The 61st Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy
November 8-9, 2024
The 61st Annual Symposium will be held Online and In-Person.
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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 8th Distinguished Guest Lecturer will be Darby Saxbe, PhD, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, who researches stress within the context of relationships.
On November 9, Gabriel A. León, M.A., will present. 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
Conference Details and Registration | Accommodations | Guest Lecturers | Conference Schedule | Continuing Education Credits | Questions and Updates | Recordings and Previous Conferences
Conference Details & Register
Symposium Dates: Friday, November 8 - Saturday, 9, 2024
Location: Hybrid. Online via Zoom OR in-person at The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital: 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.
*Registration on Eventbrite is now open.
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: ceu@thebowencenter.org.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.
A 15% off per person group rate is available for 3 or more registrants from the same organization.
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.
*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
We plan to provide hotel options, including a possible hotel room block.
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 |
|
| 9:00 | 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 |
| 9:25 | The Evolutionary Origins of the Human Family: How It Informs Bowen Theory | Anne S. McKnight, EdD, LCSW |
| 9:50 | Panel Discussion (Morning Moderator) with Drs. Collier and McKnight |
|
| 10:15 | Break | |
| 10:35 | 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. |
Gabriel A. León, M.A. |
| 11:25 | Discussion: Dr. Collier with Mr. León | |
| 11:35 | Symposium attendees join discussion | |
| 12:00 | Lunch | |
| 1:15 | 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 |
| 1:40 | 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. |
Victoria Harrison, MA |
| 2:05 | 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 |
| 2:30 | Panel Discussion | |
| 3:00 | Break | |
| 3:20 | 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 |
| 3:45 | 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 |
| 3:00 | Break | |
| 4:10 | Panel Discussion (Afternoon Moderator), Ms. Illick and Dr. Brown |
|
| 4:35 | Brief Talk by Jake Morrill, MDiv, | |
| 4:45 | Conference Adjournment | |
| 5:00 | Symposium Reception! |
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Time |
Title |
Presenter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 | 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. |
Darby Saxby, PhD |
| 10:00 | Panel Discussion (Morning Moderator) with Dr. Saxbe |
|
| 10:25 | Break | |
| 10:45 | 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 |
| 11:45 | Panel Discussion: Dr. Papero with Dr. Saxbe. | |
| 12:05 | Symposium attendees join discussion | |
| 12:30 | Lunch | |
| 1:45 | 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 |
| 2:10 | The Emotional System and the Family as a Unit | Robert J. Noone, PhD |
| 2:35 | Panel Discussion: Ms. Post and Dr. Noone | |
| 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 | Tracking Progress Toward Better Levels of Differentiation | Randall T. Frost, MDiv |
| 4:10 | Panel Discussion (Afternoon Moderator), Dr. Saxbe, Mr. León, Dr. Lassiter, and Mr. Frost |
|
| 4:40 | Adjournment |
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 Catagory 1 continuing education (CE) credit hours for counseling and social work. Credit hours will be posted by the end of August.
*Purchase of CE’s indicates you’ve read and accepted the CE requirements below.
REQUIREMENTS FOR CEU/CE ELIGIBILITY:
Pay the CEU/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 livestreamed 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.
Policies: The Bowen Center does not offer refunds for CE. We do not 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 ceu@thebowencenter.org.
ACEP No. 6225
Recordings and Previous Annual Symposiums
Conference recordings will be available on or before the end of November 2024. When you purchase recordings, you will receive an email from our media provider, Gumroad, with the link to access the recording.We invite you to Signup for our Newsletter for recording updates.
Conference attendees will be separately notified with the attendee discount code.
PREVIOUS SYMPOSIUM RECORDINGS
2023- 60th Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy
2022- 59th Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy
2021- 58th Annual Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy
To see all available Symposium recordings please visit our Symposium Recordings Web Page.
To learn more about our other recordings, both free and available for purchase, please visit our Video Page.