Bente Barstad works as a special adviser and clinical psychologist at Modum Bad Psychiatric Hospital and Modum Bads Course and Competence Center in Vikersund, Norway

Søren Marcussen is a psychotherapist, projectmanager and head of Department for Couples, divorce, and stepfamilies therapy, at the Center for Family Development, in Copenhagen, Denmark

Glenn Ringdal is familytherapist and head of the Course and Competence Center at Modum Bad, psychiatric hospital in Vikersund, Norway

Through our extensive experience as therapists, we have met many couples, single individuals and children living in stepfamilies. Modum Bad in Norway and the Center for Family Development in Copenhagen collaborate on the topic of stepfamily challenges, which we experience is under-communicated.

The goal is to empower couples to succeed in their new family project through therapy, counselling, and course activities. In this presentation, we want to share experiences and knowledge, and invite to increased awareness and reflection about both the challenges and opportunities stepfamilies face.

The stepfamily is a unique family form that should not try to copy the first-time family if it is to succeed. What makes it a special family form, and what implications does it have? The stepfamily encounters special conditions which cannot be changed but which the family must learn to accept and live with. What are some of these basic conditions, and what do we do with them when we cannot change them? It is possible for families to work on several challenges so that both adults and children can thrive in the stepfamily. This is part of what this presentation will focus on.

Increased knowledge and awareness among professionals who work with couples and families who live in stepfamilies, facing the unique challenges this family form encounters.