Crossing Cultural Bridges Hope and Healing

Conferences made possible through a grant from the NJ Dept. of Human Services, Div. of Mental Health Services, Office of Multicultural Services

Learning Objectives for Conference

  1. To Examine Cultural Beliefs, Values and Characteristics that are relevant to clinicians and their clients
  2. 2. To Identify Processes to Bridge Inter-Cultural Divides
  3. 3. To Assess Families Using a Contextual Life Cycle Framework
  4. 4. To Explore Cultural Traditions and Healing Practices that focus on Strengths, Hope, and Resilience

Conference Schedule - Friday, April 13, 2007

9:00 Introductory Remarks From Conference Co-Sponsors Nydia Garcia Preto, Monica McGoldrick, Sharon Eaton, Paulette Moore Hines
Special WelcomeKevin Martone, LSW, Assistant Commissioner of Michele Jackson, MA, Director, Office of Multicultural Mental Health, Department of Human Services 9:30 Keynote
Linking Lives: From Stories of Sense of Justice: Angela Yuen
Moderator: Jayne Mahboubi
10:00 Q&A and Discussion
10:15 Bridging Intercultural Divides:
Deepening the Conversation Through Film Gonzalo Bacigalupe, David Trimble, Jodie Kliman, Roxana Llerena-Quinn, and Hugo Kamya
Moderator: Jay King

Using film clips, the Boston Institute for Culturally Accountable Practices (BICAP) team will engage participants in reflecting on the political and the personal in clinical work. Moving toward multicultural dialogues, the workshop will examine various processes that help clinicians to understand and bridge intercultural divides.


 10:45 Break
10:45 Reflection Groups on Deepening the Conversation Through Film: Leaders
  1. Makungu Akinyela & Roxana Quinn
  2. Gonzalo Bacigalupe & Debby Richman
  3. Nancy Boyd Franklin & Peter Fraenkel
  4. Debra Chatman-Finley & Mary Anna Ham
  5. Karen Hererra & Jodie Kliman
  6. Paulette Hines & Glenn Wolf
  7. Vanessa Jackson & Sam Cruz
  8. Hugo Kamya & Hinda Winawer
  9. Kyle Killian & Elaine Pinderhughes
  10. Jay King & Joanne Klages
  11. JoAnn Krestan & Jayne Mahboubi
  12. Robin La Due & Josiane Menos
  13. John Lawless & Vanessa Mahmoud
  14. Robbin Loonan & Marlene Watson
  15. David McGill & CharlesEtta Sutton
  16. Marsha Mirkin & Fernando Colon
  17. Matthew Mock & Barbara Petkov
  18. Eleanor Nealy & Salome Raheim
  19. Maria Root & Corinthia Cohen
  20. Joan Marsh Schlesinger & David Trimble
  21. Tazuko Shibusawa & Angela Yuen
  22. Darielle Watts-Jones & David Wohlsifer
12:00 Reflection Groups Discussion
12:30 Lunch
12:30 Lunch Round Tables (12 per group)
  1. “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?” God Bless the Child Who Has His Own: Corinthia Cohen and Debra Chatman- Finley
  2. Can White Men Build Cultural Bridges?: John Lawless, Kyle Killian, and David McGill
  3. Sex and Culture: Robbin Loonan and David Wohlsifer.
  4. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: Elaine Pinderhughes and Vanessa Mahmoud
  5. Interracial Couples: Maria Root, Jayne Mahboubi, and Karen Herrera
  6. Working with Asian Families: Tazuko Shibusawa, MaryAnna Domokos-Chen Ham, and Matthew Mock
  7. Mental Illness in the Family: Honoring Our Experiences as Therapists Affected by Mental Illness In Their Families: Marsha Mirkin, Vanessa Jackson, and Fernando Colon
  8. Cultural Healing Practices: Sam Cruz and Makungu Akinyela
  9. Working with Immigrant Families: Roxana Llerena-Quinn, Josiane Menos, and Gliceria Perez
  10. Working with LGBT Youth and Families: Eleanor Nealy and Joanne Klages
  11. Antidotes to the “Crazy-Making” of Oppression: Darielle Watts-Jones and Marlene Watson
  12. Culture and Alcohol Problems: JoAnn Krestan
  13. Native Healing Practices: CharlesEtta Sutton, Robin La Due, and Glenn Wolf
  14. Using Film in Teaching: Gonzalo Bacigalupe, Jodie Kliman, David Trimble, and Jay King
  15. Collaborative Approaches to Working with Poor Families: Peter Fraenkel
2:00 Healing Practices: From Margin To Center: From Trauma to Hope and Healing Moderator: CharleEtta Sutton
Racism, Poverty and the Psychological Trauma of Katrina: The Need for Healing: Lessons of Katrina: Nancy Boyd Franklin. This presentation will explore issues of race, racism, poverty and trauma: lessons derived from the Katrina experience for mental health professionals.
2:30 Coyote Returns: Bridging the Gap from There to Here Robin La Due

