the adoption and use of FPM is as much a personal, emotional journey for practitioners that needs to be respected and appreciated as an exercise in learning and knowledge acquisition. Using FPM in practice is not simply a process of implementing a set of skills and procedures with parents. It requires 'living practice' in which practitioners remain alert and considered about the way that they use and adapt the FPM to the needs of individual families and confidently manage the ensuing dilemmas and challenges involved in working with parents and children who have complex lives and difficulties. These can include building sound partnerships in which practitioners can contribute their own observation and seek parental expertise without alienating parents or becoming an expert, and remain supportive and connected to parents' experiences while maintaining purpose, thus facilitating change and influencing and challenging parents appropriately.