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Ongoing foreign conflicts have exposed military-connected children to stressors not generally faced by the general child population. Although many children of service members and veterans are resilient and successfully adapt to these changes, frequent relocation, fluid family structure, and ambiguous loss can become too overwhelming for many children of military families and lead to pathological symptoms that require them to receive treatment. This paper discusses the use of family-based play therapy interventions with military children. It will focus on the following areas: (1) risks to the psychological and emotional health of children of service members, (2) adverse effects of combat stress reactions of military parents on their children, (3) traumatic grief of children whose family member has died or been grievously wounded, (4) family-based therapies currently in the treatment of childhood grief and trauma, and (5) play therapy as a means of treating bereavement and traumatization of military-connected children and their families. A case example demonstrating a couple and family therapist's use of family-based play therapy to deal with traumatic grief of a military child is provided. Recommendations for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experiences of seven diverse therapists in a supervision course as they wrestled with the real-world application of multicultural supervision. Existing literature on multicultural supervision does not address the difficulties that arise in addressing multicultural issues in the context of the supervision relationship. The experiences of six supervisory candidates and one mentoring supervisor in addressing multicultural issues in supervision are explored. Guidelines for conversations regarding multicultural issues are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents three models of counseling exceptional students from a systems perspective. The authors present their definition of counseling, the goals of counseling, and the counseling relationship from a systems perspective. Each model is described, including assessment and intervention techniques appropriate for working with children, adolescents, and their families when giftedness and learning disabilities and other disabilities are part of the context. The authors discuss implications for school counselors and provide several cases as examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory qualitative study used individual interviews and a focus group to investigate how women in Black-White interracial heterosexual partner relationships retrospectively described their racial identity development over the course of the relationships. Racial identity development, social constructionist, and feminist theories guided the grounded theory methodology. Participants described a process of restorying constraining narratives of racial identity into empowering racial identities through three types of strategies: blocking strategies, transforming strategies, and generating strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared the clinical rating scales from the Circumplex Model (CCRS), the McMaster Model of Family Functioning (MCRS) and the Family Health Scales (FHS). A central purpose was to investigate whether observational rating scales designed to measure family functioning can also be used to assess couple functioning. One hundred and sixty-six drug abusing women, receiving primary drug treatment in two metropolitan drug agencies in the southwest of the US, and their partners were videotaped while engaged in three couple tasks prior to receiving any treatment. The main findings indicated that all three rating scales have: (1) sufficient interrater reliability; (2) good construct validity, as reflected in factor analyses; and (3) very good convergent validity. However, there was some concern about whether these scales are as discriminating when measuring couples as they are when assessing families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family therapy educators frequently encourage self-reflection in their students and clients. However, little attention has been paid to the challenges and processes of the educators themselves. In this piece, four faculty members reflect individually and collectively on their lives and roles as educators. They describe family-of-origin influences, the intersections of their personal and academic lives, systemic factors in the professional setting, balancing work and family, hierarchy, gender, and coping strategies to increase support and reduce competition. They recommend a deliberate process of self-reflection to other family therapy educators and offer suggestions for improving the organizational dynamics of family therapy training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]