family therapy supervision and consultation interaction and its influence on clients, trainees, and supervisors.

Working as a family therapist in the world today, an era of global mental health, is as full of wonder and challenge as it was in the time family therapy originated as a profession. It is thus no accident that supervision and consultation work is just as extraordinary. This book will be essential reading for family therapy and counseling supervisors, as well as a helpful reference for supervisees.