Synopses & Reviews
MASTERING COMPETENCIES IN FAMILY THERAPY: THEORY-BASED ASSESSMENT provides a competency-based approach to teaching clinical skills in marriage and family therapy, an approach already adopted by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). Using a light and inviting tone, Gehart offers a comprehensive five-step model for competent treatment which includes case conceptualization, clinical assessment (diagnosis) and case management, treatment planning, evaluation of progress, and documentation. The work also includes a set of useful clinical forms that can be applied in practice environments, as well as an introduction to the importance of theory and evidence-based practice in all five steps.
About the Author
Dr. Diane R. Gehart is a Professor in the Marriage, Family, and Couple Counseling Program at California State University, Northridge. Having taught and supervised students in counseling and family therapy for 20 years, she has authored numerous books, including MINDFULNESS AND ACCEPTANCE IN COUPLE AND FAMILY THERAPY, THE COMPLETE COUNSELING ASSESSMENT SYSTEM, MASTERING COMPETENCIES IN FAMILY THERAPY, THEORY AND TREATMENT PLANNING IN COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY, and THE COMPLETE MFT CORE COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT SYSTEM. She is also co-editor of COLLABORATIVE THERAPY: RELATIONSHIPS AND CONVERSATIONS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE and co-author of THEORY-BASED TREATMENT PLANNING FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS. Her two newest books are forthcoming: THEORY AND TREATMENT PLANNING IN FAMILY THERAPY and CASE DOCUMENTATION IN COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY. Dr. Gehart has written on postmodern therapies, mindfulness, mental health recovery, sexual abuse treatment, gender issues, children and adolescents, client advocacy, qualitative research, and education in family therapy. She speaks internationally, having conducted workshops to professional and general audiences in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Mexico. Her work has been featured in newspapers, radio shows, and television worldwide. She is an associate faculty member at three international post-graduate training institutes: the Taos Institute, Houston Galveston Institute, and the Marburg Institute for Collaborative Studies in Germany. Additionally, she is an active leader in state and national professional organizations. She maintains a private practice in Agoura Hills, California, specializing in couples, families, trauma, life transitions, and difficult-to-treat cases.
Table of Contents
Part I: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY COMPETENCIES. 1. Competency in Family Therapy. 2. Case Conceptualization. 3. Clinical Assessment. 4. Treatment Planning. 5. Evaluating Progress in Therapy. 6. Document It: Progress Notes. Part II: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY THEORIES. 7. Understanding the Role of Theory in Therapy. 8. Philosophical Foundations of Family Therapy Theories. 9. Systemic and Strategic Therapies. 10. Structural Therapy. 11. Experiential Family Therapies. 12. Intergenerational and Psychoanalytic Family Therapies. 13. Behavioral and Cognitive Couple and Family Therapies. 14. Solution-Based Therapies. 15. Collaborative and Narrative Therapies. 16. Group Therapy With Couples and Families. Closing Thoughts: Where to Go From Here?