Family therapy with black families

Family therapy in Britain must develop to encompass the external reality of family life. Living in a racist society dominates the lives of all black families. Family therapists need to acknowledge and address this before intervening in the family system. This paper offers personal and professional experiences, confrontaion, structured exercises and general and specific principles for work with black families. Minimal and positive goals are advocated so that practitioners do not feel paralysed by the enormity of the task.