Community Family Therapy: A Model for Family and Community Problem Solving and Development in South America

Abstract

This article has a twofold purpose. First, it discusses theoretical and practice developments in both family therapy that include community, and in social work that emphasize acceleration toward social and community developmental welfare, but which should include microsystemic interventions. The authors contend that ethical family therapy and social work practice should use multimodal strategies, and suggest that the community family therapy (CFT) model is useful in addressing gaps in theoretical developments. Second, because the CFT model has not yet been adopted in South Africa, this article discusses evaluations of the CFT model by 3 groups of students for the model to be adopted with full understanding. These student groups are the 2010 cohort of final-year social work undergraduate students and the 2010 and 2011 cohort of postgraduate social work students at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. The article presents readers with some understanding of the CFT model, how its teaching has evolved through a learner-centered pedagogy, the merits and demerits of the model, and preconditions that may facilitate adoption of the model.