The Practice of Community Family Therapy

Special Section: Family Centered Community Building Section Editors' Note: We are pleased to bring to Family Process the work of a pioneering family therapist who is doing important and sophisticated work with families and communities. Ramon Rojano's Community Family Therapy breaks new ground by seeing families in poor communities not only as resilient but also as change agents, not only as clients but as citizens.—William J. Doherty and Jason S. Carroll. This paper presents a summary of the basic theories and methods of Community Family Therapy (CFT), a relatively new therapeutic approach developed in response to the need for effective intervention in treating low‐income, urban families. CFT operates outside of the traditional therapeutic box, successfully combining family therapy techniques with developmental and motivational theories, community mental health, social work, economic development, and community mobilization strategies. CFT utilizes a dualistic approach in which both client and therapist become involved with the same three levels of engagement. Specifically, the client strives for: (a) personal and family change and growth—level 1, (b) accessing community resources—level 2, and (c) leadership development and civic action—level 3. Also, CFT calls upon therapists to strive for: (a) personal growth and maturation—level 1, (b) collaboration with community resources for professional support—level 2, and (c) operation as a “citizen therapist,” through civic action and volunteer services—level 3.