The 61st Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy
November 8-9, 2024

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Each Symposium features both a Guest Lecturer and a full roster of presentations from members of the Bowen network who present and discuss their latest research. Ample time is allowed for audience questions and discussion. Continuing education credits will be available.

Our November 9th Distinguished Guest Lecturer was Darby Saxbe, PhD, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, who researches stress within the context of relationships. In addition to her academic publications, Dr. Saxbe is a contributor to The New York Times. Her recent opinion pieces are:

Don’t have a New York Times subscription? The Times offers limited free article access to non-subscribers. Your local library may also allow access to the Times using your library card account.

On November 8th, Gabriel A. León, M.A., presented. He is a 4th year PhD student working with Dr. Saxbe. His research focuses on understanding the interpersonal processes that underlie the formation and maintenance of close bonds in families facing adversity. 

  • Dr. Saxbe’s Presentation: The Transition to Parenthood as a Window for Health and Adaptation Within Families 

  • Mr. Leon’s Presentation: Interpersonal Dynamics of Resilience and Wellbeing Within the Family System: A Multi Method Approach

  • Learn more about both speakers and presentations.

Learn More

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Conference Details

Symposium Dates: Friday, November 8 - Saturday, November 9, 2024
Location: Hybrid. The conference was held In-person at The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital OR Online via Zoom.
Hill Center address: 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.

Conference rates :

  • General Admission: $395 (In-Person or Online via Zoom). *All tickets are for the two-day full conference. There are no single day ticket options available due to the nature of the conference being carefully curated for the two-days.

  • Full-time and Part-time Student Rates: $100. Please contact Emma Voorhes to gain access to student tickets. A current copy of your schedule or similar verification is required. For students experiencing financial hardship, please reach out to Emma Voorhes and she will assist with a fee modification.

  • CE’s for this two-day conference: $30. Purchase Continuing Education Credits in the “Add-On” section on Eventbrite, when registering for the the conference. *Please read our CE policy and add when registering for the conference. Learn more here.
    Questions: ContinuingEducation@thebowencenter.org.

  • A 15% off per person group rate is available for 3 or more registrants from the same organization.

  • Lunch for this two-day conference (On-site at Venue): $30. Purchase this in the “Add-On” section on Eventbrite, when registering for an “In-Person” ticket.

The Publications table will be open at the Symposium. An assortment of Bowen Center books and Family Systems Journals will be available for purchase and subscription, including the Bowen Center’s new book, Thinking Systems.

Please plan to join the Symposium Reception immediately following the conference programming on November 8th | 5 - 6:30 pm ET

*All ticket sales will end on Thursday, November 7 at 9pm. All CE credit purchases will also close at this time and will not be available for purchase on the day of the event. 

Questions: Please contact Emma Voorhes, Conference Coordinator.

Accommodations

HOTEL BLOCK

AC Hotel Washington DC Capitol Hill Navy Yard *A limited number of rooms. Expires Friday, October 25th, 2024 or until rooms have filled.

EASIEST METRO ACCESS

Use the Metro Trip Planner or Google Maps for best time estimates and directions. Conference address: The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital
921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.

Distinguished Guest Lecturers

Darby Saxbe, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California, where she is also the Director of Clinical Training for the clinical psychology doctoral program. Her current work focuses on the transition to parenthood and follows couples from pregnancy into the first year postpartum. A related study examines the “fathering brain,” using neuroimaging to scan fathers both prenatally and again postpartum. She has studied the transformative impact of new parenthood on the brain, body, and mind, as well as the enduring legacy of early family environments on child well-being. Dr. Saxbe has also examined physiological synchrony within families and has published multiple studies that find hormonal linkage within couples and parent-child dyads. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and she received a Fulbright Fellowship to study the parenting brain in Spain in fall 2019. 

DR. SAXBE’S PRESENTATION: The Transition to Parenthood as a Window for Health and Adaptation Within Families  
This presentation will describe a program of research on the transition to parenthood as a window for neuroplasticity in both mothers and fathers, and highlight the importance of family's shift from dyad to triad.  

Gabriel A. León, M.A. is a fourth-year PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern California. He works in the Neuroendocrinology of Social Ties (NEST) Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Darby Saxbe. Gabriel’s research focuses on understanding the interpersonal processes that underlie the formation and maintenance of close bonds in families facing adversity. His work capitalizes on multimodal, time-intensive data collected during family interactions (such as language, facial affect, and physiological stress), data collected in daily life, and geospatial indicators of stressors outside the family. Gabriel’s research is funded by the Ford Predoctoral Fellowship program, the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health. In his clinical work, Gabriel is dedicated to serving families coping with chronic and acute stress—including formerly incarcerated parents and foster families.

