Intervening in Larger Systems: When Traditional Therapy is not Enough

The field of family therapy is undergoing a transformation, one in which therapists intervene not only with families, but also with the outside systems that affect them. This article describes a program, in which faculty and doctoral students in a family therapy program partner with a large urban school district, that is designed to intervene at the school district level, providing a direct family therapy intervention into a larger system. However, the therapists’ ability to succeed in this work has recently been challenged by larger system changes in immigration policy, beyond the level of the school district. This experience has highlighted the importance of family therapists’ involvement in larger social and political systems