Current research about families and couples who have children with autism is discussed using the Double ABCX model as a guide. A case study is presented along with recommendations for therapists who work with couples who have children with autism. Marriage and family therapists are encouraged to use the Double ABCX model as both an assessment tool…

This qualitative study examined how a group of families and their therapists described helpful therapy. The qualitative analysis generated family and therapist perspectives. As a double description, the therapist and family perspectives highlighted conversation, participation, and relationship as three core areas of helpful therapy. These are…

The AAMFT Task Force on Core Competencies (Nelson et al., 2007) proposed that marriage and family therapy (MFT) educators teach and provide evidence of trainee competence beyond coursework and accrued clinical hours. This article describes the integration of a systematic client feedback protocol into an MFT-accredited program's curricula to…

This article introduces a tool that serves as a guide for building an effective bridge between the personal and technical aspects of therapy in supervision. The instrument is based on a model of clinical supervision that emphasizes the purposeful utilization of self--in the moment, with both flaws and strengths--in the therapeutic relationship in…

A continuation of Part I, which introduced mental health recovery concepts to family therapists, Part II of this article outlines a collaborative, appreciative approach for working in recovery-oriented contexts. This approach draws primarily upon postmodern therapies, which have numerous social justice and strength-based practices that are easily…

Drexel University's Couple and Family Therapy Department recently introduced a formal course on training the person of a therapist. The course is based on Aponte's Person-of-the-Therapist Training Model that up until now has only been applied in private, nonacademic institutes with postgraduate therapists. The model attempts to put into practice a…

In this article we share our personal and professional experiences, struggles, and growth, as former trainees of the Person-of-the-Therapist Training pilot study, conducted during our master's coursework in the Couple and Family Therapy Department at Drexel University. We include our perceptions of the training process in vivo, the challenges and…

This study examined the relationship between alliance and retention in family therapy. Alliance was examined at the individual (parent, adolescent) and family level (within-family differences) for families that either dropped out or completed family therapy. Participants were 31 Hispanic adolescents and their family members who received brief…

Limited empirical information exists on whether or not marriage and family therapists are having sexuality-related discussions with their clients. When helping professionals ignore client sexuality, the potential for unintended negative outcomes increases. The researchers surveyed 175 clinical members of the American Association for Marriage and…

Examines criticisms of strategic therapy (that it adheres to "black box" philosophy and that interventions appear instrumental, manipulative, and based on therapist power) in light of rise of eclecticism and resurgence of primacy of therapeutic relationship. Argues that, to remain feasible, strategic therapy must include contributions of…

Explores view that strategic therapists ignore client feelings. Considers a myth promulgated by trainers' admonitions and strategic therapists and injunctions against dealing with client affect and cultivated by omission of this topic in strategic literature. Sees myth as destructive in that it misrepresents what strategic practitioners do in…

Presents ethical directions in two broad areas often seen as inherent in strategic approach (conscious deception and intervention outside client awareness). Emerging from a discussion of the clinical implications of a constructivist view and a meaning system vocabulary of client change, five ethical presuppositions are exemplified. Discusses…

Examines variety of positions regarding strategic principles that have been taken in the debate within systemic therapy movement. Considers strategic therapy in terms of distinction between therapeutic process and content and distinction between realist and antirealist epistemologies, arguing that there is more convergence among proponents of…

Contends that, when therapists do not adequately account for the position of clients, they fall prey to temptation of certainty and that, when therapists attempt to impose corrections from such certainty, they fall prey to temptation of power. Offers suggestions for sidestepping power/certainty by contrasting therapies of power and certainty with…

To deepen our understanding of the therapeutic alliance in conjoint treatment, we interviewed clients in four families about their individual, private experience of the alliance after an early session. These qualitative data were triangulated with family members' scores on Pinsof's Family Therapy Alliance Scale-Revised and observational ratings of…