Becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist: From Classroom to Consulting Room

Becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist is a practical “how to” guide designed to help trainee therapists bridge the gap between classroom and consulting room. Drawing on over 40 years’ experience, D. Eugene Mead demonstrates that for supervision to result in the positive changes needed to create successful client outcomes, therapists must focus on two basic factors: a good supervisory relationship, and attention to the task of improving therapy skills. The book shows readers how to reinforce these competencies by applying empirically-based methods to each of the core tasks of therapy.

Part I presents generic guidelines for all therapy models, including initial contact, assessment and treatment planning, evaluating treatment delivery, continuous evaluation of therapy outcomes, and terminating therapy. Part II goes on to provide treatment protocols that apply these guidelines to a number of well-known and empirically-supported marriage and family treatments.

The book also provides extended coverage on assessment and beginning treatment with crisis areas, often a difficult aspect for new therapists, and suggests how supervisors can support trainees in these and other challenging areas.