Study 2: Jill (Let the smoke clear...) It has been a long day and you are glad it is Friday. Earlier you called and made plans with your friend, Jill, to order delivery from your favorite sandwich shop and to start a movie marathon around 6 PM. When you arrive at Jill's condo you smell a distinctive odor in the hall. You knock and she opens the door. A smoky cloud lingers in the kitchen. Jill has invited her cousin Shelly over and they seem to have been smoking something. Their eyes are red, they seem extremely relaxed, and there are food and candy wrappers all over the place. Jill says that she totally forgot you were coming over, but you should stay and hang out anyway. What have Jill and Shelly been smoking? For most of us, the family is the first and most important support group in life to fight stress, anxiety and depression. But it is true that even the happiest family experiences family-connected stressors. Common examples include death of a loved one, job loss, an unexpected illness or accident, prolonged poverty, etc. However, some family characteristics such as in single- parent families, dual-earner families, reconstituted (blended) families and surrogate families may face special challenges and stressors. If you go on to become a counselor, you will eventually have to deal with the special challenges such groups face. You may even (or already) have had to face such challenges in your own family.