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The Family Centre

The Family Centre is one of the leading community based agencies in Aotearoa, New Zealand, carrying out social policy research, community development work, family therapy services, education and training. Within Aotearoa, New Zealand, the Family Centre works with people from three broad cultural backgrounds: Maori; Pacific Island; and Pakeha. This working context is reflected in the Family Centre's three tikanga organisational structure, made up of Maori, Pacific Island and Pakeha sections. The Family Centre has been working with families and communities in the Wellington region, and nationally, since 1979, and has a wide range of relationships with different organisations in all these areas.

The philosophical foundation of the Family Centre's work is Just Therapy. This is a reflective approach to therapy developed by workers at the Family Centre since it was founded in 1979. A fundamental feature of Just Therapy is the attention paid to the broad context of cultural, social, spiritual, economic and psychological factors underlying the problems experienced by those with whom our therapists work.

This philosophy underlies the Family Centre's commitment to the eradication of racism, sexism and poverty. In all it's therapy, field work activities and research, the Family Centre is committed to expose the marginalisation of different sectors of the population and facilitate change to their advantage. Embodied in it's work is a commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi and Justice for the Pacific Nations' peoples.

Interest in Just Therapy is growing within the international therapeutic community and Family Centre workers are actively involved in conducting workshops, seminars and conference presentations in Australasia, Europe and North America.