How can I get training in working with families?

The American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) is the only organization that is interdisciplinary. Founded in 1977, AFTA’s objectives include “the advancement of theories, therapies, research, and professional education that regard the family as a unit in a social context, to make information about family therapy available to practitioners in other fields of knowledge and to the public and to foster collaboration among the medical, psychological, social, legal, and other professions that serve families and the science and practice of family therapy.”

AFTA is outspoken on issues that affect families. For example, its Immigration Position Statement addresses the negative impact of U.S. immigration policy on families and children. AFTA has strong views about the DSM-5, stating that “the current revision of the DSM continues a long history of ignoring research and excluding vital contributions of nonpsychiatric mental health disciplines resulting in invalid diagnostic categories and treatment protocols. The DSM is dominant in determining mental health diagnosis and treatment and is more harmful than helpful in delineating best practices.” The next AFTA conference is in June 2015, and the theme is “Global Ecologies: Connections among Self, Families, Communities, and Cultures.”

Family therapy has grown from a small group of interested academics, mostly psychiatrists, to a large group of interdisciplinary professionals. Today, psychiatrists have less access to family systems training than in previous decades but can still access training. In addition to attending conferences, psychiatrists interested in this area might see whether training programs would accept them into their courses.

For those psychiatrists who have not had formal training during residency training, this review of programs is a good starting point for seeking family systems training.

Dr. Heru is with the department of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Denver, Aurora. She is editor of the recently published book Working With Families in Medical Settings: A Multidisciplinary Guide for Psychiatrists and Other Health Professionals (New York: Routledge, 2013).