This presentation is a brief overview of native traditions and the value of the last vestiges of cultural healing. Cultural healing, in Native communities, takes place at the individual level, the familial level and the community level. It relies on traditions passed from generation to generation. In communities where these traditions are still present, mental health issues are less and community connections are stronger.


2:50 Healing in Santeria: Sam Cruz

Most cultural traditions have some form of healing practices and beliefs.
These may be scientific and/or spiritual - religious in nature. All too often, the healing practices that are not widely accepted by those at the center of power and cultural dominance have been either ignored or pejoratively relegated, being considered relics of the pre-modern society. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of Santeria’s understanding of the self, society and cosmos in interaction with notions of well being, healing and wholeness.


3:10 Reiki and Family Therapy: Maria Root

This presentation offers two very different, but not mutually exclusive ways of thinking about family relations and how people carry functional and dysfunctional family of origin issues with them. General concepts of family systems thinking will be contrasted with a system of energy centers based upon the seven chakras of the body which guide Reiki treatment. Both are relational systems based upon very different conceptual systems of west and east; together they can enhance understanding symptoms and facilitate a release from family of origin issues.


3:30 Break
3:45 Everything is Everything: Africentric Approaches to Healing and Self Healing: Makungu Akinyela

This presentation will introduce participants to ideas and practices of mental health grounded in the history, cultures, knowledge and experiences of African peoples. We will explore the relationship between the person, and the community and Africentric philosophies of wholism and the energetic connection between people. We will focus particularly on how this can be applied in therapeutic relationships between therapists and their clients.


4:05 Q&A and Discussion of Healing Practices
4:40 Special Celebration of ELAINE PINDERHUGHES! Moderator: Vanessa Jackson

Saturday, April 14, 2007

9:00 Keynote: Salome Raheim: Racism Notwithstanding: The Power of Song Moderator: Paulette Moore Hines

For Dr. Salome Raheim, the songs of her ancestors, of her generation and of young people today are sources of connection and tools for constructing powerful individual and collective identities, despite racism and other forms of oppression. Taking a historical approach, Dr. Raheim will look at how songs can link us to our past, to each other and to a vision of a just future.


9:30 Question and Answer Session
9:45 Panel: Rethinking the Family- (Thoughts: “Fictive” kin, godchildren, reformulation in migration, life cycle) Moderator: Ken Hardy
Vanessa Mahmoud: The Changing Face of Marriage
Marlene Watson: Gender, Race, and Relationships

10:45 Break
11:00 Panel Continued: Ray Carannante: Reframing the Family Tree: Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Clients to Define, Create and Maintain Family.
Tazuko Shibusawa: Rethinking the Family: The Complexities of Intergenerational families and Migration

