Spring Conference Recordings
Each spring the Bowen Center offers a conference devoted to a single topic which is explored in depth by a number of presenters. The subject of a meeting may be a concept of Bowen theory or an application of theory. Conference information and purchase links to recent recordings are provided below.
2024 Faith, Functioning, and Bowen Theory
Guest Lecturer: John Haught, PhD
Bowen theory engages a wide audience. Many in traditions of faith have found the theory central to how they think about themselves and their relationships with others, offering insights into theology and the practice of care and counseling, leadership, teaching, and research. Faith, Functioning, and Bowen Theory explores the implications of Bowen theory specifically for communities of faith. Conference recordings will be of interest to many in faith communities—nevertheless, they are intended for anyone with a professional or personal interest in this area. The conference’s featured speaker was John Haught, PhD, emeritus faculty and distinguished Research Professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC. His area of specialization is systematic theology with a particular interest in issues pertaining to science, cosmology, evolution, ecology and religion.
Conference attendees: If you haven’t received your discount code to purchase recordings, please contact Emma Voorhees.
2023 Family Violence: A Systems Perspective
Guest Lecturer: Karen Bales, PhD
This professional conference provided an opportunity for presenters and attendees to consider how Bowen theory provides a unique way of thinking about the complex problem of family violence. Students of Bowen theory from around the world, including Dr. Dan Papero, Dr. Alejandro Astorga, Dr. Jenny Brown, and Dr. Walter Smith engaged with distinguished guest scientist, Dr. Karen Bales. Dr. Bales presented on how social and environmental experiences during development affect adult pair bonding and parenting and pair bond maintenance strategies in coppery titi monkeys. Presentations and discussions produced dialogue that considered the difference natural systems thinking can contribute to the understanding and effectively engaging families facing the challenges of violence. The conference explored how individuals across the system can make sense of big questions around the topic of violence, including: "How can I respond to this complex problem in a responsible way?" and "What is the help that is helpful?". Bowen theory offers a distinct way to thoughtfully engage the complex challenges of family violence and deal with the reactions stirred.
Conference attendees: If you need a discount code to purchase recordings, please contact Emma Voorhees.
2022: Family Vitality and Variation in Aging
Guest Lecturer: Melissa deCardi Hladek, PhD
This conference explores how the family relationships interact with the process of aging. Aging family members have an important place in vital families impacting health and vigor of all. More disconnected families include more isolated elders impacting health and life satisfaction. Presentations and interviews will illustrate how the use of Bowen theory impacts growing old. Melissa deCardi Hladek, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University Nursing, will bring her expertise, as researcher-clinician, to discuss her research that focuses on how stress, self-efficacy, resilience, and sociocultural factors influence the biology of aging, chronic disease, frailty progression and resilience trajectories. Dr. Hladek’s presentations will focus on the biological underpinnings of aging.
2021: Unlocking the Mystery of the Family Emotional System
Guest Lecturer: Ryan Woods
The goal of this conference was to highlight the importance of exploring family research as a means to better understand one’s family and one’s part in it. The invited researcher, Ryan Woods, leads a nationally recognized organization, AmericanAncestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society, the oldest genealogical organization in the US. From his rich experience in traditional genealogical research, he presented on how people are motivated and impacted by genealogical research and on his observations of patterns and legacies in published family histories. Mr. Wood’s broad research perspective interfaced with presenters who described research into their own families from the perspective of Bowen family systems theory. Participants came away with an appreciation of how family research broadens one’s understanding of family emotional process and how Bowen theory illuminates one’s understanding of family history.
2020: Creating a Climate for Change
Facts about floods, fires, and famine come at us every day. Over 200 national and international scientific bodies: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), among them, post regularly on the impact of human activity to the environment. Conflict, denial, debate, and other emotional reactions spread like wildfire throughout families and society.
Bowen theory offers unique ways to thoughtfully engage the challenges of climate and deal with reactions stirred:
Creating a Climate for Change (held April 3-4, 2020) used Bowen theory to focus on understanding the impact of climate and humans as part of evolution and the natural world. Goals of the conference included: 1) increasing knowledge about human reactivity and 2) illustrating ways to understand and manage anxious reactions stirred by facts and by changes that are required for individuals and institutions.
2019: Exploring a Systems View of Leadership
Guest Lecturer: Stephen M. Colarelli, PhD
Leadership emerges within a social system — such as a family, organization or community — when individuals contribute to that system thriving and adapting to emerging challenges. The theme of this conference is to explore leadership as viewed through the lens of science, including evolutionary theory and Bowen family systems theory.
2012: The Family and the Brain: An Integrated Circuit
The Family and the Brain: An Integrated Circuit returns for a second time to the Bowen Center’s conference schedule. The first conference on this topic in 2005 produced a dynamic two-day exchange among participants and brought the most current scientific knowledge to the discussion.
The 2012 conference brings a new group of scientists, researchers, and leaders in the study of family systems, to continue the exploration of the interplay of genes and the environment, behavioral neuroscience, neurobiology, evolutionary and developmental psychology, and family stress and child health.
As the pace of scientific discovery continues to accelerate in these areas, old established notions are falling. Alvin Toffler expressed it well when he said “Change is the process by which the future invades the present.”
The Family and the Brain: An Integrated Circuit provides us all with an opportunity to keep up with these changes and their implications. Audience and speakers alike are vital to the success of a conference like this.