Family stories often contain important information that has never been spoken aloud.
In ESFT, the Genogram is more than a family tree. It is a tool for understanding patterns, relationships, and family culture is transmitted across generations. When working with LGBTQ+ youth and their families, the Genogram can uncover powerful insights that help explain current fears, conflicts, and opportunities for support.
Consider a young person who expresses significant anxiety about sharing their gender identity with a parent. A systemic assessment will offer the therapist insight into how that fear makes perfect sense within the family’s culture and history.
One family discovered during a Genogram exercise that the father had cut off contact with a transgender sibling many years earlier. Suddenly, the youth’s anxiety was no longer a mystery. Their fear was grounded in observable family experience.
At the same time, the Genogram revealed something equally important: while the father had severed the relationship, the grandparents had maintained theirs. This discovery challenged and highlighted additional sources of support within the family system.
Through an ESFT lens, symptoms are often connected to relational realities. Fear, anxiety, secrecy, and withdrawal frequently emerge in response to family rules, expectations, and experiences.
The Genogram allows therapists and families to ask important questions:
How have differences been treated in this family?
What happens when someone challenges family beliefs?
Which relationships are characterized by connection?
Which relationships are organized around distance or cutoffs?
Where do exceptions to the family rules exist?
These conversations help families move from assumptions to understanding.
Often, the goal is not simply to identify barriers but to uncover strengths and resources that already exist within the system. Understanding family history creates opportunities for building new patterns of connection.
Sometimes the Genogram reveals that the future may not be as predetermined as it once seemed.
A common experiences reported by caregivers when a child comes out is the feeling that the information appeared suddenly. For the youth, however, the experience is often very different.
Many LGBTQ+ young people have spent months or years exploring, questioning, understanding, and making meaning of their identity long before they share it with others. As a result, parents and caregivers may feel as though they have just started a journey that their child has already been traveling for a long time.
This discrepancy can create confusion, fear, and disconnection.
The Critical Events Timeline is a family assessment tool used by ESFT practitioners that helps bridge this gap. For example, having the caregiver and youth create separate timelines. The youth maps their internal journey, while the caregiver reflects on memories and experiences they now see differently in hindsight. When the timelines are shared, families often discover a deeper understanding of one another. The therapist should make sure that they are aware of psychological and physical safety challenges that could arise due to this exercise.
Example two, a youth identified multiple stages in their gender journey, including different periods when they internally experimented with names and pronouns before ever discussing them with family members. They also identified important milestones such as confiding in a cousin and later sharing their identity with their mother. Meanwhile, the mother reflected on experiences she had not fully understood at the time. Looking back, she recognized signs she had missed and gained a richer appreciation for her child’s journey.
The result was not merely increased information—it was increased connection.
Through an ESFT lens, timelines help families enact meaning together. They transform what can feel like a sudden revelation into a coherent story. They highlight resilience, growth, courage, and the many steps that led to the present moment. Perhaps most importantly, timelines help families shift from “How did this happen?” to “Help me understand your journey.” That shift often becomes the foundation for deeper empathy, stronger attachment, and a more collaborative path forward.
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Using the Person of the Therapist to Understand the Isomorphic Process
One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of becoming a systemic family therapist is learning that the work is not just about understanding families—it is also about understanding ourselves.
In Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), therapists are trained to observe patterns, identify interactional processes, and make meaning of symptoms within the broader social ecology. Yet one of the most important members of systems in the room is often overlooked: the therapist.
As clinicians work toward competence they inevitably encounter their zone of proximal development, or what many ESFT trainers refer to as a “growth edge.” A growth edge represents the space between what a therapist can comfortably do and what they are still learning to do. It is often where discomfort, uncertainty, and self-doubt emerge. Importantly, it is also where meaningful professional development occurs.
The challenge is that growth edges frequently activate what ESFT would describe as fast thinking. Faced with uncertainty, therapists may become more focused on reducing their own anxiety than on remaining curious about the family’s experience. Rather than following the model, they may move toward self-soothing behaviors such as over-advising, over-teaching, rescuing, withdrawing, becoming overly rigid, seeking compliance, or avoiding difficult conversations altogether.
From an ESFT perspective, these moments are not failures. They are data.
This is where Harry Aponte’s Person of the Therapist (POTT) model offers an invaluable framework. Aponte proposed that therapists must continually examine how their own life experiences, vulnerabilities, strengths, and unfinished emotional business enter the therapeutic relationship. Rather than attempting to eliminate these influences, therapists learn to understand and use them intentionally in service of the family.
Aponte identified six recurring themes that often emerge in the lives of therapists and the families they serve:
Fear of Rejection / Abandonment: “I will not be accepted”
Feelings of Inadequacy / Low Self-Esteem: “I am not enough”
Need for Control: “I must keep control or else”
Fear of Vulnerability: “don’t show emotions”
Codependency / People-Pleasing: “meet others’ needs at the expense of my own”
Trust Issues: “hold the reigns tight so you don’t get hurt”
While different authors and trainers may organize these themes somewhat differently, the central principle remains the same: therapists are often affected by the very struggles they encounter in the families they serve.
When viewed through an ESFT lens, these themes frequently reveal themselves through the isomorphic process.
The isomorphic process occurs when interactional patterns present in the family begin to appear elsewhere in the system—including supervision, teams, organizations, and even within the therapist. A therapist working with a family struggling with criticism may notice becoming self-critical. A therapist working with an avoidant caregiver may find themselves avoiding difficult conversations. A therapist working with a family organized around rescuing may suddenly feel compelled to rescue the identified client.