12:00 Reflection Groups over Lunch (Same Facilitators as on Day 1):
1:15 Reflection Group Discussions
1:45 Healing Through Metaphor: A Case Example
Moderators: Nydia Garcia Preto and Monica McGoldrick
Case: Gliceria Perez
Discussants: Hinda Winawer, Matthew Mock, Eleanor Nealy, and Debra Chatman-Finley
3:30 Break
3:45 Large Group Discussion
Moderator: Ken Hardy
4:30 Closing Ritual
Moderator: Glenn Wolf
5:00 End of Conference. See you Next Year: April 4-5, 2008

Participating Faculty

Makungu Akinyela, PhD, Founder of the Family Center of South Dekalb in Decatur, Georgia, and Associate Professor at Georgia State University, Department of African American Studies.

Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD, Associate Professor, Graduate College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Nancy Boyd Franklin, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University.

Ray Carannante, LCSW, Associate Director of Center CARE at the NYC Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center and Program Coordinator of the center’s Gender Identity Project (GIP).

Debra Chatman-Finley, MA, DVS, LPC, Alumna & Associate Faculty, MFI, Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Domestic Violence Specialist, & in Private Practice in Somerville, NJ.

Corinthia Cohen, APRN, BC, LMFT, Child Extended Care Services, University Behavioral HealthCare at UMDNJ, Newark.

Fernando Colon, PhD, Faculty, Ann Arbor Center for the Family, Consultant, Author, Family Therapist, Ann Arbor, MI.

Sam Cruz, PhD, Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Brooklyn; Lecturer, Latino and Hispanic Carribean Studies, Rutgers University.

Sharon Eaton, MSN, RN, C, Program Coordinator for Training and Consultation Resources of UBHC at UMDNJ.

Peter Fraenkel, PhD, Director, Center for Time, Work and the Family, Ackerman Institute for the Family; Associate Professor, Clinical Psychology, City University of New York.

Nydia Garcia Preto, LCSW, Associate Director, MFI, Private Practice, Highland Park, NJ.

MaryAnna Domokos-Cheng Ham, EdD, Professor Emerita, Univ. of Massachusetts Boston; Research Fellow, Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, Mount Holyoke College; Therapist-Psychologist, ServiceNet, Inc.

Kenneth Hardy, PhD. Director of the Eikenberg Institute for Relationships in New York City and Professor of Family Therapy, Syracuse University.

Karen Herrera, LCSW, MS, Alumna & Fellow of MFI, special interest in bicultural and biracial experiences and Private Practice in New York and Maplewood N.J.

Paulette Moore Hines, PhD, Director, Office of Prevention Services & Research, a division of University Behavioral HealthCare, UMDNJ.

Michelle Jackson, MA, Director of the Office of Multicultural Services of the NJ Department of Human Services.

Vanessa Jackson, MSW, licensed clinical social worker and owner of Healing Circles, Inc. in Atlanta Georgia.

Hugo Kamya, PhD, Associate Professor at the Simmons School of Social Work, faculty, Family Institute of Cambridge.

Kyle Killian, PhD, Associate Professor of Family Therapy, University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Jay T. King, PhD, Former Director of Clinical Services, Boston University; Director of Family Support and Program Evaluation at the Family Center; Founding member, Boston Institute for Culturally Accountable Practice, (BICAP).

Joanne Klages, LCSW, Alumni & Faculty, MFI. School Social Worker, Staten Island NY. Private Practice, Highland Park.

Jodie Kliman, PhD, Faculty of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, Boston, & founding member of the Boston Institute for Culturally Accountable Practice, (BICAP).

Jo-Ann Krestan, MA, LMFT, LADC, Visiting Faculty, MFI, Private Practice, Surry, ME. Adjunct Associate Professor, Univ. of Maine.

Robin La Due, PhD, Private Practice, Renton, WA, affiliated with the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Native American Center for Excellence at the Univ. of Washington.

