Events Archives - Center for Family ConsultationCenter for Family Consultation

2026 Clinical Application of Bowen Theory

Post Date December 17, 2025

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Author Justin Reed

Category Annual Conferences

CFC’s 28th Annual Day of Workshops
Tickets Available via Eventbrite

Keynote presentation from CFC faculty member Terri Pilarski MDiv“Triangles: Exploring a Key Concept in Bowen Theory for Congregational and Organizational Leadership”

Drawing on nearly three decades of engagement with Bowen Family Systems theory, Terri Pilarski—faculty member at the Center for Family Consultation, Episcopal priest, and licensed clinical social worker—invites participants into a practical and reflective exploration of triangles, one of Bowen theory’s most foundational and challenging concepts.

This keynote focuses on the application of Bowen theory in congregations and other …

Averting a Cutoff in an Inherited Triangle

Post Date June 18, 2025

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Annual Conferences, Annual Summer Conference, Chronic Anxiety, Emotional Cut-Off, Emotional Fusion, Emotional Triangles, Family Emotional Process, Leslie Ann Fox

Summer 2025 has arrived. The beach, hiking trails, travel adventures and more beckon us. Unexpected upheaval and uncertainty gripped many countries around the world this past year. The time for some genuine rest and relaxation is overdue. Though CFC cannot offer you a day or week or month off, we have chosen a topic for our annual one-day Summer Conference this year that may get your mind off of the societal stressors for a day, and redirect your focus inward. While the conference focuses on how one bridges existing generational cutoffs, this essay is an example of a case study of an individual who inherits a position in a triangle after someone has died. The question is, must one inevitably accept that inheritance, and continue to amplify the anxiety in the system, or can one member of the new triangle avert the cutoff, thereby avoiding a downward spiral into a cutoff that will impact future generations of the family?

2025 Midwest Symposium

Post Date March 6, 2025

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Author Justin Reed

Category Annual Conferences, Events

42nd Annual Midwest Symposium: Bowen Family Systems Theory and Therapy
Friday May 2 – Saturday May 3, 2025Evanston, Illinois

This is a hybrid (in-person or online) event.

Register Now Via Eventbrite

Established in 1984 with Murray Bowen as the sole presenter, the symposium has evolved to feature Dan Papero as the primary speaker and, since 1990, a guest scientist each year. The event ensures Bowen family systems theory remains grounded in the natural sciences by inviting experts from fields such as neuroscience, evolutionary …

Frans de Waal, Our First Symposium Speaker

Post Date April 3, 2024

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Annual Conferences, Annual Midwest Symposium, Bowen Family Systems Theory, Sydney K. Reed

Frans de Waal, 75, Who Believed Apes Had Cognition, Dies so said the obituary by Alex Traub in the New York Times on Saturday, March 23, 2024.

“Frans de Waal, who used his study of the inner life of animals to build a powerful case that apes think, feel, strategize pass down culture and act on moral sentiments – and that humans are not quite as special as many like to think- died on March 14 at his home in Stone Mountain, Ga.”

Reflections on the 4th International Conference on Bowen Theory

Post Date March 20, 2024

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category 4th International Conference on Bowen Family Sysytems Theory, Bowen Family Systems Theory, Bowen Theory Research, Events, Family Sysytems Theory Research, John Bell

Bowen theory has certainly come a long way even since the first international conference held in 2015 in Pittsburg, PA at the Western Pennsylvania Family Center. One of its founding members and long-term executive directors, Jim Smith was a pioneer in making theory available worldwide and in organizing this first ever international conference. Since then, international conferences have been held in Hong Kong (2018), Sweden (2022) and most recently, Miami, Florida.

2024 Midwest Symposium

Post Date March 18, 2024

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Author Justin Reed

Category Annual Conferences, Events

41st Annual Midwest Symposium: Bowen Family Systems Theory and Therapy
Friday May 3 – Saturday May 4, 2024 Evanston, Illinois

This is a hybrid (In-person or online) event

The 41st Midwest Symposium is focused on exploring the complexities of the family emotional system and the interplay among individuals, relationships, and society. The family and its functioning in the larger social environment will be discussed in terms of its influence on well-being and stress-related illnesses. …

Why I spent Christmas 2023 in the Mayo Clinic Hospital

Post Date January 31, 2024

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Author Sydney Reed

Category Acute Anxiety, Annual Conferences, Death & Chronic Illness, Emotional Triangles, Family Emotional Process, Sydney K. Reed, Systems Theory of Cancer

Due to the amputation of my husband’s foot, we spent Christmas this past year in the Mayo Clinic hospital. This is the twelfth year of a long story. David has had a pain in his left foot when he walked on it for the last 12 years. Medical opinion assumed the problem was neurological. He was referred to countless doctors who referred him for x-rays, CT and MRI scans. No one could find anything to explain the pain. One pain clinic installed a nerve stimulator in his back that was controlled by a technician at Abbot Labs who determined the dosage and the frequency of the nerve jolts. It didn’t work!

