Families Going through the Transitions of Divorce: Research Focus on a Clinical Sample

In this chapter we will introduce the families with whom we have worked over the last five years in the divorce research project, to show some of the complexities of life experience with which divorce and separation processes can be interwoven. The work described took place as part of a child and family mental health service in inner London. We have selected certain aspects of family culture, structure and organisational arrangements for all the families we have seen, and against this background we will set the clinical dilemmas and approaches discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.