Systemic psychotherapy has long been conceptualised and practiced as brief psychotherapy in
both the public sector and in independent practice but it is now increasingly becoming a
longer term practice. This ground-breaking book examines the ways in which systemic theory can
accommodate and formulate long term practice and locates the boundaries of the systemic
theories that both help to explain and give direction to such work. In doing so it asks
important questions such as: at what point might a practitioner need to incorporate and
integrate other explanatory models into their systemic thinking? What does this mean for
systemic practice? How does the relative longevity of the work impact the way practitioners
build and maintain therapeutic relationships with the relational systems they assist? And what
implications does such longevity have on and for the supervisory needs of systemic
psychotherapists at the heart of the work? Given the absence of a rigorous evidence base for
long term systemic therapy and practice this book explores how practitioners can hold
themselves ethically accountable for what they do and think. Written by some of the leading
names in systemic thinking this book provides an important new resource for both students and
experienced professionals in family therapy seeking to enhance their practice and research.
