NEWS UPDATE

Spring 2016

We are delighted to announce that as of June 2016, Lisa Lavelle, LCSW, is our new Director of Train-ing and Clinical Services. Lisa be-gan her history at Acker-man as an intern in Ack-erman Institute’s Social Work and Diversity Program in 1997 and graduated from the Externship Program in 2001. Lisa has been a member of the Ackerman Faculty since 2003, serving as Director of Intake, Foundations Teacher, Live Clinical Supervisor, Extern-ship Supervisor, Commu-nity Trainer, and former Co-Director of the Center for Families and Health.

Our DirectOr Of training: LiSa LaveLLe

Additionally, Lisa has been a lecturer at the Silver School of Social Work at NYU, and at the Silberman School of Social Work at

Hunter Col-lege.

Lisa joins the Ackerman’s leadership team working closely with the President, faculty, trainees, and administrative staff to create and

maintain a culture that fully embraces values of inclusion and collaboration, and continues the Ackerman tradition of excellence in clinical training and practice.

Congratulations, Lisa, we welcome you in this posi-tion with open arms!

Beginning September 2015, thandiwe Dee Watts-Jones began her new position as the Advising Director on Race & Social Justice at the Ackerman Institute. She serves as consultant/advisor in the training program making recommendations for enhancing diversity, andintegrating the role of race/racism and other forms of oppression in the training and teaching at Ackerman.

Faculty, trainees, and staff may consult about race related issues directly with thandiwe Dee at dwatts-jones@ackerman.org or at 212-879-4900 ext. 314.

aDviSing DirectOr Of race &

SOciaL JuStice: thanDiwe Dee wattS-JOneS

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016

936 Broadway, 2nd FloorNew York, NY 10010

Our deep gratitude to Mar-cia Sheinberg for her many years of service as Director of Training and Clinical Services. Marcia made her largest and most significant contribution to the field of family therapy in the area of relationship trauma. She greatly influenced the Externship Training Program with the development of the Ackerman Relational Approach (ARA), a system that has become the foun-dation of our clinical work as it is dynamic, replicable, and applicable to all clini-cal areas of family therapy study.

Marcia will move into a new role as Senior Fellow where she will be available to faculty for clinical and institutional consultations, provide trainings and work-shops, and continue her clinical project.

Thank you, Marcia, for your many contributions to the Ackerman Institute.

hOnOring 24 YearS Of Service anD cOunting:

Marcia Sheinberg

2015 MOving faMiLieS fOrwarD gaLa

On October 26, 2015, Ackerman Institute for the Family celebrated its ninth annual Moving Families Forward gala at the Wal-dorf Astoria hotel in New York City. More than 300 guests made the evening a great success raising over $600,000 for the Ack-erman Clinic to advance

the treatment of children and families, and further the training and clinical research in family therapy.

(continued on page 2)

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016 page 2

Tune in to Acker-man Podcasts. With approximately 22,000 subscribers, we have listeners in the Amer-icas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Listen to insightful interviews with Ackerman facul-ty and visiting mental health professionals exploring issues on Family Therapy. You can find our podcasts at acker-man.podbean.com.

ackerMan pODcaStS

Last February, after the screening of her film, Little White Lie, filmmaker Tracey Schwartz joined faculty mem-bers Evan Imber-Black and Walter Vega in a panel discussion to explore the issues of racial identity and family secrets. More than 60 guests, includ-ing faculty, trainees, alumni, staff and friends attended this enlighten-ing event.

DOcuMentarY Screening

anD DiScuSSiOn

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016 page 5

Guests included members of our Board of Directors, generous donors, faculty, alumni, trainees, and their friends and families.

We honored Board member, Alice Netter, with the Ack-erman Distinguished Service Award, for her dedicated work on the board for more than 28 years.

Former SEC Chairman, William Donaldson accept-ed the Ackerman Partner Award; Author, Jacqueline Woodson received the

bOarD LeaDerShip: intrODucing ackerMan inStitute’S new bOarD MeMberS

Harriet Habert, Managing Director & Director of Mar-keting for Hollis Park Partners. She brings new en-ergy and expertise in the field of finance and marketing. March 2016.

Dan Rocker graduated from the Externship Program in 2015. Prior to earning his MSW from NYC in 2010 and setting up his private practice, Dan had extensive experience in the field of finance. Dan brings his enthu-siasm and volunteer knowledge to our leadership. Sep-tember 2015.

