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 aims to challenge the invisibility of whiteness both in the lives of white professionals and in the therapy room with white clients. Through experiential exercises and case presentations, we will unearth internalized racial beliefs and the role of racial privilege in shaping those beliefs.
More InformationThis workshop will focus on a variety of methods therapists can use to help couples reconnect and break out of patterns that have lead to a frayed relationship. Topics covered will include how to motivate couples to make the changes that will get them “unstuck,” how to convert complaints to longings, and how to help couples expand their sense of what is possible.
More InformationIn this workshop, Jorge Colapinto will teach participants how to assess family organization utilizing tracking, mapping, and the structural family therapy concepts of complementary and competence.
More InformationThis workshop will focus on therapeutic interventions that promote meaningful outcomes for families who have children with developmental disabilities (e.g., autism, ADHD, learning disabilities). A new feature this year is a discussion by parents about their emotional journey from sorrow to self-transformation and how professionals can support this process.
More InformationThis workshop will conceptualize the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, as a historical trauma, and explore its clinical implications.
More InformationIn this workshop, Molly Bobek, LCSW and Jared Morgenstern, LCSW, will provide participants with a meaningful understanding of the relationship between adolescence and substance use in addition to demonstrating a variety of effective treatment approaches, including specific techniques with adolescent clients and their families.
More InformationDirector: 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.
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: 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: 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: 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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