The current mental health culture pressures therapists to focus too much on finding the "correct" technical intervention or method, and not enough on what lies within the therapist, which is where real therapeutic healing begins. In this workshop, we'll focus on seven ways therapists can creatively use themselves as catalysts in promoting family transformation. We'll discuss how to work with difficult and/or multiproblem families—those with destructive relationships and dangerous symptoms, like suicidal behavior, substance abuse, physical violence, sexual abuse, and psychosomatic disorders. You'll specifically learn how to take charge of the therapeutic context, engage families, focus on competence, use play and humor, and channel anxiety and aggression. Through videotapes and case consultations with workshop participants, you'll discover how to maintain your own equilibrium even in the toughest therapeutic moments. (This session will continue with Workshop 529.)