Now in a substantially revised second edition, this widely adopted text and practical guidebook presents the fundamentals of family-based intervention with clients struggling with chronic poverty-related crises and life stressors. Grounded in Salvador Minuchin's influential systemic model and the extensive experience of all three highly regarded authors, the book illustrates innovative ways for professionals within substance abuse, foster care, and mental health contexts to build collaboration with families and other helpers, and to elicit families' strengths. The second edition features many new case examples and includes discussions of exemplary programs. It also gives increased attention to key factors that make agencies effective and enable them to maintain a family focus over time. --- from the publisher Critical Acclaim: "This brilliant and humane second edition is a 'must read' for all those who truly want to make a difference in the complex needs of poor families today. Using a family and systems resource model, the authors show how to transform efforts that are typically uncoordinated into integrated, effective services that highlight clients' strengths. They offer an indispensable practical framework for teaching, practice, and policy focused on low-income families facing multiple life stressors." -Celia J. Falicov, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego "This wonderful second edition contains powerful new case examples that have expanded the authors' seminal work with poor families into many different areas. The book serves a need, so often expressed by clinicians, for effective, 'real-world' intervention strategies that incorporate a family systems approach. This is an essential text for use in training and continuing education in all mental health fields, and an invaluable addition to the libraries of beginning and experienced clinicians." -Nancy Boyd-Franklin, PhD, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University "The second edition of this classic book buttresses the authors' case for a family approach in substance abuse treatment, child welfare, and mental health contexts, offering up-to-date examples of interventions that have helped individuals reconnect with their families. For a half-century, these authors have relentlessly advocated a family perspective in human services, and have creatively demonstrated how family-focused care can be done. This valuable book is both an inspiration and a practical resource for practitioners and administrators in all fields of human service." -Gordon Harper, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Contents: I. Fundamentals of Family-Oriented Thought and Practice 1.The New Edition: Elements of Constancy and Change 2. The Framework: A Systems Orientation and a Family-Centered Approach 3. Working in the System: Family-Supportive Skills 4. Changing the System: Family-Supportive Procedures II. Implementing a Family-Oriented Model in Service Systems 5. Substance Abuse: A Family-Oriented Approach to Diverse Populations 6. Foster Care: Children, Families, and the System 7. The Mental Health of Children 8. Moving Mountains: Toward a Family Orientation in Service Systems About the Authors: Patricia Minuchin, PhD, Family Studies, Inc., and the Minuchin Center for the Family, New York, NY Jorge Colapinto, LPsych, LMFT, Ackerman Institute for the Family, New York, NY Salvador Minuchin, MD, Family Studies, Inc., and the Minuchin Center for the Family, New York, NY |