From Family Patterns to Differentiation:  Exploring Bowen Theory’s Multigenerational Transmission Process in Clinical Practice 

Priscilla Friesen, LICSW 

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Viewing Generations of a Family as a System: What Difference Does it Make?

Anne S. McKnight, EdD, LCSW

Friday, March 13, 2026 *Online – #3 of the Clinical Conference Package

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Relating Without Fixing: An Approach to Parenting and Grandparenting
February 6, 2026 10:30 am to 3:30 pm ET Online

Register now for the Bowen Center's Faith Leadership Conference in 2026!Life in a congregation is one of relationships. How are we to live in those relationships so that each person may grow into their fullness? How are we to live as peers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and as children ourselves? This conference will look at relationships with an eye towards a thoughtful presence. 

We will begin the day with a brief introduction to Bowen theory, focusing especially on the relationship between generations. We will venture to traditional villages for a view of relationships and explore some of the challenges to the generations in our own culture. 

Dr. Jenny Brown will join us from Australia as keynote guest speaker. Author of Growing Yourself Up: How to Bring Your Best to All of Life’s Relationships, she will draw on decades of experience in child and family mental health. Dr. Brown writes, “Bowen family systems theory offers a surprising perspective: families find more steadiness and resilience not by fixing others, but by cultivating differentiation and learning to respond thoughtfully in the face of tension.” 

This conference is open to all, especially those involved in congregational life in any faith tradition, and to those who teach Bowen theory.

The Effort in Family and its Impact Upon Workplace Effectiveness

Kenton Derstine, MDiv, DMin

Friday, January 16, 2026 *Online – #2 of the Clinical Conference Package 

This conference will explore the idea that the effort for differentiation of self in one's family contributes to enhanced functioning in the workplace. Awareness of the emotional and relationship patterns across preceding generations can inform the effort to become a more connected and responsible self in one's family as well as the workplace. In addition to exploring key theoretical elements, a clinical interview will be shown to illustrate the interplay between the effort in one’s family and in one’s work. 

Mistakes Made Lessons Learned: Applying Bowen Theory to Family Business and Families of Wealth

Kathleen Wiseman, MBA

Friday, December 5, 2025 *Online via Zoom – #1 of the Clinical Conference Package 

This Clinical Conference provides an opportunity to listen and learn from two consultants' experience. One consultant founded and grew her own firm and the other has joined a well-established institution. Both have deep experience and knowledge of Bowen Theory as the theoretical foundation of their professional career.  

 What are the advantages of having a theoretical framework to guide one's professional interactions?  What have they learned over the years and how did mistakes provide valuable and impactful learning?  What questions remain? What situations have been the most challenging and what are the resources they use to continue their learning? 

The conference day provides a maximum of 2.75 hours of Category I continuing education credit for social workers and for counselors. Please note- a separate registration is required for CEs. Please read our CE policy for our Clinical Conference Series.

*Hybrid

In-Person Venue: The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital: 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.

OR Online via Zoom

How the Clinician Thinks

Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW and Randall T. Frost, MDiv

The clinical process has often been called an art. While there is some truth to that assertion, it might actually be more accurate to call the process a science.  If the term science can be defined as a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject, then the Bowen theory coach operates scientifically. Drawing upon their knowledge about how the family system operates, on information drawn from scientific research across a number of disciplines, and on the inductive and deductive reasoning of the scientific thinker, the coach becomes a scientist who applies knowledge derived from the processes of science to specific problems people encounter. This clinical conference will focus on how the clinician thinks and the science of coaching. 

This will be an online conference held via Zoom.

Online via Zoom

Research in the Bowen Center Clinic

John Millikin, PhD, LMFT

Bowen Center Clinic has begun to use a structured framework as a guide to both the clinical process and training of coaches for research purposes. This conference will highlight beginning findings of the research process of clinical cases and explore questions such as the relationship between beginning evaluations and steps towards better functioning, the importance of tracking the coach’s functioning, and the function of if/then predictions. Other topics such as differences between non-research-oriented coaching and research coaching, and methodologies relevant to Bowen theory will be discussed.

*Hybrid

In-Person Venue: The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital: 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.

OR Online via Zoom

Solid Self and a Gay Man's Identity

Kent Webb, LCSW, PCC

This presentation and the clinical cases shown will identify and illustrate the process of a gay man’s identity formation. Specifically, the process will be viewed from evolutionary, ecological, and Bowen theory perspectives. A description of how one lives life with a gay identity that automatically is impacted by the concept of differentiation and the corresponding construct of solid self—pseudo-self formation is provided.

Online via Zoom

Differentiation of Self and Clergy Life

Jennifer Long, MDiv

What difference does work on differentiation of self make in the functioning of an individual or organization over time? Does that work impact a faith leader’s work in the faith community? Is differentiation of self the same in the family and faith community? Does the work on self in one area transfer or translate to the other? This conference will explore these questions in the life of one clergy member. It will look at the work of differentiation and the impact in two groups, family and congregation.

Save the date for the Bowen Center's February 7, 2025 Faith Leadership Conference!

From Characters to Congregations: Windows into Self and Others
~An online conference on Bowen theory and congregational life~

Bringing Bowen theory to congregational and scriptural narratives will be the focus of this conference. We pattern our understandings by forming stories that account for our behavior and functioning. The narratives of the Hebrew scriptures are one example of this, as are stories of congregational life. This conference will bring a Bowen theory framing to the narratives as a way of learning to think Bowen theory. 

Watch the newsletter for updates on the conference website page, registration, CEs, the conference schedule, and more!

The conference day provides Category I continuing education credit for social workers and counselors.

Online via Zoom

The Impact of Cutoff Across Generations

Anne McKnight, EdD, LCSW 

Cutoff, one of eight concepts in Bowen theory, addresses the management of tension in families through severing contact or maintaining superficial relationships. This day will explore several dimensions of cutoff in a power point presentation, including its impact across generations by limiting an individual’s access to resources, relationships, and information about the extended family.  Two individual’s efforts to work on differentiation through bridging cutoffs in their families will be discussed in videotaped interviews.

Online via Zoom

A Research Attitude in Clinical Practice

Laura Brooks, LCSW-C

What is a research attitude and what difference does it make to the client and the coach? This presentation will examine manifestations of a research attitude in a psychotherapeutic effort towards differentiation. Client interviews will highlight behavioral indicators of family of origin work and progress towards working on differentiation. 

*Hybrid

In-Person Venue: The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital: 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003.

OR Online via Zoom

How the Clinician Thinks

Daniel V. Papero, PhD, LCSW and Randall T. Frost, MDiv

The clinical process has often been called an art. While there is some truth to that assertion, it might actually be more accurate to call the process a science.  If the term science can be defined as a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject, then the Bowen theory coach operates scientifically. Drawing upon their knowledge about how the family system operates, on information drawn from scientific research across a number of disciplines, and on the inductive and deductive reasoning of the scientific thinker, the coach becomes a scientist who applies knowledge derived from the processes of science to specific problems people encounter. This clinical conference will focus on how the clinician thinks and the science of coaching. 

This will be an online conference held via Zoom.

This is a hybrid conference, with limited in-person seating, and unlimited online tickets. In-person tickets are on a first-come-first-served basis. When registering, participants will be prompted to select in-person or online. Attendance details will be emailed upon registration.

Presenter: Douglas C. Murphy, MA, LCMFT

Family of Origin Work: The myths, the facts and the real-lift story…

This writer’s recent research into Dr. Bowen’s archival papers revealed the importance that Dr. Bowen placed on one’s family of origin work. His own words about family of origin work from the archives will be presented to delve further into what Bowen meant by family of origin work. Individuals interpret Bowen’s concept family of origin work in many ways. Bowen would say you “hear” or interpret what the construct means based on your level of differentiation of self.  

Presenter: Randall T. Frost, MDiv

Faith and Functioning

Murray Bowen stated that his theory of family systems is based on facts and facts alone.  Can facts be observed in how faith functions among different families, individuals, and communities of faith?  What may Bowen theory contribute to those who seek to function according to the ideals of the best of their religious traditions? 

This meeting will build on the two-day conference that precedes it.  The conference will include videotaped interviews with people from two different families for whom both religious faith and Bowen theory have been important.   

Presenter: Jake Morrill, MDiv, MA

Clinically Deft": Play and Anxiety in a Coaching Session

Effective coaching can interrupt the client's self-sustaining and unproductive patterns of thought, as well as interrupting the automatic processes in the relationship. One approach to such interruption is the clinical use of strategic playfulness. Across species, social play functions in part to develop the capacity to countenance ambiguity, complexity, and uncertainty, and to manage one's own anxiety. This Clinical Conference will engage attendees in reflection on the potential, and risks, of the clinical use of play. 

Presenter: Robert J. Noone, PhD

Bowen theory Development and Psychology

Murray Bowen developed a new formal theory of the family and human behavior. The theory was based on his observations, experiments, and conceptualizations along with a survey of the scientific literature while he was at the Menninger Foundation, NIMH, and Georgetown University. His research went hand-in-glove with the practice of psychotherapy. In this clinical conference the effort to move toward science and a theory-based family systems psychotherapy will be discussed. A brief description of one of Bowen’s experiments will be included. 

Presenter: Amie Post, MS, LCMFT

Tango Through Transitions with the Thinking Bowen theory Provides

Life is full of transitions - from single to partnered, additions of new family members, losses of important relationships, changes in work and community. Conventional theory would consider the external stressors and invite taking time for self, connection with caring others and perhaps even cutting out the changes that are too much. Bowen theory helps us think beyond a one size fits all set of solutions. This clinical conference will consider the variation in response to life transition and explore how differentiation of self provides a way of thinking about how to navigate with increased flexibility and resiliency.  

Presenter: Daniel Papero, PhD

Triangle Theory in Family Psychotherapy

The process of family psychotherapy aims to assist a motivated family member shift functioning within a significant family triangle.  If that triangle can attain a higher level of differentiated functioning, the effects ripple through the entire family emotional system.  This clinical day will explore the theory of the triangle and its role in the clinical process. 

Cutoff, estrangement, and going no contact is something therapists and clinicians hear their clients talking about on a regular basis. How does cutoff affect a family long term? What difference does it make to look at cutoff through a systems thinking lens? These are some of the questions that will be discussed in the conference. During this day leaders in family systems will share their thoughts and knowledge about cutoff and other concepts in Bowen Theory.

The Bowen Center’s Fall Fundamentals Conference provides background on family systems thinking related to a topic of current interest to therapists in clinical practice. This will be a hybrid conference held at the University of the District of Columbia and via Zoom.

The Bowen Center’s Fall Fundamentals Conference provides background on family systems thinking related to a topic of current interest to therapists in clinical practice. This will be a hybrid conference held at the University of the District of Columbia and via Zoom

Presenter: Douglas C. Murphy, MA, LCMFT

Clients Engagement with Bowen Family Systems theory

Clients referred to clinicians who utilize Bowen Family Systems Theory as the basis for their theoretical approach encounter a way of thinking and proceeding in understanding and engaging their difficulties that is often unfamiliar to their conceptualizations of “psychotherapy” or “counseling.” This Clinical Conference will explore these encounters.