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.
This workshop will use concepts from Object Relations to show how and when to help clients connect the dots between the present and the past. Through video and case examples, the workshop will demonstrate ways to re-work troublesome issues and traumas that have been retained as ‘unfinished business,’ and help clients see themselves and others in a new light.
More InformationIn this workshop, Michele Scheinkman, LCSW will describe how she utilizes the vulnerability cycle as the gateway for promoting intimacy in couple relationships.
More InformationSuzanne Iasenza, PhD, will provide expansive models of sexual response, how to conduct a therapeutic sexual history, and co-creating expansive therapeutic frames that include new approaches to standard sex therapy techniques.
More InformationIn this workshop, participants will explore how to engage reluctant partners in therapy without making them feel trapped in an unhappy future. The workshop will use videotape/audiotape demonstrations, experiential exercises, and case presentations that will include heterosexual, gay, and biracial couples.
More InformationIn this workshop, Dr. Parra-Cardona will present a theoretical framework useful to inform preventive and clinical interventions with Latinxs.
More InformationIn this workshop, Dr. Guy Diamond and Dr. Suzanne Levy will review procedures and assessment tools for conducting suicide risk assessments. Participants will learn how to generate a safety plan and how and when to involve parents/caregivers in the process.
More InformationABFT provides structure and a roadmap to guide families through this reparative process in 12 to 16 weeks. The model unfolds through five treatment tasks: relational reframing, alliance building with the adolescent, alliance building with the parent(s), repairing attachment, and promoting autonomy.
More InformationDr. Walsh will present a useful systemic framework and multi-faith perspectives to integrate spirituality in clinical work with individuals, couples, and families. Practice guidelines, cautions, and case illustrations will be discussed.
More InformationIn this workshop, Pauline Boss, PhD, will discuss relational and contextual assessments and interventions, plus cultural differences regarding the need for closure and its certainty. Boss’ six therapeutic guidelines: increase the resiliency to tolerate and even embrace ambiguity, focus on meaning, mastery, identity, ambivalence, attachment, and new hope will be discussed.
More InformationDirectors: 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.
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.
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.
Directors: 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: 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.
The Ackerman community is deeply concerned about the treatment of children and families who are being kept in poor conditions while seeking safe entry into the United States. These conditions add to the trauma that families have already endured.
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