ABSTRACT
The Milan approach applies systemic thinking in specific ways in the therapeutic situation and looks to systemic thinkers in other fields of interest to provide it with new ideas which can be applied therapeutically. A working hypothesis is a tool which enables the therapist to interview the family and explore certain beliefs, behaviours and relationships which eventually lead on to an understanding of the meaning which the problem acquires in the wider system. The trainees could be asked to characterise the therapist-family relationship which developed and the teacher could develop this into some input on the co-evolutionary process. It is important for course participants to appreciate that interventions are what happens when a family and a therapist are together; that is, that the whole interview can be seen as a punctuation in the family's experience which can make a difference to them.