Leslie Roberts graduated from the Externship Program in 2015. Leslie brings a great deal of knowl-edge of the non-profit field from her experi-ence as a volunteer and founder and executive director of Protected Paws. Septem-ber 2015.

Debbie Werner, graduated from the Externship in 2013. So-cial work is a second career for Debbie, and volunteerism a third career. She is not only a board mem-ber (December 2014), but she has taken a leadership posi-tion as the Chair of the Development Committee, and Co-Chair of Acker-man’s annual gala.

Summer Clinical PracticumJune 6 -June 29, 2016

Externship in Emotionally Focused Couples TherapyJune 21 - 24, 2016

Pride is For Kids TooGender & Family Project’s Float in the NYC Pride Pa-radeJune 26, 2016

Personal Best Summer Inten-sive: Adult Development and Sensitive Parenting for At-Risk Families with Young ChildrenJuly 6 - 8, 2016

Bolstering Learning through Building Social-EmotionalCapacities and Fami-ly-School PartnershipsJuly 11 - 14, 2016

Bright Beginnings Summer Intensive: Early Child De-velopment and Parenting ProcessesJuly 18 - 21, 2016

Externship GraduationWednesday, July 20, 2016

Save the DateMoving Families ForwardMonday, October 24, 2016To purchase a table or tick-ets or to make a contribu-tions contact ackermanga-la@buckleyhallevents.com(914) 579-1000

upcOMing eventS

Michele Scheinkman, LCSW“A Multicultural Conversation about Intimacy and Couples Therapy,” All day case consulta-tion and conceptual conversa-tion in Tokyo, Japan, June, 2015.

“Deconstruction Impasses in Couple’s Therapy: A Roadmap for Couples Therapy,” Presen-tation at the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Ackerman Alumni Institute for the Family, Hong Kong, March 2016.

“Working with the Vulnerability Cycle and Multi-Level Approach in Couples Therapy,” Presen-tation at the Counselling and Care Centre, Singapore, March 2016.

Marcia Sheinberg, LCSWPresentation on Relational Trauma to the Israeli Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, Israel, April 2016.

Fiona True, LCSW“Children and Relational Trau-ma” Webinars with The Bouverie Center, Melbourne, Australia, May/June 2015.

“The Relational Trauma of In-cest,” Presentation at the Family Institute of Westchester, White Plains, NY, February 2016.

“Relational Trauma: Working with Youth in the Criminal Justice System”Presentation at Esperan-za, New York, NY, March 2016.

Walter Vega, LCSW“Self-Care: Helping with Healthy Boundaries,” Presentation at NYS-TEACH at Advocates for

Adi Loebl, M.D.“Bridging the Cap: A Cross Disciplinary Discussion About Medicine and Meaning,” Lec-ture and conversation co-pre-sentation with Sarah Berland, LCSW, at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry NY, May 2016.

Lois Braverman, LCSW“Genograms, Birth Order and Family Relationships,” Workshop at the GenSpring Women’s Re-treat, Palm Beach, FL, October 2015.

“Family Therapy with Young Adults with Serious Mental Illness,” Keynote address and workshop at the XXIII Congreso Mexicano de Psicologia, Can-cun, Mexico, October 2015.

“Family Therapy with Young Adults with Serious Mental Illness,” Keynote presentation at the Illinois Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Annual Conference, Johnson, IA, May 2015.

George Faller, LMFTSacred Stress: A Radically Dif-ferent Approach to Using Life’s Challenges for Positive Change. Co-Author with Rev. Dr. Heather Wright. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing, April 2016.

Dorimar Morales, LCSW“A Systemic-Relational Ap-proach to School Counseling,” Presentation to Social Workers of the New Jersey and Connective Divisions of Effective Schools Solutions, New Jersey, February 2016.

facuLtY pubLicatiOnS anD preSentatiOnS

cOngratuLatiOnS tO thiS Year’S SOciaL wOrk anD DiverSitY prOgraM internS!

This year’s graduating class includes from left to right: Sippio Smalls (Co-Di-rector), Jennifer Rodriguez, Gregg Payne, Monique Evans, Alivia Curl, Laura Lee, Tyrone Carver, and Laurie Kaplan (Co-Director).

Congratulations to all!

The culmination of this internship com-pletes for each of these students their degrees from the School of Social Work at Hunter College, Columbia University, and New York University.

