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An ecological approach to family therapy is relevant for all social classes, not only for the poor. Examples of this orientation are presented in this paper.

The general hypothesis that consultation outcome is related to the occurrence of certain tasks associated with each of several consultation phase areas was tested. Task accomplishment was examined in relation to both participants (consultants and consulteesConsultation process deals with the developmental sequence of phases of events that take place during the course of consultation. This process may be thought of as occurring within a single consultation session or in the actual development of a consultation program over a long period of time. Although some form of phase sequence in consultation process is widely mentioned in the literature and is logically indicated, particularly in such types of consultation as client-centered case consultation, the only empirical findings to demonstrate it are in a study by Robbins and Spencer (1968). Using a method of interaction analysis these authors found the consultation process to be divided into three phases: information giving, labeled as "expositional," which reached its peak in the first part of the consultation and was found to be the consultee's principal function; evaluation and clarification, labeled as "reactive," which reached its peak in the middle and was found to be the consultant's principal function; "summarization" which was less clearly delineated and was not shown to be a function of either the consultant or consultee. These findings seem to indicate that the phases that make up the consultation process are in actuality the specific behaviors or acts of the participants. No doubt different types of consultation call for different kinds of behaviors on the part of the participants.In the present study it is assumed that the phases that make up the consultation process are the result of certain tasks which must be accomplished by the participants involved if the consultation is to have a successful outcome. These tasks are seen as constituting the role behaviors of the consultant and consultee. It is hypothesized that