This is a very useful if somewhat limited book. Written for clinicians whose practice involves anyone practicing consensual non-monogamy (CNM), this informative text covers a considerable amount of practical information. Vaughan and Burnes provide useful steps for this practice area and a solid summary of the relevant research and theoretical constructs underlying current clinical approaches. The book's strength is how practical a resource it is for any clinician whose practice involves individuals whose lives are experienced and structured in terms of CNM. The book effectively begins with a case study description of a clinician who agrees to work with a CNM couple despite having limited experience in this area, exactly the type of professional likely to find this book particularly useful. Recommended. Graduate students and professionals.

Choice Reviews

Baked-in prejudices extend to the ways that couples therapists are trained, says Michelle Vaughn. She’s coauthor (with Theodore R. Burnes) of The Handbook of Consensual Nonmonogamy: Affirming Mental Health Practice, the one book I most wish I’d read before I started seeing couples 30 years ago. “All of us are raised in a society that assumes monogamy,” she notes. “We’re taught there’s one way to do a relationship: the right way, the respected way. In graduate programs, we’re taught that if you’re interested in multiple intimate relationships, you have an unhealthy attachment style, or trauma, or a mental health issue.” She highlights the often-heard fallacy that there’s research proving you can only form one healthy intimate adult attachment. “A complete fabrication,” she adds. “There’s no such research.”

Psychotherapy Networker

The Handbook on Consensual Non-Monogamy provides a much-needed comprehensive overview of what we now know about consensually non-monogamous relationships, drawing on a wide range of academic, therapeutic and activist theories and research. Situating monogamy and non-monogamy appropriately within a current capitalist, colonialist way of relating, this collection foregrounds anti-oppressive and relationship diversity affirming approaches to working with non-monogamous people across intersections. An invaluable resource for all professionals hoping to practice cultural humility around relationships and beyond.

Meg-John Barker, author of Understanding Non-Monogamies and Rewriting the Rules

Sexuality education everywhere needs a source like this. This is a practical, direct, and informational book for private practices to become sensitized to people in consensual non-monogamous relationships and to better support them.

Dr. Martha Tara Lee, Relationship Counselor and Clinical Sexologist

Psychotherapists are often hesitant to work with CNM clients, as evidence-based practice is required; however, there is very little clinical research available. The Handbook of Consensual Non-Monogamy: Affirming Mental Health Practice fills this significant gap through a multi-leveled approach in providing effective and anti-oppressive mental-relational health care to CNM clients.

Carling Mashinter, MSc, registered psychotherapist, Relationship Matters Therapy Centre

This handbook is the most comprehensive, well-researched resource available for clinicians supporting individuals exploring or engaging in consensual non-monogamy (CNM). It is a much-needed, culturally relevant, guiding resource that unifies the latest research with qualitative anecdotes to humanize the lived experience of those practicing consensual non-monogamy. It addresses the knowledge gap that persists in society and the mental health profession about how to care for a sizable minority of individuals seeking services. I am thrilled about the anti-oppressive, intersectional lens of this handbook, and its contribution in the broader context of efforts to provide support to this large and growing marginalized community.

Heath Schechinger, counseling psychologist, University of California, Berkeley and founding co-chair of the APA Division 44 Committee on Consensual Non-monogamy