I’m Not Coming to my Sister’s Wedding: Politics Invading the Sibling Relationship

 Earn 3 CE Contact Hours

Two topics many families struggle with are politics and religion. In the past few years, though, politics has even become a bigger family divide than religion. In adult sibling relationships, often challenging in the best of times, politics can tear apart a family.

This workshop will look at how, in fact, politics just becomes an acceptable forum for pent up long-held sibling resentments, and how these underlying resentments get wrapped in a socially acknowledged, “acceptable” package.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Participants will learn some underlying causes of adult sibling resentments
• Participants will learn the “ghosts” from sibling childhood relationship that carries into their adult lives
• Participants will learn how family dynamics morph from these causes to political “positions”
• Participants will learn how to help siblings translate the political positions back to the core sibling issues

Who Should Attend:

Mental health professionals, family therapists, social workers, and clinicians who work with families and adult siblings, and who want practical strategies for understanding and addressing underlying resentments, conflict, and relational challenges amplified by politics.

Meet Karen Gail Lewis:

Karen Gail Lewis, MSW, EdD, marriage and family therapist in private practice for over 50 years, is author of numerous books and professional articles on marriage, gender communication, single women, and adult siblings. Her newest book is Sibling Therapy: The Ghosts from Childhood That Haunt Your Clients’ Love and Work. She has taught at Johns Hopkins Medical School, University of Cincinnati Medical School, and University of Santiago. She has been on the board of 5 professional journals and book review editor for another. Active in AAMFT, on several national committees, she has presented her work nationally and internationally for many years.