Integrative Dialogues in Family Therapy

Abstract

Like many family therapists today my approach to therapy can be described as integrative; it utilises various therapy frameworks and models and combines individual and family therapy approaches in response to the needs of clients and the nature of the work. This paper begins with a brief professional retrospective that illustrates the integrative therapy challenge. It then describes integrative therapy as systemic in the sense of bringing together multiple conversations about therapy based on the idea of an ethic of hospitality. Integration as an ethics of practice is grounded in a finely honed attunement between therapist and client as well as an openness to considering multiple perspectives and frameworks of therapy. This is discussed in relation to the contemporary family therapy literature and illustrated by a practice example.