Ecomaps allow the therapist to create a snapshot of the social ecology; where the client and family are dislocated. This guides the therapist to understand the impact of intergenerational trauma on belonging, relating, and engaging with people, places, and things in the community. Ultimately, the therapist is to guide the healing to occur within the culture of the family. How can we do this if we don’t understand the context? Therefore, the therapist isn’t the most important resource for the family, they are and their ecosystem is. Elevate the caregivers’ leadership by helping them discover who and what has their back when the emotions get big. Have them decide where they will turn on purpose. Engage the strengths into treatment. Embed the resources into the crisis plan. Work smarter not harder, as a therapist!
Category: Uncategorized
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What Reframes Are—and What They Are Not
#ESFT #REFRAMES REFRAMES
In systemic family therapy, reframing is one of the most powerful tools we have. It is also one of the most misunderstood. Too often, reframing is mistaken for persuasion, explanation, or even subtle pressure to “see things differently.” In reality, a reframe is not about convincing anyone to change.
Reframes are not:
- Arguing with caregivers or clients
- Laying breadcrumbs to lead someone to the therapist’s conclusion
- Getting someone to agree with, believe in, or adopt the therapist’s perspective
When reframing turns into persuasion, it loses its power. People don’t change because they are talked into a new idea; they change because something shifts in how they understand the problem.
What a Reframe Actually Is
A reframe offers an alternative lens—one that is relational, developmental, contextual, and trauma informed. It invites caregivers and family members to look at the problem from a different angle, without demanding that they abandon their current understanding.
Rather than saying, “You’re wrong,” a reframe gently asks, “What if this behavior is signaling something else?”
In ESFT, reframes help families move from seeing the problem as:
- The child
- The behavior
- A character flaw or failure
to seeing the problem as:
- An interaction between people
- A pattern shaped over time
- A response rooted in generations, stress, trauma, and context
This shift is subtle—but profound.
From Blame to Pattern
When caregivers view the child as “the problem,” they often feel stuck, frustrated, or powerless. Reframes help caregivers step back and see how everyone in the system is participating in a pattern, often unintentionally. This does not assign blame—it creates possibility.
Suddenly, the behavior is no longer evidence that something is “wrong” with the child. Instead, it becomes a signal that something in the system needs support, structure, or repair.
And when the problem is the pattern, not the person, change becomes possible.
Why Reframes Create Movement
Effective reframes open caregivers’ eyes. They lead to new questions, new emotional responses, and new options for action. Caregivers often find themselves thinking, “I’ve never thought about it that way before.” That moment of curiosity is where change begins.
A reframe doesn’t solve the problem on its own—but it creates the conditions for meaningful work to happen. It prepares the ground for enactment, collaboration, and restructuring.
Because patterns are created together, they can also be changed together—with everyone’s help.
That is the true power of reframing: not convincing people to change, but helping them see that change is possible.
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January 2026 Newsletter
#image_title We’re excited to welcome you into a new year with our January PCFTTC Newsletter, filled with moments of celebration, growth, and opportunities to stay connected to our learning community.
Inside this issue, you’ll find the launch date for the 3rd Annual MLG Awards, honoring excellence, leadership, and meaningful contributions across our systemic family therapy community. We’re also celebrating a Wickedly Systemic Win showcasing creative and clinically grounded work that brings context to Elphaba’s relationships with her family.
We’re pleased to introduce our new Research Intern, whose work will support PCFTTC’s continued commitment to advancing evidence-informed systemic practice.
You’ll also learn more about The Bridge Program, designed for former trainees who are ready to reconnect and complete their certification journey, the bridge back is open.
Finally, be sure to check out details for our upcoming Free CE Programs on March 11, 2026 & April 22, 2026—an opportunity to growing alongside colleagues in our community.
Thank you for being part of the PCFTTC Alliance. We look forward to another year of collaboration.
To access the NEWSLETTER subscribe to the blog and get the password.
Email Jennifer Benjamin with questions, training@pcfttc.com
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Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative
Yale offers LGBTQ-affirmative CBT training. Great opportunity for psychotherapy integration with ESFT.
https://medicine.yale.edu/lgbtqmentalhealth/centerlink-training-program
About
Since 2019, CenterLink (the Community of LGBT Centers) and the Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative have been offering comprehensive trainings in LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for mental health providers serving LGBTQ clients.
Developed, tested, and refined over more than a decade by Yale researchers, LGBTQ-affirmative CBT is the first treatment shown across large-scale clinical trials to reduce depression, anxiety, substance use, and sexual risk among diverse LGBTQ community members. The treatment improves mental health and builds resilience by targeting the specific internal and psychosocial vulnerabilities that research shows are elevated among LGBTQ people due to early and ongoing exposure to LGBTQ-related stress.
