The purpose of this article is to educate Marriage and Family Therapists about the history of the profession and to call attention to the troubling history of eugenics as it pertains to current ethical practice. The eugenics movement sought to increase the marriage and reproduction of healthy, white people, while implementing a system of institutionalization and sterilization to deter the reproduction of people of color, people with disabilities, and anyone determined to be “undesirable” by eugenicists. The helping professions, including Marriage and Family Therapy arose during the years when this took place, and contributed to the implementation of eugenics in a variety of ways. Founders of the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, including eugenicist Paul Popenoe, also known as the father of marriage counseling, played a key role in linking eugenics ideals and practices with Marriage and Family Therapy. While other professions, and indeed other organizations of all types, have worked to understand their participation in the promotion of eugenics ideals, and have issued apologies along with commitments to function ethically in the future, Marriage and Family Therapy has yet to do so. This article is a call to reckon with our history, to understand it, to educate and to practice ethically in the future.
Consensually nonmonogamous (CNM) persons are significantly underrepresented in couple therapy research. There are very few models of therapy formatted specifically to work with the unique configurations of CNM. Yet, the systemic underpinnings of the couple and family therapy field are most appropriately aligned with conceptualizing and treating issues within a multi-system configuration such as nonmonogamous relationships. Structural therapy is a timeless theoretical orientation that shows aptitude and flexibility to be adapted for more socially just application. We analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the original model and critique those through a social justice lens. We propose adapted strategies and interventions for working with CNM clients, and for ease of use with an updated approach that is inclusive of alternative relationship configurations.
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