2016 graDuating cLaSS

Arnie AngermanAmy BaumanMiriam DenmarkMika KallnerHope KelaherCassandra RichmondYael SchlengerTara Starin-BasiCourtney Stursberg

Graduation on July 20thCongratulations!

Moving Families Forward Award; and, actor and humanitarian, Jimmy Smits, accepted the Ackerman Leadership

Award.

Board members, Mar-tha Fling and Deborah Werner, co-chaired the successful eve-ning, with Hugh Hilde-sley presiding during the auction, and PIX 11 anchor Tamsen Fadal serving as the evening’s mistress of ceremonies.

2015 Moving Families Forward Gala, continued from page 1

Children, December 2015.

“Working with Families of Color Impacted by Domestic Vio-lence: Creating a Safe Space for Healing,” January 2016.

Keynote Presentation at Culture, Identity and Domestic Violence: A Conference for Foster Care and Preventive Staff sponsored by The Children’s Aid Society’s Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Initiative of the Family Wellness Program, New York, NY, May 2016.

Ellen Wachtel, JD, Ph.D.“The Things They Carried: An Integrative Approach to Working with Legacy Issues in Couple Therapy,” Presentation at Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration,” Dublin, Ireland, June 2016.

“The Heart of Couple Therapy: Knowing What to Do and How to Do It,” Presentation at the Portuguese Association for Cog-nitive Psychotherapy, Lisbon, Portugal, April 2016.

thandiwe Dee Watt-Jones, Ph.D.“Social Location,” Webinar for Family Process, November 2015.

“Invisible Injury Implosions: How Do We Break the Cycle of In-fighting Between/Among People of Color,” Webinar as part of Ken Hardy’s year-long Workshop on Race, June 2015.

Michele Scheinkman (center) with the Faculty of the Ackerman Alumni Institute of Hong Kong

internatiOnaL training: hOng kOng

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016 page 3

Center for the Developing Child and Family

Competent Kids, Caring Communities (CKCC) Has “Aged Down” to Early Childhood!Competent Kids, Caring Commu-nities (CKCC), Ackerman Institute’s social-emotional learning program for elementary-schools, is about to roll out its newly-developed, liter-acy-based early childhood edi-tion. The program is designed to fit seamlessly and organically into early childhood settings through provid-ing 30 “read-aloud” picture books.

newS frOM the centerS anD prOJectS

Each book focuses on a particular so-cial-emotional skill such that, as a whole, the program address all of the five Pre-Kindergar-ten level So-cial-Emotional Common Core Stan-dards: Adaptability; Self-Concept and Self-Awareness; Self-Regulation; Relationships with Others; and Ac-countability.

The stories revolve around the activi-ties and adventures of the seven Gar-den Friends, metaphorical characters developed by CKCC’s brilliant found-er, the late Dr. Marcia Stern. Marcia’s hopeful vision for the children of the world to learn to manage their own emotions and live peaceably with one another guided their production every step of the way!

(continued on page 4)

This last academic year, the Alumni Association featured a series of well-attended lectures with distinguished presenters and timely subjects of interest:

Embracing Difference: Creating Openings for Racial Dialogue in Couple Therapy. Presented by the Ackerman Institute’s Multi-Racial Family Project, Dorimar Morales, Mary Kim Brewster and Keren Ludwig.

Genograms, Time, Loss, Cutoff and Reconnection with Monica McGoldrick.

Talking Race/Racism: Reflections on Having the Conversation with Aquilla Frederick and Frank Wells.

aLuMni LectureS

On June 11, 2016, the Ackerman Team par-ticipated in the NYC Mini 10K in Central Park to raise crucial funds in support of the important work of the Ackerman Institute for the Family. Our team members consisted of our friends, supporters, board members, facul-ty, trainees, and staff.

ackerMan inStitute’S Sixth annuaL Spring cOnference

Held on Friday, May 13, 2016, and entitled, Deepening Clin-ical Practice: Race in Couple and Family Therapy, the an-nual conference was an out-standing success. This year’s groundbreaking conference reached outside the bound-aries of family therapy. The morning plenary featured the sociopolitical commentary of Charles Blow in conversation with family therapy theorist and practitioner, thandiwe Dee Watts-Jones. It was fol-lowed by a presentation of the work of the Multi-Racial Family Project by Dorimar Morales, Mary Kim Brewster, and Keren Ludwig. In the afternoon, renowned Ackerman faculty con-ducted original workshops on how to enhance family therapy practice by bringing the invisible issues of race into the consulting room.

ackerMan teaM

“Truly quality programming. Rarely does a single event im-

press me so deeply. Today was enough to influence

an entire career. Thank you, thank you.”

