Founded in 1960, the Ackerman Institute for the Family is one of the premier institutions for family therapy and one of the best-known and most highly regarded training facilities for family therapists in the United States. The Institute serves families from all walks of life at all stages of family life.
In this workshop, Martha B. Straus, PhD, will describe Developmental-Relational Therapy (DRT), an attachment-based model of adolescent trauma treatment. Through lecture, discussion, exercises, and video clips, you will learn and practice mindful, empathic strategies that can help even the most challenging and distressed teens feel more secure, connected, present, and regulated.
More InformationIn this workshop, Dr. Elisabeth Sheff will list and explain different variations of consensual non-monogamy (CNM) and identify which types tend to work in which kind of relationships or personalities and when they are not a good fit.
More InformationIn this workshop, the JUSTICE Project will share reflections on several relational experiences specific to couplehood in the context of reentry after incarceration. Participants will have the opportunity to increase their understanding of and sensitivity to the impact of justice involvement in relationships, and develop their ability to nurture the relational capacity of couples navigating the enduring stress of stigma and traumatic experience.
More InformationThis short course will explore the bi-directional impact of a child’s disability on parent and family well-being. Presented by Ackerman's Special Needs Project, this course is appropriate for clinicians who work with children with autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorder and other developmental disabilities.
More InformationIn this workshop, the JUSTICE Project will share reflections on several relational experiences specific to couplehood in the context of reentry after incarceration. They will discuss practices they have found helpful in their work with families navigating the impact of the criminal justice system.
More InformationThis course will teach participants how to write for publication in couple and family therapy. The aim over seven months will be to have a fully realized manuscript for either a scholarly journal or the popular press.
More InformationThis workshop will provide examples of how engaging through the infant and/or child within very stuck families can offer the fastest pathway to healing and overt a baseline for safety which honors the subjectivity of the infant and child, and their right to participate in work which directly affects them.
More InformationThis short course will introduce participants to the language and foundations of the conversation about race and racism with cross-racial facilitators who will share experiences and strategies for engaging in difficult cross-racial dialogue.
More InformationDirectors: Silvia B. Espinal and Genoveva Garcia
The Latino Youth and Family Immigration Project (LYIP): Dímelo en Español provides a specialized framework of family therapy to First and Second generation Latino youth and their families. This project is led by family therapists Silvia B. Espinal, LCSW, and Genoveva Garcia, LCSW.
El Proyecto Juventud y la Familia Latina Inmigrante: Dímelo en Español.
Director: Dr. Zina Rutkin
Competent Kids, Caring Communities (CKCC) is an exciting program that helps schools build a strong social and emotional support system for student learning. The program provides schools with two essential ingredients for academic success: tools to teach social emotional competencies and strategies to involve parents directly in their children’s learning.
Directors: Catherine Lewis, LCSW and Andrea Blumenthal, LCSW
The Foster Care and Adoption Project (FCAP) integrates ideas from family therapy, interpersonal neurobiology, and trauma studies to develop a model of working with families and agency workers who are impacted by or who interact with families involved with foster care and adoption.
Directors: Sarah Berland, LCSW and Courtney Zazzali, LCSW
Nearly seven million Americans are under some form of correctional supervision (incarceration, parole, probation). The JUSTICE Project provides therapeutic support to families involved with or impacted by the criminal justice system.
Director: Martha Edwards, PhD
Bright Beginnings is a theoretically based intervention for families making the transition to parenthood, consisting of group discussions and parent-child activities. Developed by Dr. Martha Edwards, it is designed to help parents promote their children’s social and emotional development and school readiness through a curriculum that includes a prenatal component for expectant mothers, a group component for parents with their infant or toddler, a video review component, and a home visiting component.
Director: Jean Malpas, LMHC, LMFT
The Gender and Family Project (GFP) empowers youth, families and communities by providing gender affirmative services, training and research. GFP promotes gender inclusivity as a form of social justice in all the systems involved in the life of the family. GFP is directed by Jean Malpas, LMHC, LMFT, who has trained and published nationally and internationally on issues of gender and sexuality.
For Immediate Release: New York (NY) – Gisselle Acevedo has been named as the new President and CEO of the Ackerman Institute for the Family.
Ms. Acevedo is the former President and CEO of Para Los Niños, an educational and social service organization which provides services to children and families from some of Los Angeles’s most challenged communities.
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