Why View Death as a Family System Issue

Welcome to Elevator Systems! For the last episode of our season on relationships across the lifespan, we will be looking at Bowen family systems theory and death. Priscilla Friesen joins hosts Dixie Vandersluys and Katie White to talk about her personal and professional perspective.

Priscilla Friesen is a family consultant who trained as a licensed clinical social worker. She was introduced to Bowen theory in 1976 and has spent years at the Bowen Center where her responsibilities have included: administrator of Biofeedback Programs, Director of the Postgraduate Training Programs, developing meetings, presenting and teaching. Priscilla has a special interest in biofeedback and neurofeedback and how physiological reactivity is regulated in relationships. Priscilla has also worked to make Dr. Bowen’s archival legacy available to the world, working with the Bowen family since his death in 1990 and serving on the board of directors of The Murray Bowen Archives Project today.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The many relationships impacted by the death of a family member.
• Ways death is regulated within the family system.
• The variation in how families handle death provides valuable information about the family system.
• What an open system is and how it’s useful to a family around death.
• The adjustment of roles in the family after a death and the emergence of family leaders.
• Examples include: personal stories, estate planning and family discussions, the grief of Queen Victoria and her family life.

This episode is for anyone interested in thinking about death from a systems perspective and anyone who works professionally with families that are facing death, grief and loss. 

Terms you don’t understand? We have episodes on all 8 concepts of Bowen theory and other ideas in Elevator Systems Seasons 1 & 2.

Recommended Resources:

• The Murray Bowen Archives Project 
• Dr. Murray Bowen: Family Therapy in Clinical Practice
• Dr. Jenny Brown: Growing Yourself Up
• Death and Chronic Illness in the Family, Ed. Peter Titelman & Sydney K. Reed
• Living Beyond Loss: Death in the Family, Ed. Froma Walsh & Monica McGoldrick
• Family Matters 
• The Relationships We Live In podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/episode-1-the-relationships-we-live-in/

Thanks for listening to Season 3! A special episode to wrap up Season 3 will be released in the coming weeks! 

Look for Season 4 of Elevator Systems in early 2026. 

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Living Systems Counselling and Training provides educational material for those interested in learning more about Bowen family systems theory: https://livingsystems.ca

Key Topics:
#BowenFamilySystems #LivingSystems #MurrayBowen #Therapy #SystemsThinking #Death #Dying #Grief #Loss #Mourning #Funeral #Goodbye #Communication #Estates #Plans #Aging #MentalHealth #Relationships #TherapyPodcast #DifferentiationOfSelf #Differentiation #Family #BowenTheory #ElevatorSystems #FamilySystemsTheory #ElevatorSystemsPodcast #MurrayBowenArchives #TMBAP #TheMurrayBowenArchivesProject

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is general information about Bowen family systems theory and is not considered the practice of counselling or therapy.  The information presented are the views of the people who say them. Any information used from this podcast is used at your own risk