Anna, MFT Student, Mercy College

Created by Dorimar Morales, the Self of the Faculty Series (SOF) is an informal talk that is meant to bring our community together by blurring the lines between the personal and the professional. Guest faculty members take their colleagues on a journey about their passions, struggles and influences in becoming the individu-als and professionals they are today. Evan Imber-Black kicked off the series last spring, followed by thandiwe Dee Watts-Jones last fall, with Dorimar acting as moderator.

new SerieS: the SeLf Of the facuLtY

Ackerman Team Members:

Back row L-R: Amanda Taselaar, Lois Braverman, Markie Sallick, Debbie Werner, Raysa Romero, Melissa Thoen

Front row L-R: Adriana Londono, Nicole Mak (not shown are Sanam Bamshad, Fran Kotkov and Stasia Parsons)

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016 page 4

Included with the picture books are puppets, feelings cards, and visual aids. Professional development is provided as well. We are also thrilled to be creating audio books which will be available to families, thereby en-abling the skills to be utilized and re-inforced at home. Our neighbors on the third floor, Soundtrack Recording Studio, have generously provided pro bono studio time and editing services and their staff is working closely with CKCC to produce the recordings. In addition, the entire cast of the on-line series “That Reminds Me” has volun-teered to do the readings, and they are doing a wonderful job.

CKCC is currently in the process of recruiting schools and donors for the upcoming school year. For more information, contact Dr. Arlean Wells, CKCC Coordinator: awells@acker-man.org.

Foster Care and Adoption ProjectThe Foster Care and Adoption Project works to create change for children and families involved in the foster care system. To that end, we launched a monthly consultation group for supervisors and adminis-trators of key foster care agencies in New York City, such as the Jewish Board, New Alternatives for Children, Cardinal McKloskey, Bronx Defenders and Casa, who altogether, impact over 365 children in their care. This year alone the Project trained 298 mental health professionals, agency workers, lawyers, judges, and referees working within the foster care system on our systemic-relational, trauma-in-formed approach. Training was pro-vided to lawyers and social workers at Children’s Law Center on the impact of interpersonal and systemic trauma; to judges, referees, social workers and lawyers and two court subcommit-tees, including the Child Protective Advisory Committee and the commit-tee on Adoption/TPR’s. The reactions from these professionals reinforce our belief that training the front line service providers on our model is a powerful way to expand the scope and reach of our clinical approach. The Project provided therapy to 8 families with children involved in the foster care system, and training and on-going supervision to 4 post-grad-

the fierce demand for educational services, training 2,900 educational, health, and mental health profession-als.

GFP’s third annual benefit, A Night of A Thousand Genders, was held at City Winery on April 11, 2016. Alan Cumming, Andrew Solomon, and model Geena Rocero, were the hosts and honorary chairs for the evening. Evening performers included Javier Muñoz (Hamilton), Alex Newell (Glee), and violinist Tona Brown (first openly trans African American performer at Carnegie Hall). GFP reached its fund-raising goal of $250,000! Apart from being a financial success, the night also served as a cherished community gathering for our project families and transgender and gender non-con-forming community members.

An Ally and member of the GFP com-munity, Leo Pawlika, hosted “Pucks for Pride,” at the Ice House in Hack-ensack, NJ. This fundraising event brought together young members of the hockey community in eastern New Jersey to learn more about the crucial, life-saving work of GFP. Pucks for Pride raised more than $13,000, exceeding its initial fundraising goal of $5,000.

For the second year, GFP joins NYC’s LGBT Pride Parade on June 26, 2016, with a float co-sponsored by Bank of America. GFP’s slogan, Pride is for Kids, Too, celebrates the beauty and resilience of gender expansive children, transgender youth and their families.

uate family therapists in a bi-weekly supervision group. We are delighted to report the reunification of children with 2 families as a result of our work.

On June 17, 2016, Catherine Lewis will provide a city-wide training to forty judges on ways to include children in the court hearings that maximize child agency and minimize further trauma-tization as per new state legislation requiring children to be in court for permanency hearings on child pro-tective cases.

The JUSTICE ProjectIn its first operational year, the JUS-TICE Project has focused its efforts on outreach, the development of part-nerships, and conducting a needs assessment to learn more about the structures and policies of the criminal justice system. The Project will begin a tele-therapy program this summer at the New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents at The Osborne Association. Osborne’s tele-visitation program enables children with a par-ent residing at select jails to video visit with their incarcerated parent from Osborne’s Brooklyn offices.

