Jay Lebow is a Clinical Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University known for his contributions to the field of MFT and his work with high-conflict divorce. In this episode, he talks about assessment, offering communication structure and rules for couples while navigating messy divorce, and the importance of establishing a safe environment for all parties to move forward. Understanding the legal system, and self of therapist characteristics needed to manage the high conflict interface are also discussed.

John and Julie Gottman are the co-founders of The Gottman Institute, a research-based approach to relationships and marital stability. The world-renowned Gottman Method combines John’s research with the application of Julie’s clinical work with couples. In this episode, they share the origins of the method, stories from their decades of work, and personal anecdotes from their marriage and professional collaboration.

Dr. Andy Christensen is a professor of psychology at UCLA and the co-developer of integrated couples behavior therapy (ICBT). He has spent his career researching the effectiveness of evidence-based treatment for couples in distress. In this episode, Dr. Christensen discusses acceptance and tolerance techniques, the empirical support for the model, and a new online ICBT program for couples.

Jackie Williams-Reade is an associate professor at Loma Linda University and a therapist, researcher, trainer, and speaker. In this episode, she discusses integrating spirituality into practice, defining religion versus spirituality, and normalizing these conversations in the classroom to become more comfortable with them in the therapy room. She talks through helping a client build spiritual resources when your own are low and recommends training and resources for integrating spirituality and a biopsychosocial-spiritual lens into your practice.

Stefanie Frank, JD, former legal counsel for AAMFT, discusses common questions, gray areas, and ethical dilemmas about interfacing with the legal system as a systemic family therapist. She covers a wide berth of topics including best practices for expert witnesses, responding to subpoenas, HIPAA compliance, notetaking, and privilege, and termination as part of ethical practice.

Patricia Papernow is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on blended families. In this episode, she discusses what has and hasn’t changed over her four decades of researching and working with blended families. Dr. Papernow provides practical insight for couples, co-parenting, and integrating children into stepfamily dynamics.

This panel of LMFTs shares their perspectives in the classroom and beyond on healing from racial trauma. They discuss how to help Black clients and people of color name and understand symptoms and lived realities as historical, racial trauma, how systemic thinking can bridge the connection between dysfunction and healing, and how all people are racialized beings with internalized narratives. As academics, they talk about their approach to teaching, the importance of stating their social location, and how to create space to work towards dismantling a racialized system.

Froma Walsh is an internationally respected leader in the field of MFT and the foremost authority on family resilience, developing a resilience-oriented, community-based approach to strengthen families in crisis. Go behind the model in this episode and learn about Dr. Walsh’s journey from the Peace Corps in Morocco, to finding a home in family therapy, to forming her resilience practice around lived experiences.

Kathleen Laundy, PsyD, LMFT has over 40 years’ experience in private practice and the collaborative educational system. She is the chair of the MFTs in Schools Topical Interest Network and is involved in the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling. She discusses how systemic thinking has grown in school systems and how MFTs can produce effective change in schools.

Jill and David Scharff are the founders of the International Psychotherapy Institute and collaborators on many books, most notably Object Relations Couple Therapy. They take us on the journey through their early careers, developing the object relations therapy technique and how it should be integrated into MFT training, starting the IPI, and what has driven them through their decades of work.