Assessing Family Relationships shows mental health professionals how to utilize the Family Life Space Drawing (the FLSD), a family assessment tool that incorporates information from multiple family members while building connections between the clinician and the client.

In this manual, Theresa A. Beeton and Ronald A. Clark demonstrate the usefulness of the FLSD in both family and couple counseling. As a task-centered assessment tool, the FLSD enables an interactive and personalized process of counseling, which helps individuals to express concerns and information about themselves in an indirect and nonthreatening manner. Chapters are illustrated throughout with case studies and drawings adapted from the authors’ own clinical experience, and the manual offers an overview of the history of the FLSD, as well as where future research is headed.

Providing a practical explanation of how to complete the FLSD process, Assessing Family Relationships will be highly relevant to couple and family therapists, as well as clinical social workers, who are interested in updating their practice with innovative family assessment research and techniques.

"For therapists who want an introduction to the history of assessment processes and a thorough presentation of an operative family assessment model, they can find no better one than Family Life Space Drawing by Beeton and Clark. This experienced couple offer a process that is comprehensive and effective for all therapists working with couples and families who want to update their assessment skills."

Harville Hendrix, Ph. D. and Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph. D. authors of Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples.

"Beeton and Clark have made a remarkable contribution to pioneering family therapy assessment resources. Their publication is dedicated to the Family Life Space Drawing, a graphic multilevel assessment instrument. It effectively assists in identifying and utilizing reciprocal and complex communication feedback loops. The authors provide an easy-to-read review of the measure’s origins which is backed by theoretical constructs and research. This user-friendly manual includes individual, couples, and family multicultural and international examples taken from a variety of settings. This is an excellent resource for family therapy educators, researchers, and clinicians alike."

Noah Hass-Cohen, PsyD, MA, ATR-BC, Associate Professor, Couples Family Therapy Masters and Doctoral Programs, California School of Professional Psychology

Theresa A. Beeton, Phd, LCSW practices as a social worker with a wide range of counseling experience. Currently she is in private practice working with couples and families. Her past professional experiences includework with adoptions, foster care, crisis intervention, as well as many mental health conerns. Additionally, she has taught social workers and mental health students in three different university settings.

Ronald A. Clark, MSW, LCSW is a private practitioner in the area of couple counseling and family therapy. In addition to providing direct services to clients of all ages and backgrounds, he has been a faculty member of The Catholic University of America teaching graduate students of social work. He came to the mental health field after serving as a Marine Corps officer.