Families that Flourish: Facilitating Resilience in Clinical Practice

Dorothy S. Becvar

Praise for Families that Flourish:

“This book touches the mind and hearts of the reader . . . [it] is a great resource for therapists to help them shift their gaze from pathology-based approaches to a resiliency-based perspective.”
—Jerry Gale, Ph.D., Director, MFT Doctoral Program, Department of Child and Family Development, The University of Georgia

Overview – Contents

Definitive clinical methods from the key researcher and practioner in the field.

Resilience is a fundamental therapeutic idea. A resilient person or family has the ability to stretch in response to difficult situations, managing well and rebounding with an increased capacity to deal with life's challenges. Unfortunately, therapists have a difficult time putting this powerful idea to work in the clinical setting. Becvar stresses that clinicians should not just help their clients engage in problem solving but that therapists need to collaborate with families in order to promote their abilities to cope with present and future crises. The goal of therapy is to identify and then augment these unique strengths in order to cope and, then, flourish.

In Families that Flourish Becvar describes the characteristics of families that function successfully, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Using a therapeutic perspective that integrates the perceptions of the clients into the therapist's own clinical approach, Becvar emphasizes the importance of including in therapy a consideration of ways to facilitate resilience. Guidelines for working with a wide variety of families and situations are provided, with case examples illustrating concepts and therapeutic interventions.

About the Author

Dorothy S. Becvar, Ph.D., MSW is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Saint Louis University. She has authored or co-authored many books, including In the Presence of Grief, Soul Healing, and Family Therapy: A Systemic Integration, 6th edition.

ISBN 10: 0-393-70488-2
ISBN 13: 978-0-393-70488-4
2006 / 320 pages / Hardcover