Working With Parents Makes Therapy Work demonstrates the crucial role of parent work in child and adolescent therapy. The Novicks suggest that restoring the parent-child relationship contributes to long-lasting therapeutic change in children and adolescents. With a multitude of vivid clinical examples, the authors provide a practical guide to clinical techniques for integrating parent work with individual child and adolescent treatment. Working With Parents Makes Therapy Work demonstrates that parents and therapists can form a strong alliance to support the child's healthy development. Kerry and Jack Novick apply their revised models of the therapeutic alliance and two systems of self-regulation to help parents from evaluation to termination and beyond. The book covers a wide range of situations, for instance, work with fathers, addressing problems of divorce and diverse family structures, and many modes of communicating with parents. Family secrets and loyalty conflicts; what happens when parents are troubled; the importance of parents in the lives of teenagers-these are all discussed in detail. Privacy and secrecy are defined and differentiated to clarify the meaning and importance of genuine confidentiality.

"A comprehensive, reader friendly and exceptionally informative guide for properly identifying and contributing to a healthy parent-child relationship for the potential and long-lasting benefit of the child in a therapeutic pursuit. Supplying an expansively illustrative content of examples, studies, in-depth detailing, Working with Parents Makes Therapy Work covers diverse but common situations. Vitally important reading for counselors and psychotherapists working with families in clinical settings, Working with Parents Makes Therapy Work is also very highly recommended for the struggling parents of struggling children and teens for its invaluable and accessible contribution of helpful insights and general content." - The Bookwatch

"Working With Parents Makes Therapy Work is a rare book. It is a book on a subject that is almost never written about in psychoanalysis. This is also a rare book for another reason: while it makes no extravagant claims, it quietly turns the traditional way of thinking about parent work in child analysis on its head. For this reason especially, all child analysts should read it and consider its message. This book has an interesting mix of practical advice and theoretical ideas. It is useful for clinicians at all levels of experience. A new and thoughtful look at how we work with the families of the children we treat is most refreshing and long overdue. This view is especially relevant since it is based on years of clinical practice by two excellent clinicians.." - Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

"The book is a highly practical treatise on techniques to involve parents meaningfully in their child's therapy." - Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic: A Journal for the Mental Health Professions, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Fall 2007)

"Working With Parents Makes Therapy Work is a rare book. It is a book on a subject that is almost never written about in psychoanalysis. This is also a rare book for another reason: while it makes no extravagant claims, it quietly turns the traditional way of thinking about parent work in child analysis on its head. For this reason especially, all child analysts should read it and consider its message. This book has an interesting mix of practical advice and theoretical ideas. It is useful for clinicians at all levels of experience. A new and thoughtful look at how we work with the families of the children we treat is most refreshing and long overdue. This view is especially relevant since it is based on years of clinical practice by two excellent clinicians." - Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

"This book represents a turning point in our child psychiatry practice which legitimizes a shift that many of us have adopted clinically several years ago. It should be read, discussed and improved upon by all child and adolescent practictioners." - Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

"The Novicks have offered us a significant volume....This book is an important addition to the literature and can be a resource for child therapists at all levels of experience." - Psychologist - Psychoanalyst, Fall 2008