Faculty

Core Faculty

These faculty members are in charge of making sure the program runs smoothly, and they serve as the primary advisors to the students.

 

 

Teaching Faculty

These are the faculty members that teach the courses in the MSMFT program.

 

 

Clinical Supervising Faculty

These faculty members are group supervisors in charge of students' clinical cases.

 

 

Consulting Faculty

These faculty members augment the MSMFT program by lending their expertise to our students in terms of giving guest lecturers in courses and providing interested students with valuable research opportunities.

 

 

Bios

Douglas C. Breunlin, MSSA, LCSW, LMFT Director of Masters Program in Marriage & Family Therapy

Douglas Breunlin is a clinical professor of Psychology at Northwestern University and holds the McCormick Tribune Foundation Chair in Marriage and Family Therapy. He is Director of the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy Program at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Mr. Breunlin received his master's in social work from Case Western Reserve University. His undergraduate degrees from the University of Notre Dame are in arts and letters and aeronautical engineering.

As Program Director, Mr. Breunlin oversees all aspects of graduate studies in the program, including academic and training design and implementation. He teaches "Methods of Systems Therapy and several lectures in "Basic Concepts of Systems Theory."

 

Mr. Breunlin serves on the editorial boards of Family Process and The Journal of Family Therapy. He is co-author (with Schwartz and MacKune-Karrer) of Metaframeworks: Transcending the Models of Family Therapy; editor of Stages: Patterns of Change Over Time; co-editor of the Handbook of Family Therapy Training and Supervision (with co-editors Liddle and Schwartz). He has written more than 50 articles and conducts workshops nationally and abroad. He has served as secretary, treasurer and board member of the American Family Therapy Academy. He is an Approved Supervisor and Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

 

His professional areas of interest have included family therapy training, the integration of family therapy models, working with school systems and consultation to family businesses. He has made unique contributions to the study of structure and sequences in families and the issue of personal competence within the family life cycle. 

Mr. Breunlin implemented the Peaceable Schools Initiative, designed to personalize a high school environment with the two-fold goal of improving performance of non-traditional learners and reducing school violence. Published studies have documented the efficacy of this program. As Program Director of the Family Business Program, Mr. Breunlin is the principal investigator of a study on the narrative of founders regarding succession. He also spearheads a group who provide consultation to family businesses.

 

Mr. Breunlin has been involved extensively in training marriage and family Therapists. Before joining the Institute, he was Director of Student Unit Training at the Family Institute in Cardiff Wales and was the Director of the Family Systems Program at Chicago's Institute for Juvenile Research. He also consulted for 12 years to Cook County Hospital's Departments of Pediatrics and Family Practice, and has provided consultation to mental health centers, special education programs and residential facilities.

Mr. Breunlin is licensed both as a clinical social worker and a marriage and family therapist and is a certified mediator. His clinical interests include: family business issues; couples; siblings; male development; mediation and conflict resolution; intimacy and sexual problems; marital conflict; long-term marriages; school problems.

 

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Nancy Burgoyne, PhD, LCP

Dr. Burgoyne is a Clinical Lecturer and Core Faculty member in the MSMFT program at The Family Institute. She received a B.A in Human Development from Boston College and a PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology from DePaul University. Her post-graduate work was through The Family Systems Program and the Department of Child Psychiatry at the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Burgoyne is a member of the faculty and teaches "Self and Other Systems: Theory and Interventions". She is also a clinical supervisor for first year students and an individual supervisor for second year students. As both a teacher and supervisor, Dr. Burgoyne seeks to engage students in a thorough assessment of their own beliefs and competencies in order to access, develop and then apply their strengths to clinical work.

 

Dr. Burgoyne is a licensed clinical psychologist with an active private practice. Her clinical interests include: cultural transition, survivors of sexual assault and sexual abuse, intimacy and conflict with couples, especially couples with a history of trauma, and couples with mixed cultural heritage; and adolescent and young adult females and their families.

 

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Anthony Chambers, PhD, LCP

Anthony Chambers, PhD, LCP is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern and is a Staff Licensed Clinical Psychologist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Prof. Chambers received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampton University where he majored in Psychology (with departmental honors) and minored in Chemistry and Mathematics. He completed his M.A. & PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia (Department of Psychology). He completed his internship and post-doctoral clinical residency at Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital, specializing in the treatment of couples. Prof. Chambers also completed the Dr. John J.B. Morgan Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellowship specializing in couples' therapy and psychotherapy research at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.

My Role in the MFT program and Teaching Philosophy


Prof. Chambers is a member of the Core Faculty, Teaching Faculty, and is a Group Supervisor in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at The Family Institute and the Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies at Northwestern University. He teaches the "Family Research" course, and gives guest lectures on various aspects of couples functioning in the "Systemic Assessment", "Cultural Diversity", and "Special Topics" courses. He is also a Group Supervisor for 2nd year graduate MFT students. Finally, Prof. Chambers is one of the faculty members teaching an exciting, innovative undergraduate course at Northwestern University entitled "Marriage 101". Marriage 101 teaches college students about mate selection and about the intricacies of committed, romantic relationships, especially marriage, with the ultimate goal of enhancing relationships and preventing problems.

