In the field of marriage and family therapy, the Global Assessment of Relational Functioning (GARF) tool can be used to meet the needs of the client, therapist, managed care workers, and contractual payers. It can also provide therapists with assessment data for guiding their clinical work and outcome data for verifying treatment success to outside evaluators. This sourcebook outlines the basic elements of GARF as described in the DSM-IV. These elements include: solving problems and negotiating goals, rules and routines within the practice, organizing roles and responsibilities, and establishing a positive emotional environment for everyone. In order to fulfil these basic elements, the authors provide clinicians with some necessary tools including structural knowledge, process charts, and growth-producing environmental proposals. In the first portion of the book, clinicians will find a quick understanding of the GARF and how it can produce effective outcomes from different treatment approaches. In addition, this sourcebook provides clinicians with a start-up manual to using the GARF in marriage and family therapy. Managed care needs are discussed later in the book and a comparison of major family assessment tools is also included for the experienced clinician.

Related link: Free Email Alerting