Core Focused Family Therapy:

Moving From Chaos to Clarity

by Judye Hess PhD and Ross Cohen, MA. 

June, 2008,

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The book describes Judye Hess' approach to Family Therapy which is humanistic and experientially oriented. It is particularly appropriate for students of psychology/family therapy as well as practitioners in the field. Core Focused Family Therapy guides the reader in making the paradigm shift to working with a systemic model by explaining this shift in a clear and specific way that can be easily understood and utilized.

The book is divided into three sections.

Section I discusses the general principles and values of Core Focused Family Therapy, desirable qualities of a therapist who may choose to practice in this method,and its relationship to other schools of family therapy. Section II provides a detailed description of how to put CFFT into use in a practical hands-on way.

Section III offers alternative methods of using CFFT when the whole family or parts of the family cannot be present.

Section III also includes a detailed account of how to use Psychodramatic Family Therapy in the classroom situation.

REVIEWS:

1. The authors have provided a comprehensive and effective clinical approach for working with families. What particularly distinguishes this book from much of the current family therapy literature is the emphasis on the role of the therapist. The authors explore in depth the skills and personal attributes of the therapist that are critical for achieving positive treatment results.

Rodney Shapiro, PhD Clinical Professor, UCSF Director, Networks Family Counseling Center

 2. Hess and Cohen's Core Focused Family Therapy is a valuble contribution in understanding individual dynamics in interpersonal relationships. Both conceptually grounded and practically focused, it bridges theoretical orientations and is an immediately useful guide for both novice and experienced family therapists in clinical and training settings.I intend to use it regularly in my supervision and teaching.

Terence Patterson, Professor of Counseling Psychology University of San Francisco Board Certified in Couple and Family Therapy (ABPP) Past President, APA Division of Family Psychology President, Association of Family Therapists of Northern California

 3. This practical and clinically based book is written by a master teacher and clinician. Students and practitioners will welcome its systematic and direct approach to understanding and intervening in the sometimes confusing and complex issues faced by families. The examples are well chosen to elucidate the prinicipal understandings the author has achieved by her studies, teaching, and clinical experience. Highly recommended.

Alan Leveton, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA (retired) Founder and Past-President, Association of Family Therapists of Northern California

 4. This amazing book seems to me to be appropriate for two audiences:those learning about family therapy for the first time...and those interested in Judye hess' particular form of family therapy. Regarding the latter, this book seems to me to be an important contribution to family therapy, describing what I believe is a new approach. Reading this book, I found myself thinking:this is the way that family therapy ought to be done:why has no one written such a book before? If there were justice in this world, this book would be read in every family therapy class and be part of every family therapist's continuing education requirement.

Dan Wile, PhD., Author of "Couples Therapy: A Non-Traditional Approach, After the Honeymoon, How Conflict can Improve Your Relationship, and After the Fight:Using Your Disagreements to Build a Stronger Relationship.

5. An exceptional,inspirational work by a very experienced family therapist, who knows that the truth of who we are is best openly expressed in a safe environment with the guidance of an integrative, experiential, systems-trained therapist.

As we search for common desires and feeling states amongst family members, the therapist's empathy provides a deeper bridge of love and who we really are down deep in our core being, and whom we are living with. This deeper understanding of who we are creates a leap in emotional self-awareness.

A solid book for trained professionals and a well designed roadmap for graduate students to see the whole family as a system.Clearly a paradigm shift for both professionals and families alike. This book will help to reduce anxiety in clients, graduate students and professionals. The book also teaches techniques in wowrking with clients and how the therapist can use themselves on many levels.

Martin Kirschenbaum, PhD, Professor of Family Clinical Psychology,founder and former president of The California Graduate School of Family Clinical Psychology

6.Core Focused Family Therapy brings back the originating wisdom of family therapy, reminding us that the interactional and communicative presence of the therapist is more important than his or her professed orientation. The field of family therapy easily gets lost in theory and organizational politics, forgetting that therapy is primarily about experience...realizing the feelings underneath the words and the truths of the ways we are with others. CFFT reconnects family therapy to its core roots and I highly recommend it as an effective means of waking up what is "family " about "family therapy". Inspired by the prodigious clinical work of experiential therapist Carl Whitaker as well as the grand gestalt practitioners, the authors theoretically ground the family in the pioneering systems of Minuchin and Bowen. They avoid the many trivial dead ends and stalled offorts the field too often has spawned and og for the heart of what is essential in bringing forth experiential family therapy. If you want to BE a family therapist, (rather than talk gibberish about it), then check out this importnat more-than-an-introduction to family therapy.

Bradford Keeney, PhD. Professor, Transformative Studies California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, C.A.

7. I find Core Focused Family Therapy extremely reassuring and confidence building. It both affirms the skills I have as an experienced psychotherapist and offers me tools to expand my ability in working with families. The authors describe their approach comprehensively and provide clear and relevant clinical examples throughout the book. I am especially inspired by the way in which they model being present, direct, and open-hearted towards each of the family members in a way that fosters trust and vulnerability.

Cathy Diamond, MFT Oakland, CA.