This article discusses the extent to which community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) practise family therapy. The author, after offering definitions of family therapy and discussing some of the models of the approach, suggests that although many CPNs will be conversant in the theory, only a minority feel confident to use in practice what is increasingly being seen as a specialisation in its own right

Family therapy is often listed as one of a range of areas within which the community psychiatric nurse (CPN) might specialise. For example, Simmons and Brooker (1986) wrote of the ‘growing expertise among mental health professionals in non-drug therapies, including counselling, behaviour therapy, family therapy, social skills training'. They suggested that: ‘Having carried out a full assessment, the CPN may decide to offer one of a range of different types of therapy,’ including ‘family meetings or therapy'.