Randall Frost became Director of the Bowen Center July 1, 2022. He describes his goals for his new position in a post on the Bowen Center's YouTube channel. Previously (since 1991), he had been Executive Director and then Director of Training and Research at Living Systems—a Vancouver, British Columbia based pastoral counseling center that uses Bowen theory as its primary approach to clinical counseling, training, education and research. At Living Systems he initiated biannual conferences with experts in Bowen theory and leading scientists.

Mr. Frost is a long-time student of Bowen theory. He was a trainee in the in-town (1975-76) and special postgraduate programs (1980-81), He became a faculty member at the Bowen Center in January 2015 and has led the Network Seminar program of the Bowen Center since 2012. He is the author of published articles and book chapters on Bowen theory, including articles in the Center’s journal, Family Systems, and has presented numerous papers at professional meetings and conferences over the past thirty years. Mr. Frost is an ordained Presbyterian minister (Presbyterian Church USA) and was an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Southern Indiana (1978-91). He is happily married with two adult children and five grandchildren.

Contact Information: rfrost@thebowencenter.org

Laura R. Brooks has had a family therapy practice in Ellicott City, MD, since 1993. Previously, she worked as a family therapist for various non-profit organizations for many years. Since she was appointed to the faculty of the Bowen Center in 2008, her responsibilities have included supervising and teaching in the Postgraduate Program and the Introduction to Murray Bowen’s Theory of Human Functioning, coordinating the Internship Program and Research Committee, serving on the editorial board of Family Systems journal as well as the board of directors. She has presented at local and national conferences in addition to various programs at the Bowen Center. Her interests include adoptive families, family projection process, within-family variability, emotional cutoff, and research from a family systems perspective.

Ms. Brooks graduated from the University of Iowa in 1980. Her postgraduate training started at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, KS, for two years and continued at the Bowen Center, 1986-1991. Between 1990 and 1996, Ms. Brooks was an associate clinical professor at the schools of social work at the University of Maryland and The Catholic University. In this role, she supervised social work students in internships at the Department of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Contact Information: lbrookslcswc@comcast.net

Dr. Elayne Chou is a counseling psychologist with a practice in Oakland, California, specializing in coaching and consulting with individuals and families from a cross-cultural and Bowen family systems approach. She has a focus on working with Asian Americans, as well as in providing adoption-competent therapy to Asian adult adoptees and their families. She also works as an executive coach with leaders of color. Elayne has been Adjunct Faculty or Lecturer at San Francisco State University, Diablo Valley College, University of California-Irvine, and Renmin University in Beijing. She recently completed three years study of Bowen Theory through the Postgraduate Program at The Bowen Center, and served as a 2021-2022 Clinic Intern. As a Faculty Intern, Elayne looks forward to deepening her understanding of Bowen Theory through co-teaching the Intro course and in discussions with others also engaged in learning and applying the theory in their lives.

Contact Information: echou@thebowencenter.org

Carrie E. Collier became director of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in summer 2020. She completed her master’s in rehabilitation counseling from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, in 1999. There she became a licensed professional counselor while working in the emergency department conducting psychiatric evaluations and assessments. Dr. Collier earned her PhD in counseling from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She completed her clinical residency at the Bowen Center Clinic and trained in the Postgraduate Program at the Bowen Center from 2007-2010. She was appointed to the associate faculty in 2013 and the board in 2018. She served as director of the online program beginning in 2016. She also has served as an editor for the journal Family Systems, 2018-present.

Dr. Collier has practiced as a Licensed Professional Counselor since 2000. She has provided outpatient and inpatient counseling services to couples and families, children, adolescents, adults, and older adults in South Carolina, Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia. She has offered face-to-face and telephonic couples counseling and premarital and marital counseling services. Dr. Collier’s past experiences in the mental health field have led her to use Bowen family systems theory in her practices with individuals, couples, and families. Some of her more successful counseling outcomes have occurred when the couple, individual, and/or the family approached and resolved problems using Bowen family systems theory.