This tele-therapy program promises to be the realization of two of the JUSTICE Project’s key objectives: To develop innovative clinical practices and build collaborative relationships with other organizations serving fami-lies directly impacted by involvement with the criminal justice system. Ac-cording to Osborne staff and in keep-ing with our research, no program like this currently exists for families, one that provides therapeutic support that includes a currently incarcerated family member.

The Justice Project presented its work and facilitated a workshop at the sixth annual Ackerman Institute’s Spring Conference, Deepening Clinical Practice: Race in Couple and Family Therapy, on May 13, 2016.

Gender & Family ProjectThe Gender & Family Project has grown to meet the overwhelming need for services sought by the families of transgender youth and gender expansive children, and over the last year, GFP continued to meet

News from the Centers and Projects, continued from page 3

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016 page 2

Tune in to Acker-man Podcasts. With approximately 22,000 subscribers, we have listeners in the Amer-icas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Listen to insightful interviews with Ackerman facul-ty and visiting mental health professionals exploring issues on Family Therapy. You can find our podcasts at acker-man.podbean.com.

ackerMan pODcaStS

Last February, after the screening of her film, Little White Lie, filmmaker Tracey Schwartz joined faculty mem-bers Evan Imber-Black and Walter Vega in a panel discussion to explore the issues of racial identity and family secrets. More than 60 guests, includ-ing faculty, trainees, alumni, staff and friends attended this enlighten-ing event.

DOcuMentarY Screening

anD DiScuSSiOn

Ackerman Institute for the Family newS upDate Spring 2016 page 5

Guests included members of our Board of Directors, generous donors, faculty, alumni, trainees, and their friends and families.

We honored Board member, Alice Netter, with the Ack-erman Distinguished Service Award, for her dedicated work on the board for more than 28 years.

Former SEC Chairman, William Donaldson accept-ed the Ackerman Partner Award; Author, Jacqueline Woodson received the

bOarD LeaDerShip: intrODucing ackerMan inStitute’S new bOarD MeMberS

Harriet Habert, Managing Director & Director of Mar-keting for Hollis Park Partners. She brings new en-ergy and expertise in the field of finance and marketing. March 2016.

Dan Rocker graduated from the Externship Program in 2015. Prior to earning his MSW from NYC in 2010 and setting up his private practice, Dan had extensive experience in the field of finance. Dan brings his enthu-siasm and volunteer knowledge to our leadership. Sep-tember 2015.

Leslie Roberts graduated from the Externship Program in 2015. Leslie brings a great deal of knowl-edge of the non-profit field from her experi-ence as a volunteer and founder and executive director of Protected Paws. Septem-ber 2015.

Debbie Werner, graduated from the Externship in 2013. So-cial work is a second career for Debbie, and volunteerism a third career. She is not only a board mem-ber (December 2014), but she has taken a leadership posi-tion as the Chair of the Development Committee, and Co-Chair of Acker-man’s annual gala.

Summer Clinical PracticumJune 6 -June 29, 2016

Externship in Emotionally Focused Couples TherapyJune 21 - 24, 2016

Pride is For Kids TooGender & Family Project’s Float in the NYC Pride Pa-radeJune 26, 2016

Personal Best Summer Inten-sive: Adult Development and Sensitive Parenting for At-Risk Families with Young ChildrenJuly 6 - 8, 2016

Bolstering Learning through Building Social-EmotionalCapacities and Fami-ly-School PartnershipsJuly 11 - 14, 2016

Bright Beginnings Summer Intensive: Early Child De-velopment and Parenting ProcessesJuly 18 - 21, 2016

Externship GraduationWednesday, July 20, 2016

Save the DateMoving Families ForwardMonday, October 24, 2016To purchase a table or tick-ets or to make a contribu-tions contact ackermanga-la@buckleyhallevents.com(914) 579-1000

upcOMing eventS

Michele Scheinkman, LCSW“A Multicultural Conversation about Intimacy and Couples Therapy,” All day case consulta-tion and conceptual conversa-tion in Tokyo, Japan, June, 2015.

“Deconstruction Impasses in Couple’s Therapy: A Roadmap for Couples Therapy,” Presen-tation at the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Ackerman Alumni Institute for the Family, Hong Kong, March 2016.