Those who participate in one or more offerings of the Yale-Centerlink Training Program will gain the knowledge, hands-on skills, and confidence to implement LGBTQ-affirmative CBT. Most training offerings are open to professionals and trainees, including individuals for whom CBT is not their primary therapeutic modality.
Learn more about our upcoming training programs here.
Our Mission
The Yale LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative provides a home for scholars and scholarship devoted to understanding and improving the mental health of LGBTQ populations in the US and around the world.
LGBTQ individuals experience substantial disparities in mental health problems, from suicide to substance use. The Initiative applies Yale’s strengths in mental health, LGBTQ studies, and global health to solving this pressing public health challenge.
We achieve this mission through fostering highly collaborative research across schools and departments; sponsoring academic events meant to spark innovation in this field; and training and educating diverse future leaders in LGBTQ mental health research.
Our Initiative
The Initiative is housed within the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and draws upon Yale’s interdisciplinary expertise to advance its mission.
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“Reaching Inward: A Way of Training in Human Systems Thinking,” Marion Lindblad-Goldberg
In her 1985 article in PsycCRITIQUES, “Reaching Inward: A Way of Training in Human Systems Thinking,” Marion Lindblad-Goldberg presented a method for training people to think systemically about human behavior. The core of her work relates to family therapy and ecosystemic structural family therapy (ESFT), a model that considers how family members and their broader social context are interconnected.
Key concepts of the article
- Training in systems thinking: The article discusses a training program designed to help individuals move beyond a linear, cause-and-effect understanding of behavior. Systems thinking involves seeing individuals and their actions as part of a larger, dynamic network of relationships and patterns.
- Focus on internal context: The training emphasizes self-reflection and an examination of one’s own role within a system. This contrasts with a “system-as-effect” perspective, which blames external forces for a system’s behavior.
- Emphasis on family systems: The article focuses on applying systems thinking to family relationships. Her later work emphasizes that a family is its own best resource for change, suggesting her training method helped therapists see the innate strengths of families.
- A “way of being”: The training is not merely a set of tools but a fundamental shift in perception—a “way of being” that fosters curiosity, compassion, and courage.
- Focus on relationships: The article explored how to help trainees understand the patterns of interaction and structural relationships that define human systems, rather than just focusing on individual actions.
The article is an early piece from Lindblad-Goldberg’s distinguished career, which heavily influenced the field of family therapy.
- Pioneered ecosystemic structural family therapy (ESFT): Lindblad-Goldberg is credited with developing the ESFT model, which helps therapists work with families to identify dysfunctional patterns of interaction and connect families with community resources.
- Founding of a training center: She is currently the Director Emeritus of the Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center (PCFTTC), which trains therapists in the ESFT model.
- Informed later publications: Her exploration of systems thinking in this 1985 article provided a foundational basis for her later books and papers, such as Creating Competence from Chaos (1998) and Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy: Theoretical and Clinical Foundations (2013).
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Win Access to the Homestudy of your Choice!
#ecomap #esft #wickedcool YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO THE BLOG FOR YOUR ENTRY TO COUNT
Enter the family assessment tool competition to win free access to one HOMESTUDY CE PROGRAM from the PCFTTC store (APA or ACE category).
Using the movies Wicket Part 1 and Part 2 (or the Broadway production), and Elphaba as the identified patient complete at least two family assessment tools from this list:
- Structural map with identified family type
- Negative Interactional Pattern with at least three people in the pattern.
- Ecomap
- Genogram
- Critical Events Timeline
Entries can use their imagination to fill in the gaps of information not provided during the films. The most creative information and with the most assessment tools accuracy wins!
Entries are accepted until 11:59am on December 19th. Entries should be electronically submitted to training@pcfttc.com .
Check out last years winner on youtube.com, using Kevin McCallister from Home Alone 1 and 2:
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From “What’s Wrong With You?” to “What Happened to You?” — The Shift That Changes Everything
#esft #systemicthinker For generations, helping professionals, educators, and even family members have been trained to ask, “What’s wrong with you?” when someone behaves in ways that seem confusing, defiant, or self-destructive. It’s a question rooted in problem identification, but it often carries an unintended message—that something inside the person is broken, defective, or in need of fixing. In Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), we take a different approach. We ask, “What happened to you?”
This question changes the entire frame of understanding. Instead of pathologizing behavior, it invites curiosity, compassion, and context. It shifts our focus from the individual as the source of dysfunction to the system—the web of relationships, environments, and experiences that have shaped the person’s current way of coping.
