Reflecting teams (RTs) are used in family therapy in order to introduce multiple perspectives and provide the 'difference that makes a difference'. Research suggests that reflections made by an RT may be a factor in the change process for family members. This study aims to further the understanding of the helpfulness of reflections in family therapy, thus supporting RTs to be as effective as possible. A quantitative longitudinal questionnaire method was used in order to collect data on family members' perceptions of the helpfulness of reflections made by an RT during their family therapy sessions. The results show that certain types of reflections are less helpful than others and the helpfulness of reflections was found to contribute to the change process for family members. The results are discussed along with reflections on the research process, limitations and recommendations for further research.Practitioner points • Some types of reflections made by the reflecting team are more helpful than others, so using these more helpful reflection types may optimise progress in family therapy • Reflections contribute to the change process in family therapy, therefore reflecting teams are valuable to include in family therapy sessions

The Reflecting Team (RT) has been a common companion of systemic practitioners since Tom Andersen first described its use (Andersen, 1987). Despite the widespread acceptance of such ideas in modern Systemic Practice, there is limited research into the RT method.We hoped to contribute to the broader research aim of exploring how and why reflecting team conversations lead to change by addressing the following question: is it possible to reliably categorise the utterances of the RT to form a framework? We used a content analysis to analyse and categorise over three hours of reflecting team conversations from four different clinical teams. This resulted in the identification of eleven discrete categories including: 'they asked a question to you as a family', 'they highlighted something positive and they commented on their own emotions'. We go on to discuss potential applications of this Reflecting Team Utterances Framework and our reflections on the process.