This session, recorded in 1991 by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and digitally remastered in 2009, features Harry Aponte conducting a live, unedited therapy session with a family. The featured family is an African American mother and her children struggling with poverty and a legacy of deprivation. The session is a demonstration of the Eco-System Model, incorporating class, racial and ethnic experiences of both the family and therapist. Mother lacks confidence and skill to parent her children, forcing her 14-year-old daughter to do so. After running away from home to pursue the attention of older men, her actions culminate in a suicide gesture. An experience is created for the mother to reach out to her daughter.
Approx. Time: 87 minutes