Collaborative Therapy: Relationships and Conversations that Make a Difference, is a new book on therapy process, hot off the press, and is a timely and essential explication of Collaborative Therapy. Up until now, practitioners of this model have relied on a prior book authored by Harlene Anderson, Conversations, Language and Possibilities. In this edited book, Harlene provides a healthy first section of four chapters explaining some of the changes in the model over the last ten years. This new book is a timely and essential response to the social, cultural, political, and economic transformations catalyzed in our shrinking world by globalization and technology. Alongside these transformations is an ever-increasing spotlight on democracy, social justice, and human rights, the importance of the people's voice, singular or plural, requiring therapists to reassess how we respond to the unavoidable complexities inherent in these transformations and the effects on our individual and communal lives. Harlene Anderson is known for her ever-present inquiry of "how can our theories and our therapies have relevance for people's everyday lives in our fast-changing world, and what is this relevance." Collaborative Therapy provides in-depth accounts of the everyday practice of postmodern collaborative therapy, vibrantly illustrating how a therapy practice based in dialogic conversation can transform lives, relationships, and entire communities. In addition to the material provided by Anderson, leading professionals who practice collaborative therapy explain how they helped pioneer this approach from diverse disciplines, contexts, and cultures, describing in detail what they do in their therapy and training practices, including their work with psychosis, incarceration, aging, domestic violence, children's eating disorders, education, and groups and describes how an approach developed as a therapy model has spread to the domains of education, research, and organizations. The collaborative approach developed by Harlene Anderson and Harry Goolishian and earlier called "Collaborative Language Systems" or "CLS" (Anderson & Goolishian, 1987, 1988) is now simply referred to it as Collaborative Therapy. Interest in Collaborative Therapy and its assumptions is evidenced by an ever-growing international community network of scholars, practitioners, educators, consultants, and students who are part of the broader dialogical movement in the social sciences. When you sit down to read Collaborative Therapy you will be joining a rich and on-going dialogue between collaborative practitioners around the world. Collaborative Therapy has three parts. In Part 1, Anderson's thorough overview of the evolution, assumptions, and characteristics of collaborative therapy is supplemented by scholar practitioners Lynn Hoffman and Tom Andersen, who each for decades have been at the forefront of the epistemological and practice development and the critical analysis of the "ideological shift" that Collaborative Therapy represents. Parts 2 and 3 illustrate the many expressions of a collaborative approach in various countries and across cultures, providing numerous examples of the diverse practice possibilities of collaborative therapy and the creative ways that the authors put its assumptions into action in their daily work with individuals, couples, families, and groups. The chapters serve as a practical guide for practicing therapists, therapists-in-training, and those who educate and supervise therapists. As well, they are useful for professionals in other disciplines such as medicine, law, and community organization. Early reviews of Collaborative Therapy indicate a thought-provoking, refreshing, and inspiring book. Read more about Harlene Anderson's work at
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