 

Teaching Objectives

My overarching pedagogical goal is to impart knowledge to students such that they are able to take that knowledge and apply it to future endeavors whether that may be employment or graduate school. To that end, I have several more specific objectives.
1. Improve students' critical thinking in order to be better consumers of information.
2. Make difficult concepts more understandable.
3. Create a classroom environment that facilitates intellectual exchange of ideas.
4. Allow students to feel comfortable in seeking me out for assistance when needed.
5. Improve students' oral and written forms of communication.

 

Role of Teachers

I view the role of the teacher as a multifaceted, symbiotic relationship that is interwoven with the role of the student. First and foremost, I believe that teachers are responsible for providing students with the appropriate materials and information needed to learn. In addition, I believe that teachers need to provide a structure for students that provide the opportunity to increase their knowledgebase, their critical thinking, and their overall intellectual growth (i.e., my teaching objectives). Part of that structure includes facilitating students to take responsibility for their learning which means making myself available to the students, creating a comfortable classroom environment, and bridging the gap between abstract concepts and real life. Whether or not a student takes full advantage of their opportunity is their choice, which highlights the inextricable nature of the student/teacher relationship, but as a teacher I believe it is our job to provide each student with that opportunity for the pursuit of intellectual growth. Finally, I believe that teachers need to show their zeal for their discipline. If the teacher is not enthusiastic about their subject matter, how can we expect our students to be enthusiastic? Hence, I believe it is important for us as pedagogues to do what we can to make our zeal contagious.

 

My Clinical, Scholarly, and Professional Interests and Activities

In addition to conducting couples therapy, Prof. Chambers' clinical interests also include premarital counseling. Prof. Chambers has completed training and is an approved provider in two of the most comprehensive and well respected divorce-prevention/marriage enhancing programs in the world: PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) and PREPARE/ENRICH.

 

Prof. Chambers is the recipient of numerous awards and is the author of several publications, grants, & presentations focused on couples' functioning. He was the principal investigator for a NIH funded study examining minority fathers' reported relationship satisfaction and its impact on the transition into fatherhood. Prof. Chambers has also contributed to the Psychotherapy Change Project at The Family Institute. His current research and writing endeavors include a decade in review for the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy on couple therapy; studying how therapists in training learn how to do systemically oriented psychotherapy; writing about marriage education; and investigating the impact of partner selection on relationship development and functioning. He has a particular interest in understanding the unique factors that explain the disproportionately low marriage rate and high divorce rate among African American couples.

 

His professional activities have included being appointed to the American Psychological Association's Minority Fellowship Program's Initial Grant Review Committee, being appointed to the American Psychological Foundation's Randy Gerson Family Systems Grant Review Committee, reviewing articles for several journals including the Journal of Marriage and Family, and is currently on the Board of Directors for the American Psychological Association's Society for Family Psychology. Prof. Chambers has frequent requests for guest appearances on radio and television programs, and has been interviewed for several national magazines. His media appearances revolve around various issues pertinent to healthy relationship functioning.

 

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Rocco Cimmarusti, PhD
Rocco A. Cimmarusti is the director of Casa Salama, Maryville Academy in Bartlett, Illinois. Casa Salama (House of Safety) is a residential program serving mentally ill, intellectually disabled adolescent females who are wards of the State. Dr. Rocco, as he is called, has been a professional social worker since 1978 and has provided training and consultation to the child welfare field since 1983. He has taught graduate social worker students at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Aurora University and at Dominican University. For five years, he taught graduate family therapy students at The Family Institute, Northwestern University. Prior to that, he taught family therapy for nine years at the Illinois Institute for Juvenile Research (IJR). For twenty years, he was a member of the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Committee on Inquiry, the professional review committee of the social work profession. In 1990, Dr. Cimmarusti wrote the training curriculum for the State of Illinois public child welfare system to train workers in his multi-systems approach to family preservation. He founded the Multi-systems Applied Research and Training program while at IJR and more recently founded Maryville Academy's outpatient therapy clinic. Dr. Cimmarusti has presented numerous times, both locally and nationally, and has published book chapters and articles in refereed journals on truancy, family preservation, culture, formal kinship care, school violence prevention, and the treatment of trauma in residential care settings.

 

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Solomon Cytrynbaum, PhD
Solomon Cytrynbaum is a Professor in the School of Education and Social Policy and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Medical School, Northwestern University. He served as Dean of the School of Education and Social Policy and currently is Associate Director for Graduate Education and Training, the Center for Applied Psychological Family Studies, Family Institute, Northwestern University.

