ABSTRACT
This chapter combines descriptions by therapists and family members of different views of a shared experience of participating in a systemic therapy. Engagement—the making of relationships within therapy—is a complex process of interactions not only between the therapists, family, and wider network but also amongst family members themselves as they negotiate the rules for interacting within the therapy. Relationships and how they are perceived and affectively experienced also change over time and are unlikely to be static during the course of therapy. Implicit and explicit understandings surrounding the purpose of meeting together can dramatically impede or facilitate the making of a relationship. Family members also had different views about their history or the meaning of significant events in their lives. At one level, all family members shared a belief that therapy was not necessary; they were getting on with their own lives, they were accustomed to their personal separateness and felt comfortable rather than isolated.
