ABSTRACT
Most family therapists eventually encounter the situation of having a family that has solved its presenting problem, has no other treatment issues, yet is reluctant to terminate therapy. While this may be seen by some as a lucrative windfall, most clinicians are usually disturbed by their treatment family's high degree of dependence on them. The technique of using "the family as a consultant to the therapist" is designed to facilitate this impasse and enable families to terminate therapy. It is based on concepts derived from structural (Minuchin, 1974) and strategic (Haley, 1987; Watzlawick, Weakland, & Fisch, 1974) family therapies; however, it looks at the family/therapist interactional system as its point of focus.
