Social Work With Multi-Family Groups

A volume aimed at helping the understanding of the interrelatedness of the primary family group and the formed therapeutic group. Multiple family therapy is a special type of group practice that involves the members of several families meeting together with a professional to work on common family concerns. This book aims to reflect the diversity of client populations and patterns and processes in these groups. It reveals to the professional what actually goes on in the process of group interactions and practitioner interventions. In this volume, social workers set forth a specific and careful definition of multiple family practice and examine the successful use of multi-family groups with families with child-labeled problems, institutionalized elderly suffering from physical and cognitive impairments and their family members, patients with life-threatening illness and their families, and several other support groups. Each of the practical examples illustrates how professionals can design helping systems for their clients that combine both professional and peer help and activate the help that is embedded in each client’s own family.