Dr. Collier’s research focus includes parenting in family systems and family system responses to challenges. She has conducted research on the relation between wisdom and ethics of care in late life and parenting. Dr. Collier is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Counseling and Human Development at The George Washington University, Washington, DC. She has taught at Trinity Washington University in the Department of Counseling and Human Development and at Marymount University in the Counseling and Forensic Psychology Department.

Contact Information: ccollier@thebowencenter.org

Kathleen Cotter Cauley is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Florida, Virginia, and the District of Columbia and has a private practice in Falls Church, VA. She joined the Bowen Center faculty in 2012 and chairs the Social Media and Outreach Committees there.

Ms. Cauley worked with Catholic Charities in Pittsburgh, PA, 1972-1985, as an adoption caseworker, therapist, and deputy director of a branch office. She received her master’s degree in counselor education at the University of Pittsburgh in 1977. In 1980, while at Catholic Charities, she sought out a supervisor who had trained at the Bowen Center. She attended the training program at the Western Pennsylvania Family Center in the 1980s.

Ms. Cauley had a private practice in Tampa, FL, where she lived, 1985-2001. She continues to work in this practice in a remote capacity. She was involved in founding the Florida Family Research Network with other Bowen colleagues and serves on their advisory board. Ms. Cauley was on the faculty of the Extraordinary Leadership Seminars, 2003-2016. She continues to coach in the Systems Leadership Seminar with people who attended three years in the Extraordinary Leadership Seminars.

She has been a member of the review board dealing with the sex abuse scandals of the Catholic Church for the Diocese of Saint Petersburg, FL, since 2002. Ms. Cauley was also a member of the Maryland Province Jesuit review board, 2006-2015. She has volunteered for Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc. since 1990.

Contact Information: kcauley@thebowencenter.org

Kenton T. Derstine is associate professor of supervised ministry and director of the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program of Eastern Mennonite Seminary (EMS), Harrisonburg, VA. He is ordained for ministry by the Virginia Conference of Mennonite Church USA. He earned his MDiv from the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary and his DMin from Wesley Theological Seminary.

He has served in pastoral education as an ACPE Certified Clinical Supervisor/Educator for over 25 years. Completing his training as a clinical educator at Indiana University Health System, he assumed a position as CPE supervisor and program manager at St. Vincent Hospitals in Indianapolis, IN. He began his duties at EMS as director of CPE and field education in 2000. He also served on the faculty of the Extraordinary Leadership Seminars conducted by Roberta Gilbert, MD.

Dr. Derstine completed two years of the Bowen Center’s Postgraduate Program and served as an intern during the 2014–2015 academic year. His long-term interests have included the application of Bowen theory to the process of ministry formation and practice. He has conducted units of CPE at all levels including Supervisory CPE—the training and certifying process for ACPE supervisors. He is intrigued by the correlations that seem apparent between Bowen theory and the theological anthropology implicit in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Contact Information: kderstine@thebowencenter.org

Vanessa M. Roulette Ellison, MSW, MDiv is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Richmond, VA. She currently has a private practice working with individuals, couples, and families as a Bowen Theory Coach and Psychotherapist. Ms. Ellison has worked with people of various ages and multicultural backgrounds and in settings such as group practice, university counseling services, and community-based services. She has prior ministerial experience with local congregations, missional organizations, community development, and non-profits. 

Ms. Ellison has been studying Bowen Theory since the early 2000s through her participation in Leadership in Ministry, a theory of practice for ministry utilizing Bowen Theory. Since 2017 she has participated in the Bowen Center’s Clinical Conferences, Post Graduate Program, Continuing Studies Program, Clinical Study Seminary, and Spanish Speaking Study Group. Ms. Ellison joined the faculty in 2024. As a Bowen Theory Coach and Psychotherapist Ms. Ellison aims to help people think through their principles, challenges, and opportunities as they work to improve self-regulation and stay connected to various relationships and systems in the process. She is available to see clients via Telehealth.  

Contact: vellison@thebowencenter.org

Priscilla Friesen was introduced to the ideas of Murray Bowen in graduate school in social work at the University of Kansas. She moved from Kansas to Washington, DC, in 1978 to pursue her interest.

