Coming Fall 2026
Dear Reader,
The Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy book will be available for digital pre-order on Amazon beginning in August 2026, with hardcover and paperback editions officially launching in September 2026.
Sincerely,
Steve Simms, PhD, LMFT
Jennifer Benjamin, PhD, LPC
Pinky Patel, LMFT
What are the Experts Saying?
For anyone who thought The Golden Age of Family Therapy was over, read this book! The authors, all highly seasoned family therapists and renowned trainers, offer a powerful adaptation of the therapy model that changed how clinicians think about human problems: Minuchin’s Structural Family Therapy. Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy balances compassionate validation of families with sophisticated change techniques, offering detailed and reader-friendly methods for assessing, understanding, and intervening boldly and confidently in all relevant systemic levels of analysis. Modern Cognitive-Behavioral approaches are increasingly catching on to the power of contextualism. This book points to where systemic thinking in clinical work began. And this is an update all of us, from any therapy perspective, should read!
– Scott Temple, Ph.D., MHSA, Emeritus Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Health Care
Minuchin’s pioneering ideas on Structural Family Therapy with disadvantaged children and families in South Philadelphia, followed by Lindblad-Goldberg’s long-term commitment in empowering families to “become their own best resource for change” are the foundation of this new book on Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy. The Authors expand beautifully the original ideas of the initiators and describe individual fragilities in children and adolescents in the context of their multigenerational family systems and cultural and socio-economic factors. In a toxic society, where individual labels and over-use of medications are increasing dramatically, the book is very important contribution in order to humanize and de-pathologize the Mental Health System, giving back to families their competence and capacity for transformation and healing.
-Maurizio Andolfi M.D. Child Psychiatrist, Director of the Family Therapy Academy (Rome), Former clinical member at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic in the 70s.
About the book
-Clinical decision making tools
-Actionable “in-the-room” language
-Framework for balancing supportive and challenging intervention
-Ongoing data-driven assessment strategies
-Supervision integrating deliberate practice to strengthen competence
Frequently Asked Questions
Why this book matters for clinicians working in complex systems?
Today’s clinicians rarely work with individuals in isolation. They work within families, schools, child welfare systems, healthcare organizations, communities, and cultures that all influence the challenges families face and the solutions available to them. Yet many practitioners are trained to focus primarily on individual symptoms and diagnoses.
This book offers a different approach. Drawing from more than 40 years of Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), it provides practical tools for understanding how problems are maintained within systems and how change can be created through relationships. Whether you work in outpatient therapy, community mental health, child welfare, healthcare, or private practice, this book will help you navigate complexity with greater confidence, clarity, and effectiveness.
How does using ESFT help reduce the pressure on therapists to “fix” families?
ESFT offers a different perspective. Rather than positioning the therapist as the expert responsible for fixing families, it views change as something that emerges through relationships, collaboration, and the strengths already present within the family system. The therapist’s role is not to rescue families but to help them discover and strengthen the capacities they already possess.
By shifting the focus from fixing individuals to mobilizing systems, clinicians often experience greater effectiveness, deeper engagement, and less emotional burden.
Why is deliberate practice an important part of this model?
ESFT was developed with the belief that professional growth requires deliberate practice—the intentional process of identifying specific skills, receiving feedback, refining performance, and practicing again. This philosophy has shaped both the model and the training methods described throughout this book.
Readers will find practical tools for assessing clinical performance, balancing supportive and challenging interventions, tracking progress, and using supervision as a mechanism for continuous growth. The goal is not simply to understand systemic family therapy but to become increasingly skillful in its application.
How this book can support trainees, students, and clinical educators?
Learning family therapy can feel overwhelming. Students are often asked to master complex theories while simultaneously developing confidence in the therapy room. Educators face the challenge of translating abstract concepts into practical skills.
This book was designed to bridge that gap. Through case examples, clinical decision-making tools, “in-the-room” language, assessment frameworks, and supervision strategies, readers can see how systemic concepts come to life in actual practice.
For trainees and students, it provides a roadmap for developing systemic thinking. For educators and trainers, it offers a practical resource for teaching, supervision, and competency development. Together, these tools help transform knowledge into action and learning into lasting clinical skill.
Email training@pcfttc.com for additional information