 

Professor Cytrynbaum has published extensively on organizational life and group and intergroup relations. His most recent book, co-edited with Professor Debra Noumair of Columbia University, is entitled "Group Dynamics, Organizational Irrationality and Social Complexity. He currently teaches graduate seminars in dynamic personality theory, group and organizational dynamics and consultation. His current research activities focus on organizational conflict and consultation especially to family-owned businesses. He has also carried out numerous technology, administrative and evaluative studies and consultations in a variety of large school districts, medium and large for-profit businesses, not for-profit organizations and family-owned firms.

 

In his studies of and consultations to school districts, private companies, family-owned businesses and YPO Forums, Professor Cytrynbaum has worked with a wide range of faculty, administrators, executives and business owners as a consultant, evaluator, coach, workshop and retreat facilitator. He has been appointed to the Boards of several educational, mental health and business organizations. He is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and has maintained a private practice in psychotherapy and organizational consultation for over 30 years.

 

Professor Cytrynbaum received his bachelor's degree from McGill University in 1959, his Master's degree from Cornell in 1962 and his Doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1971. He came to Northwestern in 1977 after serving on the faculty of the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Yale University from 1969-1977. He joined the Northwestern faculty with tenure in 1977 and was promoted to his current position as full professor in 1981.

 

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Rita Quinn Dominguez, MSW, LCSW
Rita Quinn Dominguez is a staff therapist at The Family Institute. She is a 1974 graduate of The Family Institute's Postgraduate Training Program in Marriage and Family Therapy and became a supervisor in 1977. Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Dominguez worked at the Doyle Center of Loyola University for over 25 years, in both a clinical and administrative capacity. She is an approved supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). She is a licensed clinical social worker who treats individuals, couples and families, and currently runs several ongoing women's therapy groups. Her clinical interests include gender development, issues regarding conflict and intimacy with couples from a gender informed point of view, and challenges of contemporary family life.

 

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Janet Donnelly London, MSSW, LCSW
Janet Donnelly London is a Group and Individual Supervisor in the MSMFT Program. She received a BS from Cornell University, an MSSW from UW-Madison, and then completed TFI's postgraduate training program in Marriage and Family Therapy in 1980. Prior to starting her private practice in 1990, she worked at the Institute for Juvenile Research for five years and subsequently, at a private medical clinic. She is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) who treats individuals, couples, and families, and is an Approved Supervisor of AAMFT. Her areas of special interest include marital problems, women's issues, families with children, young adults, lesbian and gay relationships, and bilingual (Spanish-English) therapy.

 

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Jackie Elder, PsyD, CADC
Jacqueline Elder, Psy.D., CADC is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and has her doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She is a graduate of The Family Institute's Post Graduate training program in Marriage and Family Therapy, and worked as an Affiliate Therapist in the La Grange Park office of The Family Institute from 2000 through 2009.

 

She has taught full time in higher education, specializing in Substance Abuse counseling, since 1999 and has taught at Triton College, Dominican University, Argosy University and Midwestern University. Her clinical background is in Couple/Family Therapy, Substance Abuse, Harm Reduction, Motivational Interviewing, Community Reinforcement and Family Therapy (CRAFT), and Blended Families. She has been involved in research projects with NIDA and NIH involving Motivational Interviewing and is an expert in the training and coding of the MITI 3.1 Coding System. She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers, where she has trained with Dr. Bill Miller and Dr. Terri Moyers.

 

She has been a Certified Addictions Counselor since 1988 in Illinois, and is a member of NAADAC (the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors). She has provided individual and group supervision for LCPC's in the State of Illinois. She has also worked with the CDC, teaching Motivational Interviewing to outreach workers in Alcohol Reduction/HIV Medication Compliance in Namibia and Tanzania, Africa.

 

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Marina Eovaldi, PhD, LCP, LMFT
Marina Eovaldi is a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist at The Family Institute. She is a clinical lecturer in Northwestern University's Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy Program. Dr. Eovaldi earned her B.A. in Psychology and History from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She later received her master's degree in Educational Psychology and a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University.

 

In the MSMFT Program, Dr. Eovaldi is on the teaching faculty. In congruence with her professional focus, the title of Dr. Eovaldi's course is Child in the Context of the Family. Additionally, she supervises post-graduate Fellows in their 2nd year at The Family Institute. Dr. Eovaldi's teaching and supervision philosophy is collaborative and encourages creating family activities.

Dr. Eovaldi's areas of clinical interest include neurobehavioral, adoptive, and divorcing families. She has written about supervision, working with adoptive families, and developing a middle school program that involved masters-level students. Currently, she is co-authoring a chapter titled "Adoptive Families" in Froma Walsh's book, Normal Family Processes4th edition; the text will include collaboration with Dr. Cheryl Rampage and others at The Family Institute. Additionally, she is writing an article about facilitating change in highly-conflictual divorcing families by focusing their attention on children. She is a member of IAMFT, APA, and AFTA.

