The family empowerment program: an interdisciplinary approach to working with multi-stressed urban families.

The family empowerment program (FEP) is a multi-systemic family therapy program that partners multi-stressed families with an interdisciplinary resource team while remaining attached to a "traditional" mental health clinic. The rationale for this model is that far too often, families presenting at community mental health centers struggle with multiple psychosocial forces, for example problems with housing, domestic violence, child care, entitlements, racism, substance abuse, and foster care, as well as chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses, that exacerbate symptoms and impact traditional service delivery and access to effective treatment. Thus, families often experience fragmented care and are involved with multiple systems with contradictory and competing agendas.

Using prayer in psychotherapy: applying Sue's differential to enhance culturally competent care.

In this article, the authors discuss the application of Sue's cultural competence differential of hypothesis testing, dynamic sizing, and cultural specific expertise as a model for considering cultural factors in the treatment of an African American family. Three cultural dimensions are highlighted: spirituality, womanism, and community exposure to trauma. Given the centrality of spirituality for this African American family, prayer is used to facilitate the therapeutic process.

Invisibility syndrome: a clinical model of the effects of racism on African-American males.

Adaptive behavior and psychological well-being of African Americans can be affected by prejudice and discrimination. Encountering repeated racial slights can create "psychological invisibility." The invisibility syndrome is presented as a conceptual model for understanding the inner evaluative processes and adaptive behavior of African Americans in managing experiences of racism.

Parent and family support groups with African American families: the process of family and community empowerment.

This article describes a process of family and community empowerment in which psychologists, along with community, school and religious leaders, intervened on a multisystemic level and formed a parent and family support group to empower families in helping their at-risk adolescents to succeed. The adolescents, who were predominantly African American, had been arrested for fighting at school and were experiencing academic and behavioral difficulties. Critical incidents in the group development and the family and community empowerment process are described.