ABSTRACT
Often the treatment of the family, one or more members of which may have a substance abuse problem is desirable. Such treatment allows the clinician to see the entire family as a unit, and the substance abuse problem as serving a "function," albeit a destructive one, within the family unit. The first stage of this type of treatment is suggesting, and then covincing, the essential members of the unit to come to treatment in the first place. Such engagement, and scheduling, can be considered part of the initial phase.