 

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Catherine Weigel Foy, MSW, LCSW, LMFT
Catherine Weigel Foy, MSW, LCSW, LMFT, is a Clinical Lecturer in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program, the Graduate School, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, and an affiliate therapist with the Family Institute. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology from DePaul University, Chicago, IL, and her graduate degree in social work from Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of IL at Chicago. She completed post-graduate training in Family Therapy and Family Therapy Supervision at the Family Systems Program, the Institute for Juvenile Research, University of IL at Chicago.

 

A member of the teaching faculty, she teaches Family Therapy Treatment Models in the first year of the MS-MFT Program. A foundation course, Family Therapy Treatment Models stresses the progressive integration of theoretical and practice experiences, accomplished through class discussion, lecture, and written projects.

 

Clinical interests include gender-sensitive issues in therapy, training and supervision, adolescent and young adult problems, adoption issues in therapy, and the mother-daughter relationship across the life-cycle. She has published in the areas of gender issues in supervision, and an integrative approach in supervision. From 1995-1999, she was the Associate Editor of the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy. She holds membership in the American Academy of Family Therapy (AFTA), and is a clinical member and Approved Supervisor in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). She is a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work. From 2000 to 2005, she was a board member on the Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing and Disciplinary Board, the State of Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. She also served as a board director with the Illinois Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and was a board member of the Family Systems Alumni Association, Family Systems Program, and Institute for Juvenile Research.

 

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Greg B. A. Friedman, PhD, LCP
Greg Friedman is a licensed clinical psychologist and a supervisor of practicum training at The Family Institute and a lecturer at Northwestern University. He received his PhD from the University of Nebraska in 1979 and served as a Fellow in the Post-doctoral Training Program in Clinical Psychology at the Menninger Foundation. Since his work as a Fellow, he has held numerous positions at leading mental health facilities throughout Chicago. He was the Director of the Rehabilitation Program (Psychiatry), Extended Ambulatory Care, with the Institute of Psychiatry at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There, he later became the Clinical Leader, Director of Psychological Assessment, and Coordinator of Research. Most recently he was the Director of Psychology at the Rock Creek Center, a psychiatric hospital, and Director of Research and Training at the Rock Creek Center Foundation. Dr. Friedman currently treats adult individuals and couples, and adolescents. His research interests include treatment outcomes and client satisfaction. His clinical interests include depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders, personality disorders, and the stability and their impact on work and relations.

 

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Shayna Goldstein, MSMFT, LMFT
Shayna Goldstein is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.

Ms. Goldstein received her Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies at Indiana University. She then received her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University with extensive clinical training at The Family Institute's Bette D. Harris Family and Child Clinic. Ms. Goldstein then completed two years of advanced training as a Postgraduate Clinical Fellow at The Family Institute and completed the Chicago Training Collaborative certificate program for clinical practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals and their families.

 

Ms. Goldstein is on faculty as a Clinical Lecturer of Psychology at Northwestern University and a Core Faculty member in the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy program at the Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is a 1st Year Group Supervisor and an Individual Supervisor. Ms. Goldstein presents lectures in the MSMFT program on clinical work with LGBT clients. She is a clinical member and Approved Supervisor of The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Ms. Goldstein maintains an active clinical practice specializing in the treatment of couples and individuals. Some areas of clinical interest include: Individual adults and young adult therapy; couple conflict, intimacy and relationship satisfaction; LGBT identity and relationships; life transitions; stress; depression; anxiety.

 

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Al Gurman, PhD
Alan S. Gurman, Ph.D. received his B.A. from Boston University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the University of Wisconsin Department of Psychiatry, he taught on the faculty there for 38 years, serving as Director of Family Therapy Training for over two decades. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry. In addition, he is a Senior Preceptor in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at the University of Wisconsin, focusing on training in couple therapy.

 

Dr. Gurman has published more than 150 articles, chapters and books, including such influential titles as the Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy (4th ed), Essential Psychotherapies:Theory and Practice (3rd ed) (with S. Messer), the Handbook of Family Therapy (with D. Kniskern), The Theory and Practice of Brief Therapy (with S. Budman) and the Clinical Casebook of Couple Therapy. A former two-term Editor of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, he has been a member of the editorial boards of almost twenty journals in the fields of family therapy and clinical psychology. A Past-President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, he has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA) and is a member of the Board of Directors of The Family Process Institute. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association's Divisions of Clinical Psychology, Family Psychology and Psychotherapy and a Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

 

Dr. Gurman has received numerous awards for his contributions to couple and family therapy, including awards for Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Research from AAMFT, Distinguished Achievement in Family Therapy Research from AFTA, and Distinguished Contributions to Family Psychology from the American Psychological Association. The professional recognition he prizes the most is a national teaching award for Excellence in Internship Training from the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers.

 

Dr. Gurman is a pioneer in the development of integrative approaches to couple therapy.

