Queer-Contextualized Family Therapy

“This compelling book brilliantly accomplishes what it sets out to do: address the gap between foundational systemic theories and affirmative therapy. By “queer contextualizing” esteemed therapeutic theories, the authors skillfully address intersectionality and re-imagine the wisdom each theoretical perspective might offer when queer and trans people are intentionally included, respected and honored. The overall work is both practical and inspirationally transformative. It should be required reading for anyone seeing clients in the 21st century.” Rebecca Harvey, PhD, professor of marriage and family therapy at Southern Connecticut State University, author of Nurturing Queer Youth “A must-read for any clinician dedicated to inclusivity and equity, Queer-Contextualized Family Therapy: Toward Radically Inclusive Theory and Practice is a groundbreaking work that revolutionizes our understanding of family therapy approaches through an intersectional queer lens. Drs. Erica Hartwell, Lindsay Edwards, and a team of leading voices in the field reimagine traditional models, providing tangible, practical strategies for evolving clinical theory to better serve all of your clients. This book is guaranteed to be an essential resource for contemporary practitioners.” Diane R. Gehart, PhD, founder and CEO of Therapy that Works Institute and Professor Emerita at California State University, Northridge “This thought-provoking book re-imagines family therapy by centering queerness and other marginalized identities rather than mainstream White heterosexuality. It will challenge your most precious notions about healthy family functioning and persuade you to reconsider your implicit promotion of mainstream conformity. I highly recommend it for those who already are familiar with one or more traditional approaches to systems therapy and seek to expand their capacity to work more creatively with all couples and families!” Robert-Jay Green, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Clinical Psychology PhD Program, Alliant International University, San Francisco; Co-editor, Lesbians and Gays in Couples and Families: A Handbook for Therapists; Recipient, 2024 AAMFT Outstanding Contribution to Marriage & Family Therapy Award. “This book provides a reimagined family therapy for the 21st century that centers the lives of queer individuals in reworking theories at the core of relational and systemic work—updating what feels outdated. The editors and authors are current and emerging leaders who place these models within a queer-contextualized framework. One of the things I love about this book is that it goes beyond just critique by creating useful and applicable queer recontextualizations of our models. Importantly, the authors use an intersectional framework, allowing for attention to multiple layers of oppression. The editors and authors have created a recontextualizing framework that guides this work and can also be usefully applied in other ways, where one can “reimagine … theor[ies] for radically inclusive practice” (p. xx). One of the strengths is that this reimagining broadens the applicability of these models to all those on the margins in multiple ways. These reimagined models are expanded in ways that make them more useful in all clinical work, not just in work with queer individuals and families. Importantly, this book is also about practice and not just theory—examples make clear the utility of these queer-contextualized models. This vital book provides a much-needed resource for teaching and learning about family therapy models in contemporary society and will be required reading in many MFT programs!” Kevin Lyness, PhD, professor and director of the couple and family therapy PhD program at Antioch University, New England “Brilliant! Hartwell and Edwards’ concept of “queer-contextualized” couple and family therapy is an innovative and necessary framework that will advance the field of family therapy, not only for practitioners but for the field of family science in general. This book is scholarly and theoretically rich, and the case examples for each reimagined systemic model of therapy bring their framework to life. For all couple and family therapy enthusiasts, this book will be a joy to read, and it is essential for the practice of ethical and equitable systemic psychotherapy.” J. Maria Bermudez, PhD, is an associate professor of couple and family therapy and human development and family science at the University of Georgia, co-author of Socioculturally Attuned Family Therapy: Guidelines for Equitable Theory and Practice and author/editor of Intersectionality and Context Across the Lifespan: Readings for Human Development