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Family psychology is, at its core, a way of thinking. Family psychology's distinctive approach to practice, research, and policy is actualized through systemic thinking. This introductory chapter aims to demonstrate how system thinking unites family psychology practice, research, and policy. In doing so it hopes to renew interest in exploring how systemic principles apply to families in contemporary psychology and highlight how methodologies have evolved to capture these principles. The chapter briefly reviews key principles of systems theory and its application to contemporary family psychology. To illustrate key principles of systems approaches, it discusses contemporary research and practice as applied to the topic of family health. The chapter provides an overview of how systems principles are emphasized in contemporary research methods. It concludes with a discussion of future directions, focusing on family …