Online via Zoom

Differentiation of Self and Clergy Life

Jennifer Long, MDiv

What difference does work on differentiation of self make in the functioning of an individual or organization over time? Does that work impact a faith leader’s work in the faith community? Is differentiation of self the same in the family and faith community? Does the work on self in one area transfer or translate to the other? This conference will explore these questions in the life of one clergy member. It will look at the work of differentiation and the impact in two groups, family and congregation.

Tracking Emotional Process in Relationship Interactions in Clinical Practice 

Lauren Errington, MCFT

Human emotional reflexes operate largely out of awareness in response to a huge range of stimuli. In relationships, the automatic reactivity that is stirred up in the stimulus-response system profoundly affects the relationship. Dr. Bowen described his own effort in working with couples to define the stimulus-response system in “a step-by-step sequence to help spouses gain some control over it” (Bowen 1978, 421). What might a clinical effort towards defining this step-by-step sequence look like in contemporary practice? How can it assist clients to observe themselves, think, and consider doing things a bit differently? 

This presentation will explore how tracking relationship interactions using sequences can facilitate clients’ observation of their own part in their relationship interactions and illuminate the emotional process that drives familiar patterns of relating. It will consider how the use of sequences from a Bowen-theory informed approach differs from other family therapy approaches, and the coach’s own efforts in managing themselves when working with clients using this approach. 

Bio: Lauren Errington is the Executive Director of the Family Systems Institute in Sydney, Australia. She has a Masters in Couple and Family Therapy (UNSW) and is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AASW) and Clinical Family Therapist (AAFT) at the Family Systems Practice in Sydney.  As part of her ongoing interest in the application of Bowen theory to clinical practice, Lauren has published several articles in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy and was a co-editor for the June 2024 Special Issue of the ANZJFT on Bowen Family Systems Theory. 

Save the date for the Bowen Center's February 7, 2025 Faith Leadership Conference!

From Characters to Congregations: Windows into Self and Others
~An online conference on Bowen theory and congregational life~

Bringing Bowen theory to congregational and scriptural narratives will be the focus of this conference. We pattern our understandings by forming stories that account for our behavior and functioning. The narratives of the Hebrew scriptures are one example of this, as are stories of congregational life. This conference will bring a Bowen theory framing to the narratives as a way of learning to think Bowen theory. 

Watch the newsletter for updates on the conference website page, registration, CEs, the conference schedule, and more!

The conference day provides Category I continuing education credit for social workers and counselors.

Testing the Value of Family Systems Coaching in Obesity Medicine

Lance Simkins, MD

Behavior modification is a term commonly used in the world of preventive medicine. Bowen Family Systems Theory addresses the emotional/behavioral system with particular attention to automatic reactivity. Work on self over time with the guidance of a Bowen Family Systems Theory trained coach should align with the real challenge of meaningful behavior change.

Bio: Since 1991, Dr. Simkins has practiced general, interventional and preventive cardiology, obesity medicine, and clinical lipidology. In 2020, he began providing private Bowen family systems coaching with a research interest in the use of the family diagram in healthy weight management.

Online via Zoom

The Impact of Cutoff Across Generations

Anne McKnight, EdD, LCSW 

Cutoff, one of eight concepts in Bowen theory, addresses the management of tension in families through severing contact or maintaining superficial relationships. This day will explore several dimensions of cutoff in a power point presentation, including its impact across generations by limiting an individual’s access to resources, relationships, and information about the extended family.  Two individual’s efforts to work on differentiation through bridging cutoffs in their families will be discussed in videotaped interviews.

Changing Your Mind (or How Does Your Mind Change?) 

Edward J. Henley, MDiv

Bowen Center faculty member, the Rev. Ed Henley, will look at human thinking and perception. Copernicus dared to see things differently as he examined earlier data as to whether the Earth or the Ssun might be the center of the universe. One hundred and forty-four years later, most of the world agreed with him. Shifts in frame of reference are challenging to the human mind, especially considering the predictive processing that forms human perception. We tend to see what we have always seen unless something jars that viewpoint. Bowen theory does that when we discover we are not the center of the universe! 