When we ask, “What happened to you?”, we are not excusing behavior; we are explaining it. We begin to see behavior as communication, not simply as a symptom to be eliminated. A child’s aggression, withdrawal, or defiance may no longer appear as “bad behavior,” but as an adaptive response to chronic stress, trauma, or unmet emotional needs.
This reframing is also healing for caregivers. Parents often feel blamed or powerless when a child struggles. But when professionals help them see the child’s behavior in context—through the lens of what happened—they can respond with empathy and leadership instead of frustration and guilt. This approach restores the caregiver’s confidence and invites them into collaboration, rather than correction.
From a clinical perspective, “what happened to you” thinking leads to interventions that are relational, not punitive. It allows for joining, reframing, enactment, and anchoring—the hallmarks of ESFT—to take root in a way that promotes lasting change.
Ultimately, asking “What happened to you?” honors the truth that all behavior makes sense in context. It opens the door to healing by helping individuals and families see themselves not as problems to be fixed, but as systems capable of resilience, repair, and growth.
When we lead with curiosity instead of judgment, we don’t just change our questions—we change lives.
Checkout the HOMESTUDY: Really Being Strength Based in Treatment: “Every Family is their Own Best Resource for Change” in our store to start learning how to shift change in the system.
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Lessons from Superman – Part 4
#superman #ESFT #systemicfamilytherapy “Every voice matters. Even the quietest one can change the whole story.”
Systemic family therapy is built on the belief that families are ecosystems, and in ecosystems, every part plays a role. Yet in many families, certain voices—children, quieter siblings, caregivers, and even natural supports—can get lost in the noise. When that happens, the system adapts in ways that often reinforce imbalance and distress. This results in dislocation.
Therapists
As systemic family therapists, our responsibility is to ensure that every voice is heard. This may mean slowing down to notice the child who rarely speaks, or asking a question that allows a caregiver to share their untold story. It may mean restructuring a session so the quieter members are elevated, reminding the family that healing comes from inclusion, not exclusion. Or, it may mean calling attention to the impact of a family member is still having on how people relate, even if they are gone or deceased.
Supervisors
Supervisors can carry this forward by how they engage supervisees. When early-career clinicians hesitate to speak up, supervisors can invite their perspectives and validate their observations. Often, those voices carry insights others have overlooked. This can be used as part of the prepared plan for what will happen in the next session. Or, maybe the supervisors connects the insights to the family assessment tools.
Summary
Families change when silenced voices are given space. Teams strengthen when quieter members are encouraged to lead. In systemic practice, the smallest shift—one voice being heard—can transform the whole story. In honoring every voice, we honor the heart of systemic therapy: belonging, connection, and the belief that everyone has a role in shaping the system’s future.
Check our CE program Store to learn more about systemic family therapy and ecosystemic structural family therapy.
To learn about our Certification Programs click here.
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Equifinality & Equipotentiality
#esft #systemicfamilytherapist #familyresiliency Two Systemic Truths Every Family Therapist Should Know
In Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), we understand that human behavior doesn’t occur in isolation—it’s shaped by a complex network of relationships, histories, and environments. Two foundational ideas that help us make sense of this complexity are equifinality and equipotentiality. These concepts remind us that there is never just one path to a problem—or to healing.
Equifinality: Many Roads, One Destination
Definition: Different starting points can lead to the same outcome.
In practice, this means that families with very different structures, histories, or stressors can arrive at similar patterns of functioning or symptoms.
For example, one child’s depression might emerge from a divorce, another’s from high parental conflict, and a third’s from overprotection. Though their paths differ, the presenting concern—emotional withdrawal—looks similar.
For the ESFT clinician, equifinality invites curiosity. Rather than assuming causality, we look systemically: What relational patterns have formed around this symptom? What role does it serve in maintaining family balance? Understanding these dynamics helps therapists move from surface behaviors to deeper systemic change.
Equipotentiality: One Road, Many Possible Destinations
Definition: The same starting point can lead to different outcomes.
This concept highlights the variability of human resilience. Two siblings may grow up in the same family and experience the same parental conflict, yet one develops anxiety while the other becomes highly independent.
For the ESFT therapist, this principle emphasizes context and meaning.
Families are not defined by what happens to them, but by how they organize around it.
Equipotentiality reminds us that every experience holds multiple possible outcomes—and that therapy can influence which path unfolds.
Why These Concepts Matter in ESFT
Both principles underscore a central truth: change in families is dynamic, relational, and contextual.
Equifinality encourages therapists to avoid simplistic explanations, while equipotentiality keeps hope alive—even in challenging cases. Together, they form the foundation of systemic thinking: honoring diversity, complexity, and the endless potential for transformation within every family system.