 

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Carl Hampton, MSW, LCSW
Carl Hampton is a licensed clinical social worker at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and a Group Supervisor in the Master of Science Program in Marriage and Family Therapy. He is the former Director of Family Institute Community Outreach Programs, the Coordinator of The Family Institue Community Programs at Evanston Township High School and Weissbourd-Holmes Family Focus, and is a clinical supervisor and faculty member of the MFT Program. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin in 1981 and a master of social work from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985. Mr. Hampton treats adolescents, individuals, couples and families. He has a special interest in working with families around cultural issues. He is also a trained mediator who specializes in family and commercial disputes. Clinical Interests: Eriksonian hypotherapy; mediation; conflict resolution; premarital counseling; sport psychological services.

 

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Carol Jabs, PhD, LCSW, LMFT

Carol Jabs is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed marital and family therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is also a clinical supervisor in Northwestern University's Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy (MSMFT) Program. She received her master's and doctoral degrees in social work from the University of Chicago and is a 1988 graduate of The Family Institute's Two-Year Postgraduate Training Program in Marriage and Family Therapy. Dr. Jabs has trained and practiced in community mental health and hospital settings. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in social work at the University of Chicago and since 1981 has been a faculty member at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois. Dr. Jabs treats individuals, couples, and families, with specific clinical interests in the areas of marital interaction, depression and its impact on significant relationships, and life stage transitions in families.

 

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Jayne Kinsman, MSMFT, LMFT
Ms. Kinsman received her Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a concentration in Business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from Northwestern University. She then completed two years of advanced clinical training in The Family Institute's Postgraduate Clinical Fellowship Program. She was the Chief Fellow in the second year of the program.

 

Ms. Kinsman is a member of both the MSMFT core faculty and the teaching faculty. She co-teaches the Pre-practicum course in the first quarter of the MFT program and has been invited to speak as a guest lecturer in several MFT courses. Ms. Kinsman also provides individual supervision to two MFT students each year. Her philosophy of supervision is founded in the Family Institute Perspective. She works to help her supervisees fully understand how to integrate systemic theory with practice using this integrative perspective.


In her clinical practice, Ms. Kinsman works with couples, families and individuals. Particular areas of interest include couple intimacy and conflict; families with adolescents; school-related issues; LGBT identity and relationships; mindfulness; stress management; depression; loss; trauma; and anger management. She also has extensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Ms. Kinsman is in training to become an approved supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family therapy (AAMFT).


Ms. Kinsman is a clinical member of AAMFT and IAMFT.

 

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David Klow, MSMFT, LMFT
David Klow is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a staff practice psychotherapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. He is a Clinical Lecturer for Northwestern's Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy program and oversees the Group Therapy Program at The Family Institute. He received his Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from The Family Institute at Northwestern University along with extensive clinical training at The Family Institute's Bette D. Harris Family and Child Clinic. He then completed advanced training in The Family Institute Post-Graduate Clinical Fellowship.

 

David is a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at The Family Institute. He teaches the Group Therapy Internship as well as the Professional Identity Seminar. He believes in the power of experiential learning in the classroom, and aims to educate the entire person. David also supervises Master's-level therapists-in-training and focuses on the self of the therapist in supervision.

 

David works with families, couples and individuals, and has created and runs The Men's Group and the Interpersonal Therapy Group. His clinical interests include Men's Issues, personal growth and transitions, meditation, couple intimacy and communication, family transitions, depression and anxiety, anger management, and group therapy. He is a member of The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the American Group Psychotherapy Association.

 

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Lynne Knobloch-Fedders, PhD, LCP
Lynne Knobloch-Fedders is the Director of Research and Kovler Scholar at The Family Institute. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She recently completed her internship in clinical psychology at the University of Notre Dame, where she treated individuals and couples. She also completed the Dr. John J.B. Morgan Fellowship at The Family Institute. In addition to her own research work in the area of depression, she is currently collaborating on The Family Institute's Psychotherapy Change Project. Her clinical interests are: individuals; couples; family therapy with adolescents and adults; premarital counseling; family life-stage transitions; gender issues.

 

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Jay Lebow, PhD, LCP, ABPP, LMFT
Jay Lebow is a Clinical Professor of Psychology in Northwestern University's Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy Program, and leads a practicum group for the doctoral clinical psychology program at Northwestern University. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist, licensed marital and family therapist and research consultant at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.Dr. Lebow received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University and is also a graduate of The Family Institute's training program.


He has maintained a large clinical practice in individual, couple and family therapy for more than thirty years. Dr. Lebow is also involved in ongoing treatment research at The Family Institute concerned with assessing progress in psychotherapy and the development of the Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change.


Dr. Lebow is board certified in Family Psychology, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and its Divisions of Clinical and Family Psychology, a clinical member and an approved supervisor of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, treasurer of the American Family Therapy Academy, past president of The American Psychological Association's Division of Family Psychology, a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Family Psychology, a fellow of the Academy of Family Psychology and a former member of the Board of the Illinois Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.