GABRIEL LEON’S PRESENTATION: Interpersonal Dynamics of Resilience and Wellbeing Within the Family System: A Multi Method Approach
This presentation will describe his research on dyadic and triadic interpersonal processes that promote family functioning. His work employs a biopsychosocial framework – with a methodological toolkit that uses physiological, behavioral, and linguistic data streams to analyze families’ interpersonal dynamics.    

Schedule

Friday, November 8, 2024

Time

Title

Presenter(s)
9:00 Welcome and Introduction
Randall T. Frost, MDiv, Director of the Bowen Center
Morning Moderator Amie Post, MA, LCMFT
9:10 Would the Real Family Functioning Please Stand Up: Research Grounded in Bowen Family Systems Theory
Now more than ever research on human development and survival must include a family variable that accounts for family unit functioning. Assessing this functioning using a systems approach goes above and beyond the individual model and reveals important details about the family survival mechanisms.		 Carrie E. Collier, PhD, LPC
9:35 The Evolutionary Origins of the Human Family: How It Informs Bowen Theory
This presentation discusses Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s theories about how cooperative breeding or the allocare of infants in primitive hominid species led to the evolution of the human family, the prolonged adolescence of the young, and the expansion of the human brain. Hrdy’s work on the evolution of the family is informative to Bowen theory’s construct of the family as an emotional unit.		 Anne S. McKnight, EdD, LCSW
10:00 Discussion: Drs. Collier and McKnight with Ms. Post (Moderator)
10:25 Break
10:45 Interpersonal Dynamics of Resilience and Wellbeing Within the Family System: A Multi Method Approach
This presentation will describe Mr. León's research on dyadic and triadic interpersonal processes that promote family functioning. His work employs a biopsychosocial framework–with a methodological toolkit that uses physiological, behavioral, and linguistic data streams to analyze families’ interpersonal dynamics.		 Guest Lecturer, Gabriel A. León, M.A.
11:35 Discussion: Dr. Collier and Mr. León with Ms. Post (Moderator)
11:45 Symposium attendees join discussion
12:15 Lunch
Afternoon Moderator Vanessa Ellison, MA, MDiv, LCSW
1:30 Grandparent Death Near Birth in Schizophrenia
Ten percent of the general population have had a grandparent death within two years of their birth. For young adult schizophrenics, that figure is about forty-one percent A speculation driven by Bowen family systems theory can describe how that might have happened.		 James E. Jones, PhD
1:55 From Holobionts to the Family Unit: Considering the Impact of the Collective on Evolution
This paper will explore how the holobiont and its evolution provide a potential model for understanding the family as an emotional unit that is a key level of selection in the evolution of the human. Further, this paper will propose that the Bowen theory concept of the triangle can move debate around the holobiont evolution from a polarization between vertical or horizontal transfer as the primary mechanism for change over time.		 Amie Post, MA, LCMFT
2:20 Distance as a Regulatory and Survival Mechanism: Birds, Bowen Theory and My Own Family
Antone Martinho-Truswell is a behavioural ecologist whose recent research highlights how the flight mechanism available to birds lends them an advantage in adapting and surviving as a species due to their ability to remove themselves to airborne spaces and avoid ground-predators. This presentation will draw on Martinho-Truswell’s research to explore the idea in Bowen theory of emotional distance as a regulatory mechanism for the human family, using the author’s own family as an example.		 Lauren Errington, MA
2:45 Discussion: Dr. Jones, Ms. Post, and Ms. Errington with Ms. Ellison (Moderator)
3:10 Break
3:30 The Multigenerational Challenges of Transitioning into Parenthood Seen Through the Process of Unresolved Emotional Attachment
Saxbe et al. state that “Becoming a parent is a transformative experience, marked by hormonal changes and neuroplasticity as well as shifts in self-concept, social roles, and daily routines” (1190). The presenter would add as a variable the unresolved emotional attachment as understood in the multigenerational transmission process, illustrated in one family system over five generations.		 Selden Dunbar Illick, LCSW
3:55 The “I” Position: Teasing out its Operating Principles in Working with Parents
This presentation seeks to better understand this Bowen concept in the context of the broader theory, particularly concerning parenting.		 Jenny Brown PhD
4:20 Discussion: Ms. Illick, Dr. Brown, and Mr. Leon with Ms. Ellison (Moderator)
4:45 Conference day adjourns
15 minute break until reception begins
5:00 Symposium Reception with refreshments. All in-person attendees are welcome!
With brief remarks by Jake Morrill, MDiv, and Randall T. Frost, MDiv
6:30 Reception ends

