Treating Chemically Dependent Families : A Practical Systems Approach for Professionals

What we know about chemical dependence and families doesn't help--what does help is what we do with what we know. Our knowledge and opinions are of no value until we translate them into clinical actions the family can hear, see, and feel. Techniques and strategies are the vehicles for this translation; they bring our concepts, theories, and hunches to bear on face-to-face encounters with families, where they can do some good.Here is a book for any helping professional who works with families suffering from the effects of chemical dependence. Dr. Edwards is keenly aware that family is where people live out their most intimate and dynamic human experiences. Professionals won't just read this book but will experience its practical, effective techniques when working with families. At the same time, they'll discover the unique, sometimes powerful, but compassionate art and craft that is chemical dependence family therapy. Practical and extremely useful, this book offers a systems-based approach that requires no "translation" to help families recover from chemical dependence.

John T. Edwards, Ph.D., is an Approved Supervisor in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), has conducted and supervised family therapy for chemical dependency for the past twenty years. He has worked in numerous outpatient and inpatient treatment centers, been in private practice, and has conducted over five hundred family therapy training events in twelve states and Canada. He has also been on the faculty of the South Carolina, North Carolina, and Southeastern Schools of Alcohol and Drug Studies and the Duke University Summer Institute of Alcohol and Drugs. He is author of the books, Treating Chemically Dependent Families: A Practical Systems Approach for Professionals published by Hazelden, and Working With Families, self-published, 1993, 1997. John is now a private trainer and consultant living in Durham, NC.