His publications include three edited volumes: Family Psychology: The Art of the Science (with William Pinsof), The Clinical Handbook of Family Therapy, and the Integrative/Eclectic volume of the Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy. He is also the author of 100 book chapters and articles including an end-of-decade review of couple therapy; the practice update concerned with couple therapy for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy; a chapter reviewing the research literature in family therapy for the Annual Review of Psychology; chapters overviewing couple and family therapy in Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, the Psychologist's Desk Reference, and the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry; as well as numerous articles and chapters dealing with integrative therapy, research in couple and family therapy, and assessment and treatment in divorce when there is conflict over child custody and visitation. He is a contributing editor and writes a regular column on the relation of research to practice for the Family Therapy Networker and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy and Family Process.

 

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Sue Mackey, PhD
Susan K. Mackey, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and marriage/family therapist with 35 years of clinical experience. She earned her B.A. from St. Olaf College with honors in biology and psychology and her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical, developmental psychology from the University of Illinois in Chicago. She has taught and supervised family and couples therapy at both the Institute for Juvenile Research's Family Systems Training Program and at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Before opening her private practice she spent 10 years at The Family Institute where she served as both Director of Clinical Services and Director of Postgraduate Education. She treats individuals, couples and families.

 

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Jennifer McComb, PhD, LMFT
Dr. Jennifer McComb is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is a Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, a faculty member in the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy Program, a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and a Supervisor in Training. Dr. McComb received her Master's degree in Family Relations and Human Development with a specialization in human sexuality from the University of Guelph and received her PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University. Dr. McComb currently maintains a clinical practice, supervises therapists in training, and is actively involved in numerous research projects in the areas of gambling and clinical supervision.

 

She has extensive training in human sexuality/sex therapy and treats individuals and couples with sexuality related concerns. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Jennifer worked in a problem gambling treatment program where she specialized in working with individual, couples and families impacted by problem gambling.


She is the recipient of numerous awards, has authored several publications, and has presented on gambling, sexuality and families at local and national conferences. Dr. McComb treats individuals, couples and families.
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William M. Pinsof, PhD, LCP, ABPP, LMFT, President of The Family Institute
He received his PhD in clinical psychology from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His academic and research work has focused on evaluating the outcome of marriage and family therapy, understanding the process of marriage and family therapy and the integration of different therapeutic approaches for maximal cost effectiveness.

 

His work on psychotherapy integration culminated in the publication, by Basic Books, of Integrative Problem Centered Therapy: A Synthesis of Family, Individual and Biological Therapies (1995). He has also edited four books: the newly-released (2005) volume that he co-edited with Jay Lebow, Family Psychology: The Art of the Science, published by Oxford University Press; a special issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy (1995) that he co-edited with Lyman C. Wynne, dedicated to reviewing all of the controlled research on the outcomes of couple and family therapy; a special issue of Family Process (Vol. 41, No. 2, summer 2002) entitled, "Marriage in the 20th Century in Western Civilization: Trends, Research, Therapy, and Perspectives"; and the classic work he co-edited with Leslie Greenberg The Psychotherapeutic Process: A Research Handbook, (1986) New York: Guilford Press.

 

Additionally, Dr. Pinsof is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. Dr. Pinsof received the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Family Therapy Research Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy in 1996, the Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Theory and Practice Award from the American Family Therapy Academy in 2001, and the 2001 Family Psychologist of the Year from the American Psychological Association Division 43 - Family Psychology.

 

Dr. Pinsof is a licensed clinical psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist as well as an approved supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

 

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Linda Rubinowitz, PhD, LCP, LMFT
Dr. Rubinowitz is a licensed clinical psychologist and a licensed marriage and family therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Psychology Department at Northwestern University and Director of the Postgraduate Clinical Fellowship Program at the Family Institute. Dr. Rubinowitz graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Language Pathology, from National-Louis University with a Master's degree in early childhood/special education and from Northwestern University with a doctorate in Counseling Psychology.

 

Dr. Rubinowitz is on the teaching faculty and is a second year clinical group supervisor in the Marriage and Family therapy Program. She developed and teaches a course in family of origin from a systemic and psychodynamic approach. She is an Approved Supervisor from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. For a decade she was the Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at The Family Institute at Northwestern where she taught multiple courses, provided clinical supervision and administration. Her systemic relational perspective is woven throughout her teaching, supervision and administrative approach.


Clinical interests include stress, depression, anxiety, adult children and parents, midlife and aging issues, health psychology, medical family therapy, grief and loss, gender issues, couple intimacy and conflict, transition to marriage, parenting across the life cycle, and family life cycle transitions.

 

She is a member of the American Family Therapy Association (AFTA), American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, Illinois Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and the American Psychological Association. Dr. Rubinowitz is a media expert with over one hundred citations in national and local media, including The New York Times, US News & World Report, Newsweek, Parenting Magazine, Child, Parents, Working Woman, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, USA Weekend Magazine. Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business, and other local newspapers and magazines. In the area of broadcast journalism she has been featured on NBC Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and did a fourteen part ABC parenting series that aired nationally. She has been a frequent guest on local TV channels and local and national radio shows including National Public Radio.

