Salvador Minuchin is a family therpaist born and raised in Argentina. He developed Structural Family Terapy, which addresses problems within a family by charting the relationships among family members and between subsets of immediate and extended family members (e.g., spousal, parental, child, child-grandparent subsystems). By charting family dynamics, the family therapist can come to understand power dynamics within the family, covert and overt rules used in the family, boundaries between different subsystems, and hierachies in the family and subsystems. After understanding these dynamics, the therapist tries focus in on the dysfunctional relationships within the family and then helps the family develop a healthier pattern of relating through the creation of new boundaries, rules, and hierachies. Dr. Minuchin was one of the founders of the Philadelphai Child Guidance Clinic where he worked predominantly with poor familes. His theory has become nationally and internationally known. In 2007, a survey of 2,600 psychology practitioners named Minuchin as one of the ten most influential therapists of all time.

Dr. Jeffrey Edwards, Professor of Community Counseling and Family Counseling from Northeastern Illinois University tells a story entitled: “Be True to Your Model: Or, Hierachy Starts Here.”

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