She was the clinical and administrative assistant to Dr. Lillian Rosenbaum, who developed the Biofeedback Program at the Georgetown Family Center, while Ms. Friesen participated in the Postgraduate Program. Her early exposure to biofeedback significantly influenced her understanding of Bowen theory and of the physiology of relationships.

She was appointed to the faculty in 1987. She directed the Postgraduate Program in Bowen Family Systems Theory and its Applications, 1990-2003. In 1994, she expanded her clinical work to include neurofeedback. This led her into the study of evolution and the development of the brain, as well as how the brain, mind, and relationships operate in synchrony.

In 2005, she co-founded The Learning Space, a conceptual place where individuals have an opportunity to experience and challenge themselves in relationships through the integration of Bowen theory and neurofeedback.

In 2012, Ms. Friesen and Kathleen Wiseman created a program designed for experienced family enterprise professionals, advisors, and responsible family members. This program integrates Bowen theory and neurofeedback to challenge people to be more of a self in their family and work settings.

Ms. Friesen is also active on the board of The Murray Bowen Archives Project, the organization responsible for making the Bowen Archives available to the world.

Contact Information: pfriesen@thebowencenter.org

The Rev. Ed Henley began his study of Bowen family systems theory in 1987. He studied in the Postgraduate Program at the Bowen Center, 2014-2017. He is a regular presenter at the annual Faith Leadership Conference, coordinates the Faith Leadership Seminar, and is a presenter and coach in other Bowen Center programs. He joined the Bowen Center faculty in 2017.

His clergy experience includes interim service in twelve congregations, as well as a pastorate of sixteen years (1997-2013). He is a graduate of The General Theological Seminary, New York City (1978), and New College, Sarasota, FL (1972). He continues to serve in the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida.

His understanding is that Bowen theory focuses us on our own growth (which is the hardest work of all). It can give us a way to understand how religious organizations function and how clergy can live and lead in these emotional systems.

Contact information: ehenley@thebowencenter.org

Mignonette Keller has been affiliated with the Georgetown Family Center/Bowen Center since 1971. She completed three years in the Postgraduate Program, 1976-1979. She was appointed to the faculty in 2001. She coordinates the Bowen Center’s Clinical Conference Series and teaches in the Postgraduate Program. Dr. Keller organizes and presents at conferences and serves on several faculty committees. Her research aims to develop a systems model for family research that expands the theoretical approaches to include family-oriented theories in the study of the family. In particular, she is interested in developing the family diagram as a reliable assessment instrument for empirical research. She has expanded her research to include the investigation of mechanisms influencing the development and course of Alzheimer’s disease from a systems perspective. In 2014, Dr. Keller received the Caskie Research Award for her work on Alzheimer’s disease and family emotional process.

She holds a doctorate in sociology from Howard University with specializations in gerontology, social psychology, and family. She was on the faculty of the School of Social Work at Howard University until 2001. Dr. Keller is the founder and former director of Family Transitions Inc, an assisted living facility for the frail elderly, based on a family-centered, preventive health care model.

Contact information: mkeller@thebowencenter.org

Barbara Laymon is a faculty member and a clinical associate at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. Her educational background includes a PhD from Loyola University, Baltimore, and an MPH from the University of South Carolina. Licensed as a professional counselor in MD and DC, she enjoys reflecting with her clients about family emotional processes.

Barbara is also a writer. Her recent book, All the Families of the Earth, Therapists in Bible Times, looks at family emotional processes through the stories of scripture . Recently retired from a career in public health, she continues to be interested in how context shapes health and how communities can work together to address the context for family health.

More about her publications and current research interests are available at https://wwwresearchgate.net/profile/Barbara_Laymon 

Contact information: blaymon@thebowencenter.org

Ashley Mader, Ph.D, LICSW is a psychotherapist, coach, and consultant specializing in sexuality, aging, and family systems. Dr. Mader received her Masters in social work and her Doctorate in human sexuality from Widener University in Pennsylvania. Throughout the years, Dr. Mader has presented at numerous national conferences on sexuality and aging. From 2016-2020, Dr. Mader co-hosted the podcast Our Better Half. In 2018, she began the postgraduate program at the Bowen Center and has been attending it for the past four years. She is also currently an intern at the Bowen Center. Dr. Mader has a private practice in Western Massachusetts.