 

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William P. Russell, MSW, LCSW, LMFT
William Russell is a Senior Staff Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and the Core Faculty Director for the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy (MSMFT) Program at Northwestern University. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the University's Department of Psychology. Mr. Russell graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1972. He received a master's degree in social work from the Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1976. He completed three years of postgraduate training in marital and family therapy and family therapy supervision at the Family Systems Program of the Institute for Juvenile Research.


Mr. Russell has a number of roles in the MSMFT Program. He teaches the Basic Concepts in Systems Therapy and the Special Problems and Populations courses, provides supervision mentoring to AAMFT Supervisor Candidates, and advises students. As Core Faculty Director he works closely with the Program Director on program development and planning, provides leadership to the core faculty, participates in the admissions process, serves on several committees, and chairs the accreditation committee. His clinical practice, teaching, supervision, and core faculty activities are guided by a systemic, integrative and empirically-informed approach. He is a former Program Director of the MSMFT program.


For over thirty years, Mr. Russell has provided clinical services, trained therapists and developed programs. He has worked in academic institutions, community agencies, public schools, private practice, and the Veterans Administration. For many years he was the Director of Community Programs at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. In this role he developed, supervised and administered a network of twelve community-based mental health programs for economically disadvantaged families. Over the years he has taught and supervised systemic, integrative psychotherapy in several contexts, with past faculty appointments at The School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, the Family Systems Program of the Institute for Juvenile Research, and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago.


Mr. Russell is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist. He is a Clinical Member and an Approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, a Member of the American Family Therapy Academy, and a Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work. His clinical interests include couples, adolescent adjustment, men's issues, post-traumatic stress disorder, veterans' readjustment, chemical dependency, loss, depression, and life cycle/relationship transitions. He has published articles on a therapeutic school for adolescents with behavior disorders and family therapy with adolescents. He has given many presentations on his clinical interests, most recently on the readjustment challenges faced by veterans and their families. He is co-author, with Pinsof, Breunlin and Lebow, of articles on the Family Institute Perspective, a systemic and empirically-informed approach to integrative psychotherapy practice.

 

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Constance Sheehan, MSW, LCSW
Connie has a Masters in Social Work, NYU; Doctoral Program (ABD) Loyola University; International Trauma Studies Program, NYU; Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Fellowship Program, Bronx VA; Ackerman Foundation in Family Therapy; Clinical Training in Mind/Body Medicine & Positive Psychology, Harvard Medical School; Interpersonal Neurobiology Certification at Mindsight Institute

She is a member of the teaching faculty as she teaches the Sex Therapy course and the Family of Origin and Intrapsychic course from a Systems Perspective

 

Constance is trained in Mindful Based Stress Reduction and is a certified yoga instructor. She has had a long-standing interest in yoga and it's integration in psychotherapeutic approaches. She is currently completing doctoral studies at Loyola University Chicago focusing on mind/body approaches in the clinical field.

 

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Tamara Sher, PhD

Dr. Tamara Sher is a licensed clinical psychologist and Vice President for Research at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She maintains an active clinical practice specializing in the treatment of couples and individuals. Dr. Sher is a health psychologist which means that she includes couples where one member has a medical illness and individuals with medical issues as particular areas of expertise.

 

Dr. Sher received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989. She completed her internship training at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago where she then served on the medical school faculty for seven years. She was also the head of the health psychology track of the internship program at Rush and Director of the Couples and Health program there.

 

In 1994, Dr. Sher moved to Illinois Institute of Technology where she progressed from Assistant Professor to Full Professor and Director of Clinical Training over the 17 years that she worked there.

 

Dr. Sher moved to The Family Institute in 2011 to take over the position of Vice President of Research and to move her private practice to The Family Institute.

 

Dr. Sher is the author of dozens of research publications, a co-editor of a book published by the American Psychological Association (The Psychology of Couples and Illness) and serves on the editorial boards of Health Psychology and Journal of Family Therapy.

 

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Alexandra Hambright Solomon, PhD, LCP
Alexandra H. Solomon, PhD, LCP is an Assistant Clinical Professor and a Staff Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. Solomon received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies, and graduated with High Distinction and with High Honors in Psychology from the University of Michigan. She then received her PhD in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University in 2001 as well as a graduate certificate in Gender Studies. During graduate school, she was awarded the Dr. John J.B. Morgan Fellowship and worked at The Family Institute as a research and clinical fellow.

Dr. Solomon is a member of the teaching faculty where she teaches two courses in the Masters of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy program: Systemic Assessment and Intimate Relations. Systemic Assessment is a first year course which introduces students to the DSM-IV-TR while encouraging them to struggle with the interfaces of individual psychopathology and relational patterns. Intimate Relations is the MSMFT program's couple therapy course, teaching students about love, intimacy, and commitment, as well as preparing them to work competently with couples in the treatment room.

