Tracey A. Laszloffy - Family Therapy in an Age of Ecological Peril

A Publication of the American Family Therapy Academy

Founded in 1977, the American Family Therapy Academy is a non-profit organization of leading family therapy teachers, clinicians, program directors, policymakers, researchers, and social scientists dedicated to advancing systemic thinking and practices for families in their social context.

Vision

AFTA envisions a just world by transforming social contexts that promote health, safety, and well-being of all families and communities.

Mission

AFTAs mission is developing, researching, teaching, and disseminating progressive, just family therapy and family-centered practices and policies.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11846

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

The AFTA Springer Briefs in Family Therapy is an official publication of the American Family Therapy Academy. Each volume focuses on the practice and policy implications of innovative systemic research and theory in family therapy and allied fields. Our goal is to make information about families and systemic practices in societal contexts widely accessible in a reader friendly, conversational, and practical style. AFTAs core commitments to equality, social responsibility, and justice are represented in each volume.

Eco-Informed Practice: Family Therapy in an Age of Ecological Peril is a call to action. Editors Tracey Laszloffy and Markie Twist and chapter authors challenge family therapists to take the systemic roots of our field seriously that fully addressing client issues requires placing them in context of our relationship with the ecological world in which we live. The book identifies how modern life and dominant ways of thinking promote disconnection from the natural environment and details the reciprocal effects on both human well-being and the environment and makes the case that ecological issues are also social justice issues and linked to other forms of oppression.

Fortunately, the authors do not simply raise the problem. The authors help readers see how they can incorporate attention to the natural environment in case assessment and offer practical suggestions for interventions and activities at the clinical level, as well as individual and collective advocacy at personal and professional levels. I am left with many ideas for how I can make my teaching and practice more eco-informed.

We would like to thank all of the people who helped see this work to fruition. This includes our appreciation and thanks to the person responsible for pushing this publication forward, Dr. Carmen Knudson-Martin of the American Family Therapy Academy. Carmen has been exceptional at guiding our edits, giving us feedback, and offering suggestions and direction and most importantly in her unwavering support and encouragement. Our thanks also go to our editor, Jennifer Hadley, at Springer. Overall, we are thankful to all at Springer who worked on this book to make our vision become a reality.

We also could not have completed this book without the efforts of the authors who contributed to this edited volume; this includes Chris Blankenship, Deanne Carvahlo, Stephen Fife, Sarah Hechter, Pilar Hernandez-Wolfe, Katherine Hertlein, Amanda Korbar, Daniela Leon, Jason Platt, and Shannon Yuen. We also extend our specific thanks to the people who contributed earlier pieces to this edited work that we were not able to find a space for in the final volume, namely, Melissa K. Bergdall, Anthony Santiago, Nels Paulson, and Amber Georgakopoulos. Our thanks to all of you for your time, support, and encouragement.

I (MLCT) also want to professionally and personally thank my coauthor Tracey A. Laszloffy (TAL). I have learned so much from you, Tracey, through your revolutionary work in the practicing and writing of eco-informed family therapy and well before this in your groundbreaking work around social justice practices that has permeated our field for years. I have been and remain honored to have been a part of this work with you, which I believe will benefit our colleagues, students, clinical participants, and human beings alike long after its publication.

I (TAL) want to thank my parents, June and Jerome Laszloffy, who taught me to love the earth and all animals, human and nonhuman alike; my sister, Joyce Laszloffy, who was my partner in exploring nature as children and supporting our love of the earth throughout our lives; and my partner Bill, who taught me how to heighten the pleasure of my time spent outdoors by embracing present moment living.