News & Insights

Ritual, Evan Imber Black writes, ‘hold us, shape us, sustain us, and connect us’. Through the pandemic many of our traditions and ways of marking time have become impossible. No leaving the house, no gatherings of more than 10 people, no hugging, no singing, no way to mark the annual… Read more

Who Helps the Helpers? Every night our televisions share footage of distressed families whose members are gravely ill or died and the stoic, angry or sometimes humorous responses of those entrusted to care. Recognising the enormous emotional cost to health workers Weingarten (2020) has adapted ‘The Witness to Witness Program… Read more

For most of us the world we entered and grew up in has been relatively safe and stable with our challenges and tragedies confined to our family and community. This has all changed and now we, as a world, have been confronted with a global and relational disaster with a… Read more

ADHD – Mismatch or Illness? At 6, Lilly was in lots of trouble.  She and her family had been referred to family therapy by the school who had become exhausted by her inattention, distractibility, and violence towards other children. In the first session attended by the whole family it became… Read more

In 1998 a paper was published in the prestigious English medical journal the Lancet, which changed the course of the lives of many children. Some would argue for the worst, but a significant and highly vocal minority would disagree. The paper, by Dr Andrew Wakefield claimed his research demonstrated that… Read more

How Many Days are Father’s Day? Father’s Day has come and gone earlier this month and with it the gatherings and celebrations in honour of the family’s key men. For some this will have been a happy day and opportunity to express genuine love and appreciation for their parent but… Read more

In a strange confluence of events the day of a workshop on working with older adults and their families, a memorial was held at the Capitol for American Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the first for a woman. As a Supreme Court Justice, she served from 1993 until 2020, where she… Read more

Separation is Hard Enough without Lockdown Among the many challenges currently facing family therapists is work with couples and families in the process of separation and divorce. A paper by Lebow (2020) addresses the unique dynamics of these circumstances and provides practical suggestions. COVID both potentiates and constrains separation and divorce…. Read more

Needs Must When the Devil Drives Not all of us adopted Telehealth with enthusiasm, but when the choice was abandoning our clients or learn a new art there really was no choice. Necessity compels. A study by the American Psychological Association reports that 75% of psychologists are doing only on-line… Read more