ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to approach the issue of termination from a co-evolutionary perspective, as though therapy is an unspoken contract between two parties which can be broken at short notice by either party. Termination will occur when either party begins to feel there is no longer a problem, or that the problem will not be solved with this approach, or that the continuation of the therapy poses a threat to the integrity of the respective meaning systems. With regard to families that leave therapy by walking out, saying we are useless or refusing to attend without giving an explanation, again the co-evolutionary view requires the therapist to examine his or her own premises about what makes a family 'ready' to leave therapy. There may be a problem for the therapist, if he or she wants to terminate therapy and the family do not.