John Lawless, PhD, Assistant Professor/Mentor, Empire State College, Utica, New York

Roxana Llerena-Quinn, PhD. Psychologist, Latino Program at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

Robbin Loonan, MA, DVS, LPC, Alumna & Associate Faculty, MFI, Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Domestic Violence Specialist.

Jayne Mahboubi, PsyD, LCSW, Coordinator of the Professionals Wellness Program at Ridgeview Institute and private practice in Atlanta, Georgia.

Vanessa Mahmoud, LCSW, Director, Amandala Psychotherapy Associates, Decatur, Georgia.

Kevin Martone, LSW, Assistant Commissioner of Mental Heatlh, NJ Department of Human Services; previously served on the Governor’s Task Force on Mental Health and in various community mental health settings.

David W. McGill, PsyD, Couples and Family Center, Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge MA. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA.

Monica McGoldrick, MSW, PhD (h.c.), Director MFI, Adjunct Assoc. Prof. Clin. Psychiatry, RWJ Medical School, UMDNJ.

Josiane Menos, Ph.D. Alumna & Associate Faculty, MFI, School Psychologist, Brooklyn NY, and Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS).

Marsha Mirkin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Lasell College; Resident Scholar On Leave, Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center.

Matthew Mock, PhD, Director, Family Youth Children’s and Multicultural Services, Berkeley, CA.

Eleanor C. Nealy, M. Div., LCSW, Deputy Director for Programs, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. NYC.

Gliceria Perez, LSW, Clinician UBHC/UMDNJ School Based Program- Roosevelt School, New Brunswick, consultant in-home counseling, Creative Consulting Services, Inc; Board Beyond Diversity Resource Center, Inc. Trainee, MFI.

Barbara Petkov, Ed.S., Faculty, MFI.

Elaine Pinderhughes, MSW. Professor of Social Work, Boston College.

Salome Raheim, ACSW, PhD. Associate Professor of Social Work, Senior Associate to the President, University of Iowa.

Deborah Richman, LCSW, Vice President NAMI NJ Board, Board,Middlesex Cty Mental Health Board, Consultant CCC Housing/ Multifamily Group Leader, Private Practice, Highland Park.

Maria Primitiva Paz Root, PhD, Clinical Psychologist & Reiki Master, Seattle, Washington. Specialist bi-racial identity.

Joan Marsh Schlesinger, LCSW, Retired Faculty, MFI. Family Therapist and Consultant, Atlanta, Georgia.

Tazuko Shibusawa, MSW, PhD. Associate Professor, NYU School of Social Work, Associate Faculty MFI.

CharlesEtta Sutton, LCSW, Founding Faculty, MFI; board & faculty, Turtle Island Path, Phoenix, AZ; Director, Sutton & Associates; Private Practice in Plainfield, NJ.

David Trimble, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine; Family Therapy Seminar, Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology; Founding Member, Boston Institute for Culturally Accountable Practices.

Marlene Watson, Ph.D. Director of the Programs in Couple and Family Therapy at Drexel University, Philadelphia.

Darielle Watts-Jones, MSW, PhD, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Ackerman Institute for the Family.

Hinda Winawer, MSW. Executive Director, Center for Family, Community, & Social Justice,., Princeton; Faculty, Ackerman Institute for the Family.

Glenn Wolf, Speaker, Board of Directors of The Lenape Historical Society and Spiritual Advisor to the Native population of a State of PA Correctional Institute. Member of The Turtle Island Singers.

David Wohlsifer, Ph.D., LCSW, Private Practice, Bala Psychological Resources, Bala Cynwyd, PA; Adjunct Professor, Bryn Mawr College, Graduate School of Social Work; Social Research, Univ. of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

Angel Yuen, MSW, Founding member, Narrative Therapy Centre of Toronto; tutor on the Dulwich Center (Adelaide, Australia) International Narrative Therapy Training Program; works in schools and in Private Practice with children, families and couples.