ABSTRACT

Get a “sneak peek” at clinical vignettes that demonstrate the power of creative interventions!

Couples and families present unique challenges in therapy, and other books rarely illustrate the effectiveness of particular types of interventions on actual cases. The Couple and Family Therapist's Notebook provides clinicians with a wide range of practical field-tested therapy activities and homework that are solidly grounded to each intervention’s theoretical underpinning, then explores their effectiveness by briefly relating real-life cases. Continuing The Haworth Press Therapist’s Notebook series, respected experts detail how to perform several creative interventions and then follow with insightful clinical vignettes to illustrate under what specific circumstances each particular approach is effective.

Each chapter of The Couple and Family Therapist's Notebook: Homework, Handouts, and Activities for Use in Marital and Family Therapy has an objective statement to orient the reader to the homework, handout, or activity, followed by a rationale. Instructions explain how to perform the activity, followed by clinical case vignette, a section of contraindications, and a list of useful resources for both the practitioner and the client. Illustrations and appendixes also provide helpful guides for the therapist.

The Couple and Family Therapist's Notebook: Homework, Handouts, and Activities for Use in Marital and Family Therapy gives you the tools for approaches such as:

  • emotionally focused therapy
  • symbolic-experiential therapy
  • transgenerational theory
  • solution-focused therapy
  • experiential therapy
  • and many others
And some of the intervention techniques that are illustrated:
  • the Metaphor of Gardens
  • the Coming Clean Ritual
  • creating rituals for couples coping with early pregnancy loss
  • the Four C’s of Parenting
  • identifying family rules
  • the Systemic Kvebaek Technique
  • physical acting techniques
  • the Feelings Game
  • writing to combat adolescent silence in family therapy
  • Family Stress Balls
  • the Goodbye Book
  • the “Puppet Reflecting Team” Technique
  • family-based school interventions
  • and many more
The Couple and Family Therapist's Notebook: Homework, Handouts, and Activities for Use in Marital and Family Therapy provides invaluable insight and vital clinical tools for creative couple and family intervention, perfect for adaptation by counselors, psychotherapists, practitioners in private practice, school systems, hospitals, government settings, homeless shelters, and not-for-profit agencies and counseling centers.

part |2 pages

Section I: Interventions for Couples

chapter 1|6 pages

The Aesthetics of Communication

chapter 4|12 pages

Money Talks

chapter 5|8 pages

How Does Your Garden Grow?

chapter 7|8 pages

The Coming-Clean Ritual

part |2 pages

Section II: Interventions for Families

chapter 9|6 pages

The Four Cs of Parenting

chapter 10|8 pages

Identifying Family Rules

chapter 13|8 pages

Communicating with Children: Feelings Game

chapter 15|8 pages

Royal Flush

chapter 16|6 pages

Put on a Happy Face

chapter 17|6 pages

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

chapter 18|4 pages

Family Stress Balls

chapter 19|6 pages

Up, Up, and Away in My Beautiful Balloon

chapter 20|4 pages

Drawing the Family System

chapter 25|8 pages

Communicating with Teens: Movie Exchange

chapter 26|8 pages

The "Puppet Reflecting Team" Technique

part |2 pages

Section III: Interventions Including Larger Systems