Bio: https://www.thebowencenter.org/faculty-bios/edward-henley

Online via Zoom

A Research Attitude in Clinical Practice

Laura Brooks, LCSW-C

What is a research attitude and what difference does it make to the client and the coach? This presentation will examine manifestations of a research attitude in a psychotherapeutic effort towards differentiation. Client interviews will highlight behavioral indicators of family of origin work and progress towards working on differentiation. 

*Hybrid

In-Person Venue: The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital: 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.

OR Online via Zoom

How the Clinician Thinks

Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW and Randall T. Frost, MDiv

The clinical process has often been called an art. While there is some truth to that assertion, it might actually be more accurate to call the process a science.  If the term science can be defined as a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject, then the Bowen theory coach operates scientifically. Drawing upon their knowledge about how the family system operates, on information drawn from scientific research across a number of disciplines, and on the inductive and deductive reasoning of the scientific thinker, the coach becomes a scientist who applies knowledge derived from the processes of science to specific problems people encounter. This clinical conference will focus on how the clinician thinks and the science of coaching. 

To connect with the Bowen Center and to learn more about all that's going on at the Center, including programs and beyond, we invite you to attend an online "Ask the Director" session on October 29, 3:00-4:00 PM ET.

This event is free and open to all. No registration is required.

Amie Post, MA, LCMFT

Title: Isn’t Life Grand?! A Family Systems Perspective on Grandparenting 

When the first new babies of the next generation arrive, a whole family gets reimagined and reconfigured. New roles and responsibilities emerge, old functions fade, grandparents become, and opportunities for thoughtful leadership abound. In the age of advice and information, what does it take to develop your own best road map to grandparent adventures? And what can Bowen theory offer families in transition and the coaches who are supporting families at this stage of life? 

The Ibero-American Institute of the Bowen Center is holding this seventh conference to disseminate Bowen's theory's contributions to the great questions and challenges of mental health today.

On this occasion, we will explore how Bowen theory offers a distinctive framework for approaching work with the therapist's own person. Observation and work with one's own family of origin will be emphasized as fundamental to the practitioner's conceptual and technical training.

The questions that will guide this conference will be:

a) How does Bowen theory understand the therapist’s training?

b) What value does Bowen theory place on observing and working with the therapist's family of origin? 

c) How do therapeutic skills relate to the therapist's process of differentiation of self?

This will be an online conference held via Zoom.

This is a hybrid conference, with limited in-person seating, and unlimited online tickets. In-person tickets are on a first-come-first-served basis. When registering, participants will be prompted to select in-person or online. Attendance details will be emailed upon registration.

Presenter: Douglas C. Murphy, MA, LCMFT

Family of Origin Work: The myths, the facts and the real-lift story…

This writer’s recent research into Dr. Bowen’s archival papers revealed the importance that Dr. Bowen placed on one’s family of origin work. His own words about family of origin work from the archives will be presented to delve further into what Bowen meant by family of origin work. Individuals interpret Bowen’s concept family of origin work in many ways. Bowen would say you “hear” or interpret what the construct means based on your level of differentiation of self.  

Dr. Sofia Bernstein

Title: Cries & Whispers: The Possibility of Vocal Control in Monkeys and Apes

Description: Ethological studies do not generally acknowledge the semiotic capabilities of nonhuman animals or attempt to analyze the Umwelten of other species; this creates a human-centric bias in our interpretations of animal cognition and behavior. There is a need for a philosophical shift away from the stimulus-response model towards a framework where semiotic theory is applied to empirical data from the field. A recent study conducted by Dr. Bernstein and Baranna Baker applied biosemiotic methods and analyses to the results from gibbon vocal learning studies and Tibetan macaque control of vocal signal output based on audience proximity. Results suggest that signalers may be adjusting signal output, and that there is a complex cost-benefit tradeoff individuals have to navigate when they produce a mating signal. A biosemiotic approach reveals cognitive complexity and a species’ ability to recognize their and others’ agency, and ultimately enriches our understandings of the seemingly intangible inner worlds of other animals.

