Family therapy: systemic skills and techniques in action is both a guide to a variety of family therapy techniques and a review of their history. It provides a thorough explanation of the techniques, explaining their origins and use in contemporary family practice, whilst guiding readers in learning new skills.

Mark Rivett is the director of Family and Systemic Psychotherapy training at the University of Exeter and a family therapist in South Wales. He is a past editor of the Journal of Family Therapy.

Joanne Buchmüller is a specialist family and systemic psychotherapist in an adolescent inpatient unit in South Wales and a visiting lecturer in systemic family therapy at the Universities of Bristol and Exeter.

Preface Chapter One: Introduction, setting the scene Chapter Two: Listening to the orchestra Chapter Three: Assessment, finding out what we need to know Chapter Four: Integrative family therapy, a contemporary practice Chapter Five: Structural family therapy, creating a dance with families Chapter Six: Strategic family therapy, making language therapeutic Chapter Seven: Milan and Post-Milan Family Therapy, changing rules and meanings Chapter Eight: Narrative family therapy, interpreting the story Chapter Nine: Working Systemically with Individuals, opening up a different view Chapter Ten: Reflective Practice in Family Therapy