With stepfamily living now the norm, professionals who work with these complex families need to understand how the stepfamily system differs in process, development and structure. This creative four-part, all-day training focuses on working effectively with stepfamilies in the context of family systems and developmental theory. A section on adolescent stepkids sensitizes participants to what children face when their family re-organizes--again. Examining bonds, boundaries, and stumbling blocks to clinical challenges provides clarity on stepfamily challenges and clinical guidelines for working through these unique challenges. Since people become part of a stepfamily via many transitions—separation, divorce, single-parent living and remarriage—learning Virginia Satir’s Process of Change Model can help you better guide these complicated families through major normal stepfamily developments.  Prepare to have fun as you learn!

Considering the topic of stepfamilies is critical because:

 

• Remarriage is a marriage! While the vulnerable stepfamily needs the same resources as all families, inherent differences make it harder to build a strong marriage.
  
  

• The remarriage divorce rate is high.

• A stepfamily is a family! Harboring leftovers from divorce or the death of a parent makes it challenging to achieve family stability with ease.
  
  

• Step parenting involves parenting! Yet basic differences make it necessary to take a different approach in dealing with discipline.

• Issues of loss, grief, transition, and trust in this family system parallel those in adoptive and foster families. The workshop is helpful for clinicians working with ALL families in transition.

• When adults move into Stepfamily Living before completing their addiction recovery process, they lack the ability to choose healthy partners, maintain boundaries, nor avoid repeating lifelong patterns.