2025 Clinical Application of Bowen Theory

Post Date December 21, 2023

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Author Justin Reed

Category Annual Conferences

CFC’s 27th Annual Day of Workshops
Tickets Available via Eventbrite

Keynote presentation from CFC faculty member Kelly Matthews-Pluta:

Emotional Inheritance: Bowen Theory and the Multigenerational Transmission Process

“The family of origin is a resource for learning more about oneself” (Kerr, 275). Humans seem to have a love/hate relationship with the emotional interdependence we have with one another, particularly in our families. When relationships are going smoothly, we have plenty of warm, comfortable feelings about our connections. When relationships are strained, we can feel anxious and stressed about our own …

Integration of Research in Practice: Reflections on the CFC Fall Conference

Post Date October 7, 2023

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Author Stephanie Ferrera

Category Annual Conferences, Annual Fall Conference, Events, Family Sysytems Theory Research, Stephanie Ferrera

What does the word “research” bring to mind for you? Images of scientists in lab coats, doing things with test tubes? Creating experiments with control groups? Data mapped on charts and graphs? That dreaded required course in college? A formidable enterprise to be sure.

For those who attended the CFC Fall Conference, “Integration of Research in Practice,” the word, “research” took on a larger meaning. Four Bowen theory researchers presented their studies, each illustrating a different and creative approach.

The Emotional Side of Socioeconomic Status: A review of the CFC Summer Conference with Dr. Laurie Lassiter

Post Date August 1, 2023

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Author Stephanie Ferrera

Category Annual Conferences, Events, Stephanie Ferrera

“The Emotional Side of Socioeconomic Status” was the title of Dr. Laurie Lassiter’s presentation at the Center for Family Consultation’s annual summer conference on July 14. It is also the title of an article by Lassiter published in a recent issue of the journal, Family Systems. Dr. Lassiter has reviewed a wide range of research to help us understand how social status impacts our health, relationships, and quality of life. As a scholar of Bowen theory, she brings knowledge of emotional systems and differentiation of self to her study of social status. Drawing from both her conference presentation and her article, I have chosen the following highlights.

Learning to “Think Systems”

Post Date April 9, 2023

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Bowen Family Systems Theory, Differentiation of Self, Post Graduate Training, Robin Shultz

“We continuously admonish ourselves for what we do or do not do and continually implore each other to be different. There appears to be an infinite supply of people available to tell us the “right” way to think and the “right” way to act. The vast majority of the admonitions and directives that swirl around us are hopelessly entangled in subjectivity. Depending on the phenomenon under consideration, we blame some thing, some person, some group, some whatever for its presence. We blame genes, chemicals, parents, schools, a variety of “bad” influences, and certain politicians for what goes wrong. Probably the most important subjectivity determined block to observing human behavior has been the earlier described difficulty in seeing the part oneself plays in the functioning of others. Our conceptualizations of human behavior have consistently deemphasized the process between people and focused on the process within people”.

Opportunities for Ongoing Individual Growth: Bowen Theory in Clinical Work

Post Date November 1, 2022

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Bowen Family Systems Theory, Post Graduate Training, Robin Shultz

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it new alternatives for people seeking help with anxiety. Online platforms became a viable option for therapy resulting in easier access to services. While this shift toward technology has increased the number of providers available, wide variations exist among treatment modalities. For those seeking long-term modifications in their lives, finding a provider who can meet both the immediate need and a goal of lasting change can be a challenge. This dual objective is best met by a provider who has the ability to “think systems” while viewing anxiety and other problems from a broad perspective. Whether you are a social worker, a family therapist, coach, teacher, clergy, or a consultants or leader in business, you can increase your knowledge of how human systems function by participating in a Bowen theory post-graduate training program.

Reactivity Paused: Took a Breath and a Stand

Post Date October 10, 2022

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Bowen Family Systems Theory, Post Graduate Training, Scott Hoecker

My understanding of differentiation of self after listening to Murray Bowen and reading the materials is that each person emerges from the multi-generational family organism with a certain amount of undifferentiation (or fusion) that needs to be handled using various mechanisms such as distance, conflict, over/under-functioning, and/or projection to the next generation. The more self that one has, the less intense these mechanisms will appear given a certain level of anxiety. With that same level of anxiety, a person with less self than the previous person, the mechanisms will be more intense.

