ABSTRACT
There are a number of `general contexts' in which systemic and family therapy skills are used (Treacher and Carpenter 1984; Street and Dryden 1988; Carpenter and Treacher 1993). Professionals using these skills are not necessarily all labelled as family therapists, although in the UK the title will shortly be subject to statutory regulation. Indeed, many professionals who have been trained in family therapy would use these skills within the normal routine professional tasks that they undertake. Thus it is quite likely that a social worker, a mental health nurse or a psychologist will employ family therapy skills whilst working as a social worker, nurse or psychologist. However, within certain contexts there will also be a small number of family therapists who have trained to qualifying level and are employed as family therapists. In different countries family therapists are found practising in different settings that to a large extent are determined by how that country has constructed their health and social welfare institutions. In the UK family therapists are most frequently found in child and adolescent mental health settings (CAMHS) and adult mental health, whilst in the USA family systems ideas are employed within medical settings more commonly than elsewhere and, of course, in private practice.
