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What We Do

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.

Our programming and services continue to operate while the Ackerman offices are closed. Our therapy services have transitioned to teletherapy, and our training programs are now held online. Read Ackerman’s COVID-19 Action Plan.

Families Thrive

Diversity in Family Therapy

Training at Ackerman

Upcoming Workshops & Short Courses

  • Healing the Healer: Compassion and the Therapist’s Way of Embracing Grief [Online]

    Join us for this 3-hour experiential workshop to explore mind-body practices informed by contemplative psychotherapy and Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy (IFOT) to work with grief in its many forms.

    More Information

  • Cyclical Psychodynamics (CP) and the Vulnerability Cycle (VC): A Seamless Shift between Individual and Couple Therapy [Online]

    This workshop will first address questions and dilemmas that might arise when therapists are holding an either/or perspective of individual vs. couple therapies.

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  • Parenting Children with Special Needs: Family Relationships & Family Life [Online]

    The first part of the workshop will focus on potential challenges in the parent-child, co-parenting, sibling, or extended family relationships. The second part of the workshop will include family narratives that illustrate how family routines, daily life and special occasions are impacted by disability.

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  • Social Intervention in Mental Health: Working with Precarious Families and Larger Systems [Online]

    In this workshop, participants will see a way of working with precarious families through a relational contextual model.

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  • Core Curriculum in Couple and Family Therapy

    Enrollment is now open! Our core curriculum training program provides top-tier clinical experience and online learning. Apply now and gain the skills you need to succeed as a couple and family therapist. The deadline to apply is May 1st, 2021.

    Learn more

Research

  • The Latino Youth and Family Immigration Project: Dimelo en Español Read More

    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.

  • The Gender and Family Project Read More

    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.

  • Foster Care and Adoption Project Read More

    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.

  • Bright Beginnings Read More

    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 JUSTICE Project Read More

    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.

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