Now in its second edition, How's Your Family Really Doing? draws from extensive new research to highlight ten essential keys that define successful families. Providing practical tools for families in any stage of the life cycle, it is concise, engaging, and designed for working moms and dads who are often too busy to pore through lengthier works. Winner of the Book of the Year Award: Foreword Magazine, and The Eric Hoffer Award, How's Your Family Really Doing? can help you to: -Learn about healthy families and ways to bring out the best in one other. -Identify family strengths and areas needing improvement. -Facilitate conversations about desired changes. -Strengthen your skills with dozens of tips and tools. 
 -Identify and overcome the effects of past influences. As a society, we have been inundated with "how to books," typically focused on symptoms that one or more family members are experiencing such as anxiety, depression, school problems, out of control behaviors, addictions, etc. But parents buying books about specific symptoms or challenges are often frustrated when trying new techniques without success. That's because these books fail to include what else may be going on in the family that can create or maintain problem behaviors. In contrast, this guidebook provides the reader with a checklist of the most important, underlying "family factors" that can add to efforts at change. The book was conceptualized and written to be more than just a parenting book. It can be used as a reference-like an encyclopedia of family relationships that can be turned to at pivotal moments in the family life cycle. The tips and tools can help family members regardless of whether the kids are still growing up or have left the nest. Equally appropriate for families with toddlers, teens or grandparents, evaluation and change in families is aided by the input of as many participants and generations as possible. It can be used as a pre-marital tool, as preparation for the birth of a child, at a time when a child is symptomatic and the family wants to know why, at the blending of two new families, or at a break-up or a geographical move.
About the Author: Husband and wife for over thirty years, Don MacMannis, Ph.D., and Debra Manchester MacMannis, M.S.W., have simultaneously served as directors of the Family Therapy Institute of Santa Barbara. In addition to nationwide lectures on families, they have provided postgraduate training to hundreds of therapists. They have a weekly blog on a variety of issues related to families and effective parenting. Don has a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth, a masters in school-child psychology from University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from California School of Professional Psychology. Also a musician, he was songwriter and music director for the animated PBS hit, Jay Jay the Jet Plane. His public education efforts have culminated in the writing and production of Kids' EPs, a series of songs and activities that help young children with social and emotional learning. His music has won over ten major awards. Debra received her undergraduate degree in psychology with distinction from Stanford University and her masters in social welfare from University of California at Berkeley with a specialty in family therapy and community mental health.