ABSTRACT
Multi-family work requires multipositional, ‘roving’ therapists. They need to be able to work on the move, like getting close to families and then distancing themselves, and being able to shift from doing to observing – and back – within very short timespans. Their mindset has to be flexible, rather than following some predecided sequence. During the initial phases of MFT work, the therapists need to make the therapeutic context and take responsibility for it. They have to join with each member of the family from the very beginning and this is best done by starting with an informal role. Light refreshments displayed on a table around which arriving families can congregate provide an opportunity for therapists to mix with families and to engage in non-problem-oriented conversations. Once the formal part of the group starts, it is the therapist’s task to create a context that allows for participants to be able to talk and to be heard. If there is a lot of chaos, with screaming and restless children, the therapist asks the parents to control their children, remembering that he is responsible for the context, but that the parents are responsible for their children. It may take a bit of time before the parents succeed with their task, and waiting for this to happen rather than rescuing struggling parents is a more therapeutic stance. It also allows therapists to watch typical samples of potentially problematic intra-family and inter-family interactions and these can be worked with then or later.