Contact: amader@thebowencenter.org

Mariana Martinez earned her doctorate in clinical psychology with an emphasis on child and family from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Diego, CA. She has been affiliated with the Bowen Center since 2008 and was appointed to the faculty in 2012. She directed the Clinic, 2011 to 2017, and hosted the TV show Family Matters, 2010-2018. She currently participates in various clinical and academic activities including leading the Iberoamerican Institute at the Bowen Center.

She was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) at Shady Grove, and has taught in the Department of Psychology at Alliant International University, Mexico City. Dr. Martinez was trained as a Montessori teacher in Perugia, Italy, and worked in preschool education in and outside the classroom for eight years.

Dr. Martinez applies Bowen theory in work with families who are making decisions around their wealth and their legacy. She is vice president at Wells Fargo Privet Bank, Family Dynamics Services.

Contact information: mmartinez@thebowencenter.org

Dr. Anne S. McKnight was appointed director of the Bowen Center in May 2010 and stepped down in July 2020. She is currently a director emeritus, continues to serve on the Center board, and is active in presenting, supervising, and organizing conferences. As director, she had special interest in supporting the development of Bowen theory around the world, including an international conference in Hong Kong and developing the Iberoamerican Institute at the Bowen Center. During her tenure, she recruited twelve new faculty and expanded training programming, while putting the Bowen Center on a solid financial footing.

Dr. McKnight has been a member of the Bowen Center faculty since 1992. Her activities have included directing, teaching, and supervising in the Postgraduate Programs, leading the internship program, organizing and presenting at conferences sponsored by the Bowen Center and at meetings nationally and internationally. As a family therapist for 40 years, she developed a special interest in families with addiction from working, teaching, and supervising students in a child and family substance abuse program in Virginia. She has written chapters in many books on Bowen theory and articles for the journal Family Systems.

Dr. McKnight is in private practice in Arlington, VA, and at the Bowen Center.

Contact Information: amcknight@thebowencenter.org

John Millikin earned a doctorate in human development/family therapy at Virginia Tech in 2000. He has maintained a private practice in Reston, VA, since 2001 and works with individuals, couples, and families from a systems approach. He has been a clinical supervisor and has facilitated numerous therapy and educational groups.

Dr. Millikin has developed and taught a variety of courses as an adjunct faculty member in the Virginia Tech master’s program in family therapy. He is co-author of several publications in family therapy journals and has published a lifespan development assessment tool from a family systems perspective.

Dr. Millikin has been a faculty member since 2019, and is co-director of the Continuing Studies online training program. His interests include emotional processes in human families, the application of Bowen theory to clinical practice, and teaching Bowen theory in various settings.

Contact information: jmillikin@thebowencenter.org

Jake Morrill is a Bowen family systems theory coach, working primarily with organizational leaders who seek greater ease and impact through differentiation of self. Since first exposure to systems thinking in 2004, he’s worked steadily at a greater understanding of himself, his family, and Bowen theory.

Through his twenties, Mr. Morrill worked in group homes with people with developmental disabilities; he also led court-mandated groups for men on probation for domestic violence. Since 2003, he has been the Lead Minister of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, in East Tennessee. He’s led three small non-profit organizations, served on a number of Boards, and been a Chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserve. He’s licensed as a marital and family therapist in Tennessee.

Mr. Morrill holds degrees from the University of Texas, Austin; the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; Harvard Divinity School; and East Tennessee State University. He was in the Bowen Center's Postgraduate Program from 2015-2021 and is also on the Faculty of the Bowen Theory Education Center in Chattanooga TN. 

An area of special interest is collective behavior in natural systems, as applied to organizations and communities. In that light, since 2016, he's had an ongoing relationship with the Kettering Foundation in their research on what makes democracy and communities thrive.