Presenter: Randall T. Frost, MDiv

Faith and Functioning

Murray Bowen stated that his theory of family systems is based on facts and facts alone.  Can facts be observed in how faith functions among different families, individuals, and communities of faith?  What may Bowen theory contribute to those who seek to function according to the ideals of the best of their religious traditions? 

This meeting will build on the two-day conference that precedes it.  The conference will include videotaped interviews with people from two different families for whom both religious faith and Bowen theory have been important.   

El Instituto Iberoamericano del Bowen Center ofrece esta Sexta Conferencia con el objetivo de difundir los aportes que la teoría de Bowen ofrece a las grandes interrogantes y desafíos de salud mental en nuestros tiempos. 

En esta oportunidad, se abordará cómo la teoría de Bowen ofrece un marco distintivo de comprensión del proceso ansioso respecto de otras propuestas que abordan la salud mental en las personas.  Para ello, además de revisar algunas de sus premisas y conceptos fundamentales, se discutirán los determinantes relacionales, históricos y evolutivos del proceso ansioso en la especie humana. 

Las preguntas que guiarán esta conferencia serán: 

a) ¿Cómo se entiende el proceso ansioso en la Teoría de Bowen? 

b) ¿Cuáles son los factores que facilitan que la respuesta ansiosa se vuelva poco adaptativa? 

c) ¿Cómo esta comprensión de la ansiedad puede guiar una aproximación terapéutica orientada al cambio? 

Applications for the Learning and Development Programs open April 1st!

The Two Hierarchies

Presenter: Laurie Lassiter, PhD, MSW

Presentation description: “The Two Hierarchies” offers a broad exploratory discussion of the variation in differentiation of self on the one hand and the variation in socioeconomic status on the other. As Murray Bowen posited, the natural process of variation in level of differentiation of self is independent of social status, beauty, intelligence, or talent. Roughly equivalent to emotional maturity, it is a separate characteristic that has to do with the degree that an individual can sustain a separate self while engaging in relationships with others.

While hierarchies based on social status have been more researched, I propose that the natural process of variation in differentiation of self, especially as it can be observed in the human, is also a social hierarchy of sorts. There is no doubt that level of differentiation of self is a determining factor in life outcome. Those with higher levels of self, all things being equal, are more likely to be invited to social events, to be hired and promoted in a job, and to receive romantic interest, marriage proposals, and success in any endeavor that involves the respect and admiration of other people. In addition to their social skills and appeal, these are people who tend to be effective in what they set out to do. One’s level of differentiation is automatically assessed and compared to others regardless of whether the observers have ever heard of Bowen’s concept.

While both kinds of hierarchy, variation in differentiation of self, and variation in social status, show up in the individual, they are the result of processes at the level of the group. What are these automatic processes that take place at the level of the family in one case, and at the level of society in the other? How are they different, and what may they have in common? What are their functions? If there are similarities at the biological molecular level, at the level of physiological health, or at the level of relationship, could the study of one be enriched by the study of the other?

Presenter: Jake Morrill, MDiv, MA

Clinically Deft": Play and Anxiety in a Coaching Session

Effective coaching can interrupt the client's self-sustaining and unproductive patterns of thought, as well as interrupting the automatic processes in the relationship. One approach to such interruption is the clinical use of strategic playfulness. Across species, social play functions in part to develop the capacity to countenance ambiguity, complexity, and uncertainty, and to manage one's own anxiety. This Clinical Conference will engage attendees in reflection on the potential, and risks, of the clinical use of play. 

From sleuths to saints, authors write about every genre under the sun. How does the writing process help in defining a self? Creating a self? Insights from the works of Dorothy Sayers and other writers will be reviewed.   

