Family therapy through systems theory is helping to join in the journey of families in crisis. Families in the Balkans have faced the impact of wars as well as natural disasters. Much has been learned about systemic thinking in coping with crisis occurring in the last decade of the 20th century and the carry over to the first three years of the 21st century.

Refugees have streamed forth going both directions -- to and from the areas of conflict. Non-government organizations (NGOs) as well as national and international groups have worked side by side and some times are in conflict in terms of values and assumptions which each brings.

An Empowerment Model gives the opportunity for hope to be engendered. Social Sciences and a world view sensitive to cross-cultural issues are essential in moving toward a model which focuses on reconciliation and developing understanding in conflicted areas.

The model seeks to enable people to hope where despair and conflict have been the negative energizing forces. Examples will be given of programs which have been successful in meeting stated objectives of empowering people.

Also, it is important to share what has not worked. In systems thinking the goal is to have a grasp of the whole gestalt of issues involved in human interactions.

The goal of this presentation will be to state some basic premises about cross cultural issues raised in international, in intracountry, and in the family in conflict as a micro-cosim of a larger whole.

Part of these experiences have included the role of spiritual belief systems and in some instances religious practices which are helping. Impairment and even death presents challenges to the providers of supportive care.

Finally, the goal is to rediscover the power of hope and its place as a value and a source of psychic and spiritual energy. The ultimate goal is to attempt to extrapolate findings to other contexts where conflict is a part of the human experience. Empowering models can be effective where they are examined in the crucible of human experience.