Consultation and Public Education

PCFINE is available to provide pro bono consultation to agencies working directly with families in crisis. A deeper grasp of human behavior, family dynamics, and unconscious motivation and conflict can empower human services professionals to develop more effective and far-reaching interventions when helping families at risk.

PCFINE consultations aim to achieve both short and long term results. In the short term, professionals will gain confidence and greater expertise in addressing the multiple needs of their clients. In the long term, training those on the front lines – social workers, housing advocates, day care teachers, judges, and pediatricians, among others – will ultimately result in these professionals reaching the broadest number of families possible. In the end, more resilient families will lead to a healthier community and society.

PCFINE community service collaborations have included: consulting to staff working with homeless families on Boston’s South Shore through Quincy Community Action Programs, Inc.; consultation and clinical supervision to therapists at the Child Witness to Violence Project, a counseling program for young children exposed to violence in the home and the community; consultation by PCFINE faculty to Cambridge Family & Children’s Services staff in the areas of conflict resolution, parenting education, adoption and working with the foster care system; and a collaboration in medical education with Tufts New England Medical Center medical residents, where PCFINE faculty supervised and trained residents in family systems theory and therapy. Other PCFINE community service collaborations have included work with staff at the Boston Court Clinic, Dedham Probate Court, Visiting Nurses Association, and the South End Clinic.