Who's afraid of the Theory Wolf? An exploration of where you are and how you might be in relation to theory

Over the past couple of years, JoFT and ANZJFT have been engaged in an exciting project called: What is The Place of Theory in Contemporary Family Therapy? In the first stage of this project, eight papers have been published from family therapy scholars across the world describing a range of relationships to and views about theory. 

Stage Two will appear in a special issue of JFT drawing on articles published throughout 2026-7. Here Stage One participants will be invited to contribute a shorter article in response to other contributors as well as new authors being invited to contribute. In stage Two we are particularly keen to invite people newer to thinking and writing about theory and we hope that this workshop will encourage people to engage. 

In the workshop, we will introduce people to the current eight papers and will discuss not  pepole's responses to those papers and how they might like to respond.  

The papers currently published in ANZJFT are:

1. The Complex Alliance in the Family Therapy Session: A Key Clinical Focus Rooted in Tacit Theoretical Paradigm, Peter Rober

2. Revisiting Causality in Systemic Family Therapy: The Critical Realist Embrace, David Pocock

3. Reflections About the Place of Theory in Today's Couple and Family Therapy, Jay Lebow

4. Therapist as Service User in the Construction of Theory, Sim Roy-Chowdry

5. Reimagining Theories as Conversational Resources: Implications for Family Therapy, Sheila McNamee 

6. ‘What Is the Place of Theory in Contemporary Family Therapy?’ Theorising the Concept of the Therapeutic Relationship, Rudi Dallos and Arlene Vetere

7. Deconstructing Theory, Engaging Practice, Glenn Larner

8. Theory. Where From and Where To? Britt Krause