 

Dr. Solomon's clinical work has focused on couples and families, including especially families with special needs children, and those coping with family business issues. She was a central investigator in TFI's Family Business Project. Dr. Solomon has published a number of articles, most recently about parenting children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). She has presented nationally on this subject as well. She presents to a variety of audiences and consults to the media on topics related to marriage and family. Dr. Solomon is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA).

 

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David E. Taussig, MSW, LCSW, LMFT
David Taussig received his B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois in 1972. He received his masters degree in Clinical Social Work from Smith College School of Social Work in 1983. A 1992 graduate of The Family Institute's Postgraduate Training Program in Marriage and Family Therapy, he also completed its two-year Supervision Program in 1995. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an Approved Supervisor with the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work.

 

Mr. Taussig is a Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University. He is a staff therapist at The Family Institute since 1998. Prior to joining The Family Institute staff, Mr. Taussig was the Director of Family and Social Services at the Rock Creek Center, a psychiatric hospital in Lemont, Illinois.

 

Mr. Taussig is a Core Faculty member in the MSMFT program. He is the Coordinator of Group Supervisors in the MSMFT program. Additionally, he is a Second Year Group Supervisor. His other Core Faculty responsibilities include teaching and mentoring supervisors in the MSMFT program. Mr. Taussig's supervision philosophy is grounded in The Family Institute Perspective.

 

Mr. Taussig currently practices family, couple and individual psychotherapy in the Lagrange, Naperville and Evanston offices of The Family Institute. His areas of special interest are couples, divorce and post-divorce issues, families with adolescent/adult children, families with severe/chronic mental illness, and men's separation/divorce issues.

 

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Maru Torres-Gregory, M.S., LMFT
Maru Torres-Gregory, J.D., M.S., LMFT is a Group Supervisor and Staff Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Maru received her Bachelor of Science in Languages and Linguistics from Georgetown University with a Double Major in French and Portuguese, her Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, and her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from Nova Southeastern University. She is currently working on her dissertation toward the completion of her PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy from Nova Southeastern University. Maru completed clinical internships at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, The Brief Therapy Institute, and at the Fort Lauderdale Hospital, Child and Adolescent Unit, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

 

Ms. Torres-Gregory is a member of the teaching faculty where she teaches the Human Development course and is a group supervisor. She has also supervised therapists in training individually and in community settings.

 

Ms. Torres-Gregory has clinical experience in diverse settings: private practice, in-patient, and community, and has facilitated both therapeutic and support groups. In addition, she has lectured on various topics such as coaching parents through their children's emotional breakdowns, diversity sensitivity training, working in community settings with culturally diverse populations, and in the clinical application of the ‘cultural metaframework'.

 

Ms. Torres-Gregory is a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and is working toward earning its Approved Supervisor Status. Her clinical interests and experience include working with couples, adolescent girls, adult women and men, and families, in issues such as marital conflict, women's issues, body and self-image, disordered eating, self-harm, and relationship issues in general. Prior to becoming a therapist, Ms. Torres-Gregory practiced as an attorney for five years.

 

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Janice Witzel , PhD, LCPC
Janice Witzel, PhD, LCPC is a clinical supervisor at The Family Institute for graduate students in both the Marriage and Family Therapy, and Counseling Psychology master's programs. Dr. Witzel graduated from Roosevelt University, Psychology, BA, MA, and earned her PhD from Northwestern University. She has been in private practice for the past 30 years, and spent 14 of those years directing a Family Therapy Program for the City of Chicago Department of Mental Health. Dr. Witzel works with couples and individual adults dealing with issues of life transitions, relational challenges, anxiety and depression with a particular interest in the population of unmarried adults, as her dissertation would suggest: "Lives of Never-Married Women: Myths and Realities". Dr. Witzel sees clients in downtown and north Chicago.

 

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Richard E. Zinbarg, PhD, LCP
Richard E. Zinbarg is a Professor in Psychology and Director of Clinical Psychology Training at Northwestern University, and a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of anxiety and panic disorders. He is the Patricia M. Nielsen Research Chair and co-director of the Anxiety and Panic Treatment Program at The Family Institute. He received his PhD from Northwestern University in 1989. He also directed the Oregon Program for Anxiety Study and Treatment at the University of Oregon. For the past 15 years he has published and presented extensively on anxiety disorders. He recently received a 5-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health through the Northwestern University Psychology Department to study predictors of risk for anxiety disorders and major depression starting at high school age. He plans to use this research to design a program to prevent the development of these problems among those identified as being at high risk. His clinical interests include individual adults and adolescents with anxiety, panic and depression.

 

Dr. Zinbarg's research Interests include the study of personality traits that might act as vulnerability factors to the development of anxiety disorders including the cognitive and affective processes that might mediate these associations; psychotherapy for anxiety disorders with a main focus currently on generalized anxiety disorder; associations between anxiety disorders and couple functioning including the impact of couple functioning on the outcome of psychotherapy for anxiety disorders; the structure and measurement of anxiety and related affects; measurement and psychometric theory.

 

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