The therapist’s activation becomes information about the system.
The key distinction is that ESFT does not encourage therapists to focus on themselves for their own benefit during treatment. Instead, self-awareness is used to better understand what is happening in the family. The therapist’s internal experience becomes another assessment tool.
When therapists understand their growth edges, they become better able to recognize when they are drifting away from the model and toward self-protection. They learn to ask:
What is being evoked in me right now?
What am I feeling compelled to do?
Would that intervention help the family or just reduce my own discomfort?
What might my own reaction teach me about the family’s experience?
These questions transform therapist activation into clinical information.
Over time, therapists develop greater capacity to tolerate uncertainty, maintain curiosity, and remain connected to the family even during difficult moments. They learn that the goal is not to avoid activation but to recognize it, understand it, and use it in service of treatment.
Ultimately, ESFT teaches that the therapist is both an instrument of change and a participant in the system. Growth occurs when clinicians learn to work at the edge of their competence while remaining grounded in the model. The Person of the Therapist framework provides a roadmap for understanding how our own experiences influence our work, while the concept of isomorphism helps us recognize that what is happening inside of us may be reflecting what is happening within the family.
When used thoughtfully, these moments become opportunities—not obstacles. They help therapists strengthen their capacity to join, assess, understand, and respond. In doing so, they move closer to the ultimate goal of ESFT: using every part of the system, including ourselves, in service of healing and lasting relational change.
This highly anticipated book offers a practical guide to understanding and applying systemic family therapy in today’s complex clinical environments.
#ESFT #Fall2026 #thinksystemic
For decades, Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT) has helped clinicians, supervisors, and organizations create meaningful change with children, youth, adults, and their families. Now, for the first time, the knowledge, tools, and clinical wisdom developed through decades of practice, training, supervision, and research are being brought together in a comprehensive new resource.
Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy:
A Trauma Informed, Strength-Based Model for Treating Families
Designed for clinicians, supervisors, students, educators, and advanced trainees, this book goes beyond theory to provide real-world tools that support effective intervention with families experiencing significant challenges. Readers will gain access to practical frameworks that strengthen clinical decision-making, deepen case conceptualization, and support purposeful action in the therapy room.
Inside, readers will find:
Practical clinical decision-making tools for real-time systemic intervention
Clear, actionable “in-the-room” language for high-stakes family work
A structured framework for balancing supportive and challenging interventions
Ongoing data-driven assessment strategies to guide evolving case conceptualization
Supervision frameworks that integrate deliberate practice to strengthen clinical competency
Step-by-step guides for mapping interactional patterns and facilitating systemic change
Case examples demonstrating the application of ESFT principles in real-world settings
More than a textbook, this book is designed to be a working resource—one that clinicians can return to before and after session, and throughout their careers as they continue to develop their skills and refine their practice.
Check out the newsletter and stay tuned to the socials for additional announcements, sneak peeks, author insights, and opportunities to be among the first to experience this landmark contribution to the field of systemic family therapy.
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Earlier this morning the Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center announced the recipients of the 2026 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg (MLG) Award: Cassie Chase (Staff), Becca Bowman (Supervisor), and Zack Elisio (Trainer).
Named in honor of Dr. Marion Lindblad-Goldberg, creator of Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT), the MLG Award recognizes individuals who embody the values, principles, and spirit of the model through their commitment to systemic thinking, relational healing, professional growth, and strengthening families and communities.
This year’s recipients represent the very best of ESFT in action. Through their leadership, compassion, and unwavering dedication to growth and development, they have left a lasting impact on families, clinicians, supervisors, and systems.
#MLGAwardRecipientStaff2026
Cassie Chase – Staff Recipient
Cassie Chase has become a powerful example of what it means to embrace the learning process with courage, humility, and determination. Throughout her training journey, she has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to growth, consistently challenging herself to deepen her understanding of the ESFT model and strengthen her clinical practice.
Cassie is known for her ability to see the strengths and potential in everyone around her. Whether working with families, collaborating with peers, or participating in training, she brings warmth, authenticity, and encouragement that inspires others to stretch beyond their comfort zones. Her dedication to deliberate practice, curiosity, and systemic thinking has made her a leader within her cohort and a trusted voice in the training room.
Most importantly, Cassie embodies the belief that meaningful change happens through relationships. Her work reflects a deep respect for families, a commitment to collaboration, and a belief in the capacity of people to grow and heal. Through her presence, she has strengthened not only the families she serves but also the clinicians who learn alongside her.
#MLGAwardRecipientSupervisor2026
Becca Bowman – Supervisor Recipient
As a supervisor, Becca Bowman exemplifies the balance of support, accountability, and authenticity that lies at the heart of effective systemic leadership. She consistently creates environments where clinicians feel visible, valued, and worthy while simultaneously challenging them to recognize strengths and capabilities they may not yet see in themselves.
Becca approaches supervision through a systemic lens, helping clinicians maintain awareness of the larger ecosystem while thoughtfully addressing the developmental needs of individuals and teams. Her leadership is grounded in relationship, yet always focused on promoting competence, confidence, and meaningful professional growth.
Through her deliberate authenticity and unwavering commitment to the ESFT model, Becca fosters spaces where learning thrives. She transforms moments of uncertainty and intensity into opportunities for reflection, growth, and second-order change. Her ability to assess complex situations while communicating with clarity and simplicity has had a profound impact on the clinicians she supervises and, ultimately, the families they serve.
#MLGAwardRecipientSupervisor2026
Zack Elisio – Trainer Recipient
Zack Elisio has dedicated himself to advancing the field of family therapