Understanding Diverse Families: What Practitioners Need to Know

Today's mental health practitioners face a rapidly changing clientele. Divorce, remarriage, multiracial marriages, different types of adoption, openly gay and lesbian relationships--all have significantly altered the nature and composition of families. An indispensable classroom text and an important resource for clinicians working in private practice, managed care, and other settings, this book insightfully examines a range of healthy families with creative family structures.

Barbara F. Okun, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology, Rehabilitation, and Special Education at Northeastern University; Clinical Instructor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and a supervisor in the Cambridge Hospital Couples and Family Therapy program. She has published several books, including Intimate Environments: Sex, Intimacy, and Gender in Family Therapy (coedited with David Kantor), as well as numerous chapters and articles, and she serves as editor of a book series that focuses on women and mental health. Dr. Okun's clinical practice comprises a diverse clientele of individuals, couples, and families.