Saturday, November 9, 2024

Time

Title

Presenter(s)
8:55 Introduction and Housekeeping
Morning Moderator Carrie E. Collier, PhD, LPC
9:00 Allostatic Load On the Family Emotional System
In this talk I will attempt to extend the idea of allostatic load to the human family system. The effort hinges upon the assertion that chronic emotional tension and allostatic load are one and the same.		 Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW
10:00 Discussion: Drs. Papero and Saxbe with Dr. Collier (Moderator)
10:25 Break
10:45 The Transition to Parenthood as a Window for Health and Adaptation Within Families
This presentation will describe a program of research on the transition to parenthood as a window for neuroplasticity in both mothers and fathers, and highlight the importance of family's shift from dyad to triad.		 Guest Lecturer, Darby Saxbe, PhD
11:45 Discussion: Drs. Papero and Saxbe with Dr. Collier (Moderator)
12:05 Symposium attendees join discussion
12:25 Lunch
Afternoon Moderator John Millikin, PhD
1:40 The Study of Nuclear Family Triangles and Variation in Physiological Reactivity, Continued
This presentation will provide new data on differences in physiological reactivity, measured in EMG, DST, and EDR for mother, father and three children and the patterns of behavior and symptoms in their three family triangles. Implications for improved functioning in the family will be discussed. Toni Ziegler, PhD will contribute comments.		 Victoria Harrison, MA
2:10 Tracking Progress Toward Better Levels of Differentiation
Progress toward better levels of differentiation can manifest in a variety of ways from family to family. The nuances of progress can be tracked by specific indicators in each family proceeding from a baseline at the start of family psychotherapy.		 Randall T. Frost, MDiv
2:35 Discussion: Dr. Saxbe, Ms. Harrison, Dr. Ziegler, and Mr. Frost with Dr. Millikin (Moderator)
3:00 Break
3:20 Are Shifts in Genetic Expression Tracking Emotional Process?
Bowen theory offers a theoretical understanding of the shifts in gene expression that occur in changing social environments. And the advances in research of social regulation of genetic expression offers Bowen theory opportunities for researching the ever-present, yet elusive emotional process.		 Laurie Lassiter, PhD, MSW
3:45 The Emotional System and the Family as a Unit
The emotional system at all levels of complexity is engaged in learning. This presentation will include a discussion of how systems biology, multi-level selection, and the evolution of increasing levels of organized complexity might contribute to the concept of the emotional system as defined by Bowen and the human family as an evolved level of organized biological complexity.		 Robert J. Noone, PhD
4:10 Discussion: Mr. León, Dr. Lassiter, and Dr. Noone with Dr. Millikin (Moderator)
4:40 Conference Adjourns

Questions and Updates

Questions: Contact Emma Voorhes, Conference Coordinator for questions about registration, accommodations, and other conference related topics.

Continuing Education Credit Information

This two-day conference provides a total of 11.5 Category 1 continuing education (CE) credit hours for counseling and social work. **Purchase of CE’s indicates you’ve read and accepted the CE requirements below.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CE ELIGIBILITY: 

  • Pay the CE fee of $30 at time of registration. Be sure to choose “Add On” when purchasing your ticket on Eventbrite. CEs are not sold the day of the conference.

  • Attend each live streamed or in-person class in its entirety. The conference coordinator will note your attendance. 

  • If livestreamed, enable video and show your name on screen so that you are visible throughout the entirety of the conference, except during designated breaks or lunch.  

  • Submit a completed evaluation no more than 60 days after the event. Shortly after the submission of your completed evaluation, you will be emailed a certificate.  

The Bowen Center does not offer refunds for CEs. And we are unable to offer continuing education credit for viewing any recordings. It is the sole responsibility of the participant to verify their state’s professional licensure criteria for CE qualifications.  

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 

  • Invite experienced Bowen thinkers from around the US and internationally to present their application of Bowen theory to clinical, research, and theory applications. 

  • Invite a scientist to speak as a Distinguished Guest Lecturer to present latest research that has an interplay with Bowen theory. 

  • Generate lively discussion on the presentations with the goal of provoking new learning and connections in the application of Bowen theory. 

The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family/Georgetown Family Center is authorized by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners to provide continuing education credit. This program is a Category I offering.  

The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family/Georgetown Family Center has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6225. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family/Georgetown Family Center is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

If you have any questions about Continuing Education, please email ContinuingEducation@thebowencenter.org

ACEP No. 6225

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