This workshop will provide beginning and experienced practitioners with a theoretical foundation and practical guidelines for conducting therapy with couples who identify as mixt, multiracial, or multiethnic. Participants will be introduced to an integrated systemic-relational/psychodynamic approach to couple therapy that is aimed toward helping members of a multiracial couple move from misapprehension to greater understanding of the other. We will consider how categorical models of monoracial relationships operate to maintain hegemonic and normative ideals that place psychic tension on the individual and specific familial and societal pressures on the couple. Special attention will be dedicated to how individual experiences of racialization, marginalization, immigration, and assimilation, as well as intergenerational familial histories of colonization and war, inform the emotional positions and dynamic interactions of the couple. The workshop will focus on systemic-relational theory, specific interventions used in couple therapy, and case discussion. Participants are encouraged to bring both case and autobiographical material for discussion with the larger group.
Learning Objectives:
- To explore ways in which the therapist can open and nurture discussions about race and racialization in couple therapy
- To identify how experiences of racialization and racial trauma shape and inform the dynamics of the couple relationship
- To identify ways in which the therapist can assist each person in the relationship toward a greater acknowledgment and understanding of the racialized experiences of the other
- To examine how an exploration of race and racialization can foster greater well-being for couples who identify as multiracial, mixed-race, and/or multiethnic
Presenter:
Mary Kim Brewster, PhD is the Director of the Serious Mental Illness and the Family Project at the Ackerman Institute for the Family. Her publications and national and international presentations address the impact of a serious mental illness on family well-being, clinical processes in systemic-relational therapy, and the effects of racial and gender marginalization, discrimination, and violence on couple and family relationships. Brewster recently co-chaired the 2023 Spring Meeting for the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, Division 39 of the American Psychological Association in New York City. Her current clinical research and writing focuses on the subjective experiences of Asian Americans in psychotherapy. Brewster supervises in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at the City University of New York and has a private practice specializing in individuals, couples, and families.
AASECT Continuing Education Information
This program meets the requirements of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT) and is approved for 3 CE credits. These CE credits may be applied toward AASECT certification and renewal of certification. Completion of this program does not ensure or guarantee AASECT certification. For further information please contact info@assect.org.
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Making Room for Multiplicity: Therapy with Multiracial Couples
December 13, 2024
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Mary Kim Brewster, PhD
3 CE Contact Hours
In-Person at Ackerman Institute for the Family