There are times in our lives as therapists when we are more or less likely to learn important
lessons from our clients about ourselves as people and as family members. In particular, our
shifting roles and experience of ourselves as we reach each new developmental stage in the family
life cycle can have powerful effects on how we work with clients, as well as on how our clients
affect us. In reflecting on this reciprocal process, we realized that we have been particularly
affected in our roles and ways of being as partners, as parents, and as adult children in our
families of origin.