Books in the AFTA SpringerBriefs in Family Therapy series

This brief explores how the ΓÇ£personΓÇ¥ 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 inspiring volume presents a unique and ethical professional framework for engaging in spiritual discussion in the context of family therapy. Addressing existential contradictions of life that can disrupt family functioning as well as religious restrictions that can create relational barriers, it models an open frame of mind for sensitive and respectful metaphysical work with diverse families. Chapter authors build on their own narratives of spiritual journey as they inform conversation with clients whose faith perspectives include Christianity, Judaism, Islam, African and Native American spiritual practice, Taoism, and Sikhism. These powerful dialogues illuminate the deeper tasks of therapy and offer significant opportunities for all family members to be involved in creating meaning and healing together.This one-of-a-kind book:Presents the narratives of a racially, culturally, and religiously diverse group of authorsExplores the challenges of metaphysical psychotherapeutic practiceFocuses on the intersection of therapeutic practice and spirituality in various cultural contextsGuides therapists in looking into their own spiritual lives and experienceModels methods for therapists using spirituality in sessions with familiesChallenging professionals to step beyond the perceived boundaries of the therapist/client relationship, Engaging with Spirituality in Family Therapy: Meeting in Sacred Space is rich and eloquent reading for practitioners and researchers in family therapy.

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 aspect of 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 Just Religious 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 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.