The AAMFT Podcast

What does it mean to be an integrative systemic therapist? This week on the podcast we’re sitting down with Douglas C. Breunlin and William P. Russell. Doug Breunlin has practiced individual, couple and family therapy. He has served as a consultant for Cook County Hospital's Departments of Pediatrics and Family Practice for 12 years, in addition to providing consultation to mental health centers, special education programs and residential facilities, and is co-author of Metaframeworks: Transcending the Models of Family Therapy. Bill Russel has practiced systemic psychotherapy, developed and administered mental health service programs, and trained and supervised therapists. He has worked in academic institutions, community agencies, a private practice, a therapeutic school and the Veterans Administration. For the past twenty-six years Mr. Russell has worked at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Bill and David chat with Eli about the meaning of integrative systemic therapy, their early work and career influences, the importance of introducing the client to the model rather than the other way around, their work at institutions such as the Institute for Juvenile Research and The Family Institute at University of South Wales, and more.

John Rolland, MD, MPH, is Executive Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Chicago Center for Family Health and author of the book: Helping Couples and Families Navigate Illness and Disability. Dr. Rolland is an AAMFT approved clinical supervisor and serves on the Editorial Boards of several journals. In this episode Dr Rolland sits down with Eli to discuss early inspirations and what sparked his interest in family systems, the difficulty of integrating the pathology driven medical model with the strength and health model of family therapy, and his Family Systems Illness Model. Dr Rolland also discusses the need for psychoeducation to give families the beginnings of a map they can use to get through the experience of illness.

Deb Coolhart, Associate Professor at Syracuse University, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with a private practice in Fayetteville, NY. She is a Clinical Fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and an AAMFT-approved supervisor. Under her leadership, the Gender Expansive Support Team was created and continues to provide services in the Central New York community. In this episode, Deb sits down with Eli to discuss her early career and research interests and influences, the need for inclusive, affirming language, the need to acknowledge the pervasive experience of mistreatment that trans people face, the different ways clients may experience dysphoria, and much more.

Evan Imber-Black, PhD, is currently Professor and Program Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Masters Program at Mercy College, and was a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. Evan was a longtime faculty member at the Ackerman Institute and former Director of Ackerman’s Center for Families and Health. In this episode, she sits down with Eli to discuss her early career influences and why she became a therapist, her proudest memories from her time as editor of Family Process, and the concepts of family rituals and family secrets. Eli and Evan discuss what makes a good family ritual, how to create family rituals, and finally the delicate balance between the need for privacy and the impact of family secrets.

Graham Danzer is a research-informed forensic psychologist and author of the book: Therapist Self-Disclosure: An Evidence-Based Guide for Practitioners. Graham sits down with Eli to discuss the benefits and challenges of navigating self-disclosure with various populations, the importance of making disclosures brief and relevant and of lower intimacy content, and the balancing self-disclosure in marketing materials like websites. Finally, they discuss the importance of developing a policy on personal disclosure.

Renee Rienecke, PhD, FAED, is a clinical psychologist and Director of Research for Eating Recovery Center/Pathlight Mood and Anxiety Centers and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University. This week Eli sits down with her to discuss eating disorders, and their effect on individuals and families. They discuss the categories of eating disorders, therapeutic techniques, such as family-based therapy (FBT) and the Maudsley Method, and the importance of evidence-based treatment. Finally they discuss the important role parents play in family-based treatment.

David Kessler is one of the world's foremost experts on loss, the founder of Grief.com, and coauthored two books with Louise Hay and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. He sits down with Eli to discuss his journey to find his own healing, his work and relationship with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, and common misconception about the five stages of dying. Finally he discusses the non-linear, observational nature of the stages, describing them as descriptive rather than prescriptive.

This week’s episode is a special show featuring the co-editors of the JMFT Special Anniversary Issue: Andrea Wittenborn and Kendal Holtrop. Dr. Andrea Wittenborn is Professor of Human Development and Family Studies. She also holds an appointment in the Division of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Michigan State University. Dr. Kendal Holtrop is an Associate Professor of Human Development and family studies. She obtained her PhD from Michigan State University in 2011, served on the faculty at Florida State University for six years, and then returned to MSU in 2017. In this episode, they discuss topics and interventions from the special issue, the importance of consuming research and staying up-to-date, and the move in research toward focusing on external validity. Finally, they ask: what are conditions relevant to stakeholder groups, and how do we make the research highly relevant to public health?Teneo is AAMFT’s online education platform and provides clinical training with a focus on systems and relational therapies. Teneo courses are all online and can be accessed anywhere in the world. Courses can be started, paused, and completed at any time to accommodate busy mental health professionals’ schedules. Teneo course are approved by many state regulatory boards to provide Continuing Education credit hours, and cover such diverse topics as: Marketing your Practice, Eldercare, Working with LGBTQ Clients, and Ethics. Explore the course catalog at www.aamft.org/learning and use code TENEO10 for 10% off your purchase.

Jill Freedman and Gene Combs are Co-Directors of Evanston Family Therapy Center, as well as founding members of the Chicago Center for Family Health, an independent affiliate of the University of Chicago. In this episode they discuss the genesis of narrative therapy, remember Michael White and his many contributions to the field, and techniques and practices such as relational identity which have made a difference working with families. They also discuss the importance of the post-structuralist world view and narrative metaphor.Teneo is AAMFT’s online education platform and provides clinical training on various topics with a focus on systems and relational therapies, offering continuing education credits for mental health professionals. Explore our course catalog at www.aamft.org/learning and use code TENEO10 for 10% off your purchase.

In part two of this two-episode focus on neurobiology and couple functioning, Eli sits down with Stan Tatkin. Stan is the founder of the PACT Training Institute and the developer of PACT—A Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School Medicine. Stan sits down with Eli for a discussion on psychobiological approaches to couples therapy. Stan discusses his “origin story” of how he started working with couples, attachment theory as compliment to couples therapy, and strategies for self-soothing and autoregulation. Finally, he discusses interactive couples therapy, and how he uses state changes and movement to moderate fight or flight brain changes.Teneo is AAMFT’s online education platform and provides clinical training with a focus on systems and relational therapies. Teneo courses are all online and can be accessed anywhere in the world. Courses can be started, paused, and completed at any time to accommodate busy mental health professionals’ schedules. Teneo course are approved by many state regulatory boards to provide Continuing Education credit hours, and cover such diverse topics as: Marketing your Practice, Eldercare, Working with LGBTQ Clients, and Ethics. Explore the course catalog at www.aamft.org/learning and use code TENEO10 for 10% off your purchase.