Join us in congratulating Jean Malpas and Andrea Blumenthal, who recently received the Family Process Institute Early Career/Training Grant. They are the first to be awarded this grant which will support the development of innovative clinical activities in regards to the Gender and Family Project (GCP). Family Process, the granting institution, is an organization dedicated to developing and sharing new theory, research, practice, and policy related to families and systems.
Jean Malpas describes what the grant will be funding in the following:
“We are honored that the Family Process Institute has chosen to recognize and support the work of the Gender and Family Project (GFP). The grant will be used to implement acutely needed services for families with a gender nonconforming youth. Groups for parents and gender nonconforming children will be provided. It will help us reach out to more families and provide training to clinicians and agencies aiming to improve their competencies with these families. As an academic institute, we also seek a better understanding and documentation of the needs of families with a gender nonconforming member. Finally, the GFP looks forward to identifying and developing a network of providers who can support families in a similar situation.”
Jean Malpas, LMFT, LMHC graduated from Brussels University’s department of psychology with a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a post-master’s degree in psychotherapy. He completed his family therapy training at the Ackerman Institute for the Family. Mr. Malpas was initially trained in the Belgian school of social constructionism and since then, along with his relational training at the Ackerman Institute, has cultivated an integrative practice inspired by narrative and experiential relational frameworks. He believes in the impact of larger systems on the emotional, cognitive and relational resources of each family. Mr. Malpas is an “Early Career Member” of the American Family Therapy Academy and has presented nationally on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples and families and social justice. His work on transgender couples in therapy has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Family Studies. His relational work on crystal methamphetamine addiction and community-based approach has also been published.
Andrea Blumenthal, LCSW, is a member of the teaching faculty at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and a clinical member of Ackerman’s Center for Families and Health and the newly launched Gender and Family Project (GFP). She has extensive practice experience working with children of all ages and diverse families in a variety of mental health and child welfare agency contexts. As a clinician working in community-based settings, she has focused on working with individuals and families affected by physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and other forms of trauma. She has completed a post-graduate training program in the Treatment of Interpersonal Trauma at Fordham University and is a graduate of the clinical Externship training program at Ackerman. Ms. Blumenthal maintains a private practice specializing in attachment traumas and relationship issues with couples and families.