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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy pp 3030–3034Cite as

Training Strategic Family Therapists

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Name of Concept

Training Strategic Family Therapists

Introduction

The strategic family therapy (SFT) is a highly focused approach where therapists learn to take an active role in the treatment process (Henderson and Thompson 2016). Training therapists in SFT involves providing a core knowledge of family systems theory, in combination with strategic, intentional, and direct methods for targeting problems and symptoms within the family environment. Therapists learn about designing a plan for directly solving problems through homework assignments and planned interventions. The word strategic among strategic family therapists “refers to the development of a specific strategy, planned in advance by the therapist, to resolve the presenting problem as quickly and efficiently as possible” (Henderson and Thompson 2016, p. 495).

The goal of SFT is to change the system, including the behavior patterns that maintain the system (Fall et al. 2004). In SFT, the family is a system consisting of both...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Counseling@Northwestern, The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Nathan C. D. Perron

Authors
  1. Nathan C. D. Perron
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathan C. D. Perron .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay L. Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony L. Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Kelley Quirk

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Adam Fisher

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Perron, N.C.D. (2019). Training Strategic Family Therapists. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_661

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