Contact information: jmorrill@thebowencenter.org

Douglas C. Murphy has been a faculty member of the Georgetown Family Center/Bowen Center since 1992. He received his graduate degree from Antioch College in human communication theory. He trained in the Postgraduate Program at the Georgetown University Family Center, 1977-1981, and was a clinical intern at the Family Center, 1982-1984.

Since 1984, he has served as a family therapist in the Bowen Center Clinic. He became the Clinic director in 2009. In June 2015, he became director of the Postgraduate Program. Mr. Murphy is on the editorial board of Family Systems and serves as the book review editor.

His primary clinical interest is in family conflict and violence, and he has presented nationally on this topic.

Contact Information: dmurphy@thebowencenter.org

Robert Noone began his formal study of Bowen theory when he entered the Postgraduate Program at the Family Center in 1975, when it was affiliated with the Georgetown University Medical Center. He has continued his involvement at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family since then as a participant, presenter, and organizer of conferences and seminars. He has served as an editorial consultant to Family Systems since its beginning and is currently its editor.

He is on the faculty at the Center for Family Consultation in Evanston, IL, which provides programs on Bowen theory and which he co-founded in 1979. He served as the executive director at the Family Service Center of Wilmette, Glenview, Northbrook, and Kenilworth for twenty-eight years and was on staff and later director of an alcohol and drug abuse program at a mental health center serving Chicago’s western suburbs. He continues his private practice in Evanston, IL.

Dr. Noone succeeded Michael E. Kerr, MD, who established Family Systems and served as its editor for twenty years. Dr. Kerr fulfilled Dr. Bowen’s original idea of publishing a journal to advance the understanding of human behavior based on family systems theory.

Contact Information: rnoone@thebowencenter.org

After graduate training in social work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Dr. Papero entered postgraduate training in family systems theory and psychotherapy at the Georgetown University Family Center. In 1982, Dr. Bowen invited him to join the faculty of the Family Center, now the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. Over the years he has served in many administrative and teaching roles at the Center. He currently organizes a research seminar and coordinates the Theory Meeting, a bi-weekly working group dedicated to the exploration and expansion of family systems theory.

He has written numerous articles and book chapters on various aspects of family systems theory and family psychotherapy. In 1990, he published a basic introduction to family systems, Bowen Family Systems Theory. He and Robert Noone, PhD, co-edited the volume The Family Emotional System: An Integrative Concept for Theory, Science and Practice in 2015.  He has served on the editorial board of the journal Family Systems since its founding. He currently gives many invited presentations yearly to various professional groups across the country and around the world on topics related to family systems theory, family psychotherapy, and the functioning of corporations and organizations.

In recent years he has consulted increasingly with organizations in both the private and public sectors about the impact of relationships on functioning and the emotional process of organizations.

Contact information: dvpapero@thebowencenter.org

Amie Post has studied Bowen theory since 2001, when she was a master’s student in marriage and family therapy at Seton Hill University. She deepened her study in the Postgraduate Program, 2012-2016, and served as a clinical intern at the Bowen Center, 2015-16. Amie is currently a member of the Center’s board of directors and active faculty.

Ms. Post has served since 2015 as the executive director of the Family Crisis Center of Baltimore County Inc, a Baltimore based non-profit whose mission is to assist families experiencing the impacts of domestic violence. During her tenure, she has worked to understand the history of the organization and the functioning of the domestic violence system in the region over time and to promote thoughtful program development that more readily addresses domestic violence through a family systems lens. In this role, she leads locally and regionally in collective impact efforts and is a regular contributor to policy development. 

Her research interests include the emerging concept of holobiont (the notion of a superorganism that reflects the totality of the human and its microbial partners); reciprocal functioning in relationship violence; and evaluating and developing effective programs and systems of care.

An oldest daughter with younger brothers and a sister, Ms. Post is married to an oldest brother of a younger sister. She has three young adult children. In her free time, she enjoys a good board game, a great book, and long walks in the woods. 

Contact Information: apost@thebowencenter.org