Michael Kerr, A Review and Presentation on Leonard Mlodinow’s book, “Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking”

Post Date June 2, 2022

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Annual Conferences, Bowen Family Systems Theory, Differentiation of Self, Ethan Strauss, Family Emotional Process, Terri C. Pilarski

Dr. Kerr’s presentation at the Midwest Symposium on May 6, 2022, on Leonard Mlodinow’s book, “Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking” focused on a key component of Bowen Systems Theory: developing the capacity for self-regulation and the impact of anxiety on one’s ability to self-regulate. Mlodinow discusses the impact of anxiety on brain function writing: “an anxious state leads to pessimistic cognitive bias – when an anxious brain processes ambiguous information it tends to choose the more pessimistic among the likely interpretations.” (Chapter 4, How Emotions Guide Thought). Kerr emphasized two aspects from Mlodinow’s book: Motivation and Determination.

The Composition of the Family System and Adaptive Success

Post Date May 20, 2022

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Annual Conferences, Differentiation of Self, Ethan Strauss, Family Emotional Process, Post Graduate Training

This presentation by Dr. Dan Papero focused primarily on how concepts related to adaptive success or failure apply to the family system. Dr. Papero observes that the human family faces similar pressures to adapt to changes in the environment as all living things do. One way that helps me to think about this concept is to relate it to the functioning of ant colonies that are discussed in Chapter 12 of “The Family Emotional System”, edited by Robert J. Noone and Daniel V. Papero. The ant colonies clearly do not function as a collection of individuals working toward a common goal, but more as a single organism with each individual as more of an appendage. The human family faces similar pressures from the environment, which require a response from the system if it is going to survive and thrive.

2022 Clinical Application of Bowen Theory

Post Date December 1, 2021

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Author Samantha Vancil

Category Annual Conferences

Deadline is February 24th, 2022

Friday, February 25th, 202224th Annual Day of Workshops
Clinical Application of Bowen Family Systems Theory

Dr. Murray Bowen developed a comprehensive new theory of the family. Based on his view of the human as part of nature and the family as a natural system, Dr. Bowen described the emotional process and the automatic patterns of behavior among family members. He is best known for his concept of differentiation of self and the scale of differentiation that described the broad range of variation …

Searching for Nature’s Rules

Post Date October 4, 2021

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Author Stephanie Ferrera

Category Annual Conferences, Stephanie Ferrera

“When we ponder the workings of the human body or of the life of the Serengeti National Park, the details would seem overwhelming, the parts too numerous, and their interactions too complex. The power of a small number of rules…is their ability to reduce complex phenomena to a simpler logic of life.” (10) With this thought, Sean B. Carroll introduces his book, The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters.

Reflections on a Presentation by James P. Curley, PhD: Power Differentials in Social Hierarchies, Why and How They Emerge and Their Consequences for Behavior and Health

Post Date May 15, 2021

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Annual Conferences, Bowen Family Systems Theory, Emotional Triangles, Leadership, Rosalyn Chrenka

This report on the keynote address given at the Midwest Symposium on May 7 2021 was prepared by Dr. Rosalyn Chrenka, a student of the CFC Post-graduate Training program. I took notes and have commented below on some things that struck me as interesting in relation to theory.

Bowen Theory Conferences Adapt to Pandemic Conditions

Post Date May 4, 2020

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Author Stephanie Ferrera

Category Annual Conferences, Bowen Family Systems Theory, Climate Change, Environmental Crisis, Stephanie Ferrera

For all of its tragic impacts on humanity, the coronavirus pandemic is presenting us with an opportunity and impetus to take time out for serious thinking. Since the time of social distancing began several weeks ago, two important Bowen theory network events have taken place: the annual Spring Conference of the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family (April 3-4) and the 37th Midwest Symposium of the Center for Family Consultation (May 1). Both were originally planned as onsite conferences but converted to online. In so doing, the conferences became very different experiences for all involved–planners, presenters, and audience members—and much was learned in the process. This essay offers thoughts on what was learned, particularly in the area of human behavior and human response to threat.

Family, the Brain, and Differentiation of Self

Post Date April 16, 2020

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Author Center for Family Consultation

Category Annual Conferences, Bowen Family Systems Theory, Events, Evolution & Family Systems Theory, Robert J. Noone

The concept of differentiation of self entails two primary aspects based on the observations of Dr. Bowen. The first is that individuals vary in the degree to which they differentiate or develop emotional autonomy in relation to the family in which they grew up. The second aspect is the degree to which an individual’s higher cortical systems, referred to by Bowen as the intellectual system, differentiate over the course of development. The differentiation of this function underlies an individual’s capacity to utilize the intellectual system in self-regulation and self-direction over their life course. This presentation will describe the above and place these processes in the context of the co-evolution of the family and the brain.