“Working with the Vulnerability Cycle and Multi-Level Approach in Couples Therapy,” Presen-tation at the Counselling and Care Centre, Singapore, March 2016.

Marcia Sheinberg, LCSWPresentation on Relational Trauma to the Israeli Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, Israel, April 2016.

Fiona True, LCSW“Children and Relational Trau-ma” Webinars with The Bouverie Center, Melbourne, Australia, May/June 2015.

“The Relational Trauma of In-cest,” Presentation at the Family Institute of Westchester, White Plains, NY, February 2016.

“Relational Trauma: Working with Youth in the Criminal Justice System”Presentation at Esperan-za, New York, NY, March 2016.

Walter Vega, LCSW“Self-Care: Helping with Healthy Boundaries,” Presentation at NYS-TEACH at Advocates for

Adi Loebl, M.D.“Bridging the Cap: A Cross Disciplinary Discussion About Medicine and Meaning,” Lec-ture and conversation co-pre-sentation with Sarah Berland, LCSW, at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry NY, May 2016.

Lois Braverman, LCSW“Genograms, Birth Order and Family Relationships,” Workshop at the GenSpring Women’s Re-treat, Palm Beach, FL, October 2015.

“Family Therapy with Young Adults with Serious Mental Illness,” Keynote address and workshop at the XXIII Congreso Mexicano de Psicologia, Can-cun, Mexico, October 2015.

“Family Therapy with Young Adults with Serious Mental Illness,” Keynote presentation at the Illinois Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Annual Conference, Johnson, IA, May 2015.

George Faller, LMFTSacred Stress: A Radically Dif-ferent Approach to Using Life’s Challenges for Positive Change. Co-Author with Rev. Dr. Heather Wright. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths Publishing, April 2016.

Dorimar Morales, LCSW“A Systemic-Relational Ap-proach to School Counseling,” Presentation to Social Workers of the New Jersey and Connective Divisions of Effective Schools Solutions, New Jersey, February 2016.

facuLtY pubLicatiOnS anD preSentatiOnS

cOngratuLatiOnS tO thiS Year’S SOciaL wOrk anD DiverSitY prOgraM internS!

This year’s graduating class includes from left to right: Sippio Smalls (Co-Di-rector), Jennifer Rodriguez, Gregg Payne, Monique Evans, Alivia Curl, Laura Lee, Tyrone Carver, and Laurie Kaplan (Co-Director).

Congratulations to all!

The culmination of this internship com-pletes for each of these students their degrees from the School of Social Work at Hunter College, Columbia University, and New York University.

2016 graDuating cLaSS

Arnie AngermanAmy BaumanMiriam DenmarkMika KallnerHope KelaherCassandra RichmondYael SchlengerTara Starin-BasiCourtney Stursberg

Graduation on July 20thCongratulations!

Moving Families Forward Award; and, actor and humanitarian, Jimmy Smits, accepted the Ackerman Leadership

Award.

Board members, Mar-tha Fling and Deborah Werner, co-chaired the successful eve-ning, with Hugh Hilde-sley presiding during the auction, and PIX 11 anchor Tamsen Fadal serving as the evening’s mistress of ceremonies.

2015 Moving Families Forward Gala, continued from page 1

Children, December 2015.

“Working with Families of Color Impacted by Domestic Vio-lence: Creating a Safe Space for Healing,” January 2016.

Keynote Presentation at Culture, Identity and Domestic Violence: A Conference for Foster Care and Preventive Staff sponsored by The Children’s Aid Society’s Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Initiative of the Family Wellness Program, New York, NY, May 2016.

Ellen Wachtel, JD, Ph.D.“The Things They Carried: An Integrative Approach to Working with Legacy Issues in Couple Therapy,” Presentation at Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration,” Dublin, Ireland, June 2016.

“The Heart of Couple Therapy: Knowing What to Do and How to Do It,” Presentation at the Portuguese Association for Cog-nitive Psychotherapy, Lisbon, Portugal, April 2016.

thandiwe Dee Watt-Jones, Ph.D.“Social Location,” Webinar for Family Process, November 2015.

“Invisible Injury Implosions: How Do We Break the Cycle of In-fighting Between/Among People of Color,” Webinar as part of Ken Hardy’s year-long Workshop on Race, June 2015.

Michele Scheinkman (center) with the Faculty of the Ackerman Alumni Institute of Hong Kong

internatiOnaL training: hOng kOng