How's Your Family Really Doing? 10 Keys to a Happy, Loving Family

Highlighting the 10 essential keys that define successful families, this book begins with a 50-point assessment for the reader to determine their family’s strengths and areas for growth. Written by husband and wife team of psychotherapists with over thirty-five years of experience, this guidebook synthesizes contributions from family, psychological and brain research, systems theory and spirituality. Providing dozens of practical tips and tools for families in any stage of the life cycle, it is concise, engaging, and designed to capture the interest of working moms and dads who are often too busy to pore through lengthier works.

For most people, family is valued above all else. But the kind of family we want and the family we’ve created can be as different as night and day. Families can be our greatest comfort or the source of our deepest pain. Unprecedented levels of stress, massive cultural shifts, and new technologies challenge the way we live. We are flooded with more information and one-size-fits-all solutions than anyone can sort through, and it is little wonder parents feel at a loss for answers when their families are in crisis. Because most of us haven’t had classes in how to be a family, Don MacMannis, Ph.D., and Debra Manchester MacMannis, M.S.W., have written How’s Your Family Really Doing? 10 Keys to a Happy Loving Family (Two Harbors Press, $15.95), a guidebook that synthesizes contributions from family studies, psychological and brain research, systems theory and spirituality. The book highlights the ten essential keys that define successful families and provides practical tools to personalize every reader’s experience. As a society, we are relentlessly inundated with “how to books” that typically focus on symptoms that one or more family members are experiencing- anxiety, depression, school problems, out of control behaviors, addictions, etc. But parents buying books about fixing specific problems 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, How’s Your Family Really Doing? provides the reader with a checklist of the most important, underlying “family factors” that can add to their efforts at change. The book begins with a 50-point questionnaire—the Current Family Assessment—to evaluate the family, identify where it is thriving, and explore where improvements are needed. Upon completing the questionnaire, readers learn which of the 10 Keys to a Happy Loving Family need attention and why. Providing practical tools for families in any stage of the life cycle, it is concise, engaging, and designed to capture the interest of working moms and dads who are often too busy to pore through lengthier works. “As practicing psychotherapists for 30-plus years, we have worked with thousands of couples and families who have reached out for help,” explain the authors. “Our model is positive, practical, and strength-based, and this book is an extension of that affirming approach.” How’s Your Family Really Doing? helps parents: • Recognize the characteristics of healthy families and how to bring out the best in one another. • Identify their family’s strengths and areas needing improvement. • Facilitate conversations about desired changes. • Create a working set of goals to focus efforts at improvement. • Examine the similarities and differences between their family of origin and current family. • Find specific ways to strengthen skills for each of the 10 Keys. How’s Your Family Really Doing? provides parents with the knowledge and resources to create happier, healthier, and more loving families for a lifetime.

Don and Debra are a team both at home and at the office. Husband and wife for almost thirty years, they have simultaneously served as directors of the Family Therapy Institute of Santa Barbara, a nonprofit organization. In this capacity they oversee the clinical work of fourteen therapists providing help to hundreds of clients each year. They are authors or coauthors of numerous articles on parenting and clinical issues. In 2009, Don won the title of “Best Family Therapist” in a poll taken by SBParent.com. In 2010, Debra was honored with an Award for Service to the Community by local therapists and the Mayor of Santa Barbara “for 30 years of inspiration, leadership, and training provided to thousands of clinicians, and the devotion exemplified in
consistent visionary work for the community.” 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 Ready to Rock Kids, 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. Prior to founding the Institute in 1979, she was the Executive Director of Social Advocates for Youth in the San Francisco Bay Area, working with runaway teens and children at risk. She has taught marriage and family therapy at Antioch University, Pacifica Graduate Institute, numerous local agencies, schools and mental health facilities. She finds respite from her busy life through painting, hiking and being with her much loved dog, Shammy. Don and Debra have lived in Santa Barbara, Ca., for the past thirty-two years. They share a love of games, music, movies, biking, hiking, travel, and art.