Rafiki Consortium, LLC

About Us

Overview

Rafiki Consortium is a group of mental health professionals specializing in improving interpersonal and intrapersonal communication within human systems. Rafiki offers customized interventions to public and private agencies, educational and human service institutions, community networks, and religious institutions that facilitate better working relationships among members of their stakeholder networks. Rafiki specializes in facilitating cross-cultural communications, that may include assisting stakeholders from differing backgrounds (classes, races, professions, genders, ages, etc.) and with differing perspectives, experience the common ground that is the basis for productive planning that addresses the needs of all involved parties.

This consciousness raising, consensus building process is based on the assumption that all people have good intentions and given enough support and skillful assistance, will respond positively. Rafiki’s staff has extensive experience in Psychology; Social Work; Human and Organizational Development; Community Mental Health; and several spiritual disciplines. Rafiki’s associates are highly experienced family and group psychotherapists who have worked in a variety of mental health and human service environments as clinicians, supervisors, managers and trainers.

Enriched Structural Family Therapy (ESFT)

Enriched Structural Family Therapy is the centerpiece of Rafiki's family management and parenting skills trainings. It evolved out of the work of Henry Gregory, Jannette Meriweather Gregory, and Ross Ford and is an enrichment of structural family therapy originally done in the 1960's and 70's with minority families in Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; and other urban centers. The ESFT model is used by many human services agencies in Baltimore, MD and Washington, D.C.

Trainings performed using the ESFT model are competency-oriented, skills-oriented. and promote independence. They respect the rights abilities of individuals to make decisions about their lives, with the aid of a facilitator who helps to clarify communications, options and consequences.

Our Philosophy

Rafiki is a Kiswahili word that means "friend". We see ourselves as friends of the community. Our philosophy of service delivery is based on the following assumptions:

People are innately good
All people want the best for their families
All people want the best for their communities
Communities are groups of families
Communities know their needs
In a properly functioning system/community everyone has a valuable role to play in meeting those needs
Communities, like individuals, have inherent strengths that must be tapped
People will work together when provided genuine opportunity to do so
Empowered families make strong communities