Dr. Laymon is a writer, grandmother, researcher, licensed professional counselor, and faculty member at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. With a PhD from the Pastoral Counseling Department of Loyola University, Maryland, she aims to be a thoughtful presence, offering new perspectives with a wry sense of humor. Her most recent book, All the Families of the Earth, is a biblical fiction published by Wipf and Stock in October 2023.  She and her husband live in Washington, DC, where they are avid Nationals baseball fans, hoping for a miracle. 

Presenter: Robert J. Noone, PhD

Bowen theory Development and Psychology

Murray Bowen developed a new formal theory of the family and human behavior. The theory was based on his observations, experiments, and conceptualizations along with a survey of the scientific literature while he was at the Menninger Foundation, NIMH, and Georgetown University. His research went hand-in-glove with the practice of psychotherapy. In this clinical conference the effort to move toward science and a theory-based family systems psychotherapy will be discussed. A brief description of one of Bowen’s experiments will be included. 

Cities, Climate Change, and Disease: How Science Can Help Humanity Solve Big Problems.

Presenter: Christa Brelslford, PhD

Quantifying interactions between social systems and the physical environment we live within has long been a major scientific challenge. A better empirical understanding of dynamic interactions between the physical or natural context and urban social structure is necessary to support predictions of how people and cities might respond to climate change, disease, and other emergent threats, ensure energy and water security for their residents, and to facilitate urban sustainability and resilience. In her lecture, Dr. Brelsford will describe research focusing on Diphtheria cases in the early 1900s, recent COVID-19 cases, and predictions of the urban built environment. These projects use different datasets, methods, and theoretical backgrounds, but are all aimed at developing empirical strategies to increase our understanding of how social and physical systems are coupled. 

Christa Brelsford, PhD,  is a Research Scientist in the Geospatial Science and Human Security Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Her research uses data science tools from economics, geography, network science and spatial statistics to describe the co-evolutionary processes between human systems and the built and natural environment.   These analyses have been particularly focused on urban contexts; exploring themes of urban water management, infrastructure provisioning and resilience, and human behavioral responses to surprising events.  Dr. Brelsford was previously the Liane Russell Fellow at ORNL, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. She obtained her PhD from the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University in 2014 for research on the determinants of residential water demand. Dr. Brelsford is currently leading efforts to use novel data sources such as digital trace data to generate real-time measures of community structure and behavior change and to describe the drivers and consequences of those outcomes from a national security perspective. 

Presenter: Amie Post, MS, LCMFT

Tango Through Transitions with the Thinking Bowen theory Provides

Life is full of transitions - from single to partnered, additions of new family members, losses of important relationships, changes in work and community. Conventional theory would consider the external stressors and invite taking time for self, connection with caring others and perhaps even cutting out the changes that are too much. Bowen theory helps us think beyond a one size fits all set of solutions. This clinical conference will consider the variation in response to life transition and explore how differentiation of self provides a way of thinking about how to navigate with increased flexibility and resiliency.  

Bowen Theory and the Geometry of Crafting Fictional Families

Presenter: Michelle Brafman

Faculty member Priscilla Friesen joins novelist Michelle Brafman to discuss how she relies on Bowen theory to create and intubate her characters. Brafman’s newest book, Swimming with Ghosts, explores how addiction operates within the context of a family system and in turn a broader tightly knit community. Her goal is to write “no fault fiction,” where there are no villains or heroes, just regular folks trying to understand, manage, and often transcend their multi-generational triangles.   

Bio: Michelle is a writer and teacher. Her debut novel, Washing the Dead, was included in Book Riot’s list of 100 must-read books about women and religion. Her second book, Bertrand Court, features stories that have won numerous awards including a Special Mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Slate, LitHub, Tablet, The Nervous Breakdown, The Forward, and elsewhere. Michelle teaches fiction writing at the Johns Hopkins MA in Writing program and also founded the Glen Echo Workshops where she leads monthly multi-genre workshops and teaches summer college essay writing classes.