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Work and Family

Director: Peter Fraenkel, PhD

One of the most complex struggles for couples and families is the balancing act between time for relationships, for the mundane but essential activities that sustain a family, and for time dedicated to work. For poor families, especially those on public assistance, the challenge is finding work and how to successfully negotiate the often difficult family transition as a parent returns to work—often while locating housing, finishing job training, keeping welfare appointments, attending to serious child health care needs. Clearly the “time crunch” extends across the entire economic spectrum, and work-family conflicts always involve challenges in and maintaining family time.

The Center for Work and Family is dedicated to maximizing family and individual well-being along with satisfaction and productivity in work. Using high quality, research-based programs in the community, and collaborating with those it serves in designing and refining the programs, the Center, under the direction of Peter Fraenkel, PhD, assists families at all socioeconomic levels with the challenges of integrating work and family life.

Mission

The mission of the Center for Work and Family is to generate high quality research and community-based programs that assist families at all socioeconomic levels with the challenges of integrating work and family life, so as to maximize family and individual well-being and worker happiness and productivity.

The Center's aim is to create and communicate:

new knowledge about the challenges and thriving strategies for simultaneously achieving work and family goals
community-based programs and therapy-based interventions to assist families to manage effectively work and family responsibilities so that families meet occupational, material, emotional, and relational goals

The Center is committed to the training of future generations of mental health and community program professionals in the research methods and clinical/community interventions that will equip them to create, implement, and evaluate family-focused interventions in the area of work and family.

History

The Center for Work and Family was founded in 1998. Our initial project was a collaboration with HELP USA to develop family support programs for homeless families moving from welfare to work. This project has been replicated in a shelter for families that are homeless by virtue of domestic violence, and in a project focused specifically on families with pre-teens and teens.

Dr. Fraenkel's pioneering work on time issues in couples and families formed the unique theoretical basis for the Center's research and programmatic activities. His membership on the national board of Take Back Your Time Day and frequent appearances on American and European television and in the popular press have brought widespread attention to the problems for families that come from overwork and overscheduling.

The Center expanded its focus with the addition of the Money and Family Life Project. Judy Stern Peck's innovative work on identifying the core values underlying conflicts in family businesses and questions around intergenerational transmission of wealth expanded the Center's range of offerings to the upper end of the socioeconomic spectrum. She and her team have since developed programs for public schools and, in collaboration with Dr. Fraenkel, are creating a program to be implemented in the homeless shelters to assist poor families with the challenges of money management.

Publications

Fraenkel, P. (2006). Engaging families as experts: Collaborative family program development. Family Process, 45, 237-257.

Fraenkel, P. (2006). Fresh Start for Families: A collaboratively-built community-based program for families that are homeless. AFTA Monographs, 1, 14-19.

Fraenkel, P., and Shannon, M. (1999). Multiple Family Discussion Group Manual: Family Support from Welfare to Work Program (Fresh Start for Families). New York: Ackerman Institute for the Family.

Fraenkel, P., Rodriguez, E., Kruk, J., Oakes, M., and Savage, I. (2003). Fresh Start for Families with Teens: Eight-Week Multiple Family Program Manual. New York: Ackerman Institute for the Family.

Fraenkel, P., Kruk, J., Oakes, M., and Savage, I. (2004).Facing Struggles, Finding Strengths: One-Day Fresh Start for Families with Teens Program Manual. New York: Ackerman Institute for the Family.

Fraenkel, P., Kruk, J., West, A., Savage, I., Carmichael, C., auf der Hyde, T., & Smith, I. (2006). Facing Struggles, Finding Strengths: Six-Week Fresh Start for Families with Teens Program Manual. New York: Ackerman Institute for the Family

Presentations

Fraenkel, P. (2003, June). Learning from the experts: Research-based collaborative program development with marginalized families. Plenary address, 25 th Annual Meeting of the American Family Therapy Academy, Miami, Florida.

Fraenkel, P. (2003, November). The families are the experts: What researchers and community programmers can learn from the people they serve. 2003 Harshman Visiting Professor Public Lecture, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada.

Fraenkel, P. (2004, March). Collaborative family program development: A method for working with marginalized families to build community-base programs. XIV World Family Therapy Congress, Istanbul, Turkey.

Fraenkel, P. (2004, March). Learning from the experts: Research-based collaborative program development with marginalized families. Plenary delivered at the XIV World Family Therapy Congress, Istanbul, Turkey

Fraenkel, P. (2004, July). Homeless families—Qualitative and quantitative methods in collaborative family program development. Plenary presentation at Systemische Forschung in Therapie – Pädagogik – Organisationberatung (Systemic Research in Therapy, Pedagogy, and Organizational Consultation). Conference in Heidelberg, Germany.

Fraenkel, P. (2004, July). Research and program development with low income families. Methods workshop presented at Systemische Forschung in Therapie -- Pädagogik – Organisationberatung (Systemic Research in Therapy, Pedagogy, and Organizational Consultation). Conference in Heidelberg, Germany.

Fraenkel, P. (2005, June). Collaborative family program development: Partnering with families to build community-based programs. Workshop presented at the Paper presented at the International Conference on Family Therapy, AFTA-IFTA 2005, Washington, DC

Fraenkel, P. and Hameline, T. (2002, June). Fresh Start for Families: A collaboratively-built program for families that are homeless and moving from welfare to work. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the American Family Therapy Academy, New York, NY.

Fraenkel, P. and Hameline, T. (2002, June). Collaborative family program development: Homeless families and beyond. Roundtable presented at the Annual Conference of the American Family Therapy Academy, New York, NY.

Fraenkel, P., Kruk, J., Oakes, M., Sulle Bowen, M., Savage, I., Bernfeld, M., Kaukiainen, M., Thoma, N., Upshur Davis, E., Kramer, S., & Halfon, S. (2005, June). Challenges and coping in homeless families with teenagers. Poster presented at the International Conference on Family Therapy, AFTA-IFTA 2005, Washington, DC.

Fraenkel, P., Rodriguez, E., Kruk, J., Oakes, M., Savage, I., Sulle-Bowen, M., West, A. (2004, June). Challenges and coping approaches for teens living in a family homeless shelter. Poster presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Family Therapy Academy, San Francisco, CA.

Fraenkel, P., Shannon, M., Diaz-Alarcon, L. (2006, August). The families are the experts: Collaborative methods of family program development in work with homeless families and poor immigrant families. Plenary, International Conference on Working with Marginalized Families and Communities: Professionals in the Trenches, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Fraenkel, P., and Smith, I. (2006, March). Transforming legacies of poverty and oppression into legacies of pride and success. The 15th Annual Culture Conference, Sayreville, NJ.

Fresh Start for Families Surviving Domestic Violence

Publications

Fraenkel, P. (2006). Engaging families as experts: Collaborative family program development. Family Process, 45, 237-257.

Fraenkel, P. (2006). Fresh Start for Families: A collaboratively-built community-based program for families that are homeless. AFTA Monographs, 1, 14-19.

Presentations

Fraenkel, P., Hameline,T., Shannon, M., Brandt, J., & Shugrue C. (2002, October). Fresh Start for Families: Supporting survivors of domestic violence in the transition from welfare to work. Workshop presented at the Annual Conference of the Human Resources Administration, New York, NY.

Fraenkel, P., Hameline, T., & Kowal, S. (2005, June).Societal, institutional, and personal politics in the life of a community-based family program for domestic violence survivors in transition from welfare to work. Paper presented at the International Conference on Family Therapy, AFTA-IFTA 2005, Washington, DC.

Fraenkel, P., Kowal, S., Johnson, D., Mansur, R., Chelchowski, N., Sroczynska, M., and Trub, L. (2005, June).Challenges and coping for homeless domestic violence survivors and their families in transition from welfare to work. Poster presented at the International Conference on Family Therapy, AFTA-IFTA 2005, Washington, DC

Fortalecerse: Family Support from Immigration to Work

Publications

Cabral, A.O.T. (2006). Family Temporal Organization and Children's Affect Regulation: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study of First Generation Dominican Families Living in the Washington Heights Area in New York City.

Fraenkel, P., Marrero, L., & Cabral, A. (2002).Fortalecerse/Family Support from Immigration to Work: A Collaboratively-Built, Research-Based Multiple Family Program to Support Latino Families in Transition to Work. Unpublished manual, Ackerman Institute for the Family, New York, NY.

Marrero, Letisha. (2005). The Impact of Immigration on Maternal Separation Anxiety and their Relationship to Toddler Affect Regulation. [Dissertation Abstract] Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering. Vol 66 (3-B), 2005, pp. 1726

Presentations

Cabral, A., Fraenkel, P., Marrero-Rivera, L., & Perez, L. (2005, June). Family temporal organization and children’s affect regulation: A study of first generation Dominican families living in the Washington Heights Area of New York City. Poster presented at the 27 th Annual Meeting of the American Family Therapy Academy, Washington, DC

Fraenkel, P., Marrero-Rivera, L., Cabral, A., Perez, L. & Diaz, L. (2005, June). Loss and restoration of family and community ties among first-generation Latino mothers. Paper presented at the International Conference on Family Therapy, AFTA-IFTA 2005, Washington, DC
Power Point Version

Research and Programs on Time, Technology, Work, and Family

Publications

Fraenkel, P. (1994). Time and rhythm in couples. Family Process, 33, 37-51.

Fraenkel, P. (1996). Zeit und Rhythmus in Paarbeziehungen. Familiendynamik, 21, 160-182.

Fraenkel, P. (November/December 1996). The rhythms of couplehood: Using time as a resource for change. The Family Therapy Networker, 20, 65-77.

Fraenkel, P. (1998). Time and couples, part I: The decompression chamber. In T. Nelson & T. Trepper (Eds.), 101 interventions in family therapy, volume II, (pp. 140-144). West Hazleton, PA: Haworth Press.

Fraenkel, P. (1998). Time and couples, part II: The sixty second pleasure point. In T. Nelson & T. Trepper (Eds.), 101 interventions in family therapy, volume II, (pp. 145-149). West Hazleton, PA: Haworth Press.

Fraenkel, P. (2001). Getting a kick out of you: The jazz Taoist key to love. In Levine, J., & Markman, H. (Eds.), Why do fools fall in love, (pp. 61-66). San Franscisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fraenkel, P. (2001). The beeper in the bedroom: Technology has become a therapeutic issue. The Psychotherapy Networker, 25 22-65.

Fraenkel, P. (2001). The place of time in couple and family therapy. In K. J. Daly (Ed.), Minding the time in family experience: Emerging perspectives and issues (pp. 283-310). London: JAI.

Fraenkel, P. (2003). Contemporary two-parent families: Navigating work and family challenges. In F. Walsh (Ed.), Normal family processes (3 rd ed.) (pp. 61-95). New York: Guilford.

Fraenkel, P., & Wilson, S. (2000). Clocks, calendars, and couples: Time and the rhythms of relationships. Papp, P. (Ed.), Couples on the fault line: New directions for therapists (pp. 63-103). New York: Guilford Press.

Presentations

Fraenkel, P. (2003, November). The place of time in couple and family therapy. Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

Fraenkel, P. (2006, September). Clocks, calendars, and couples. Plenary presentation at the conference entitled, Schnelle Lösung, langer Atem. Der Facktor Zeit in Beratung und Therapie, Ausbildungsinstitut für systemische Therapie und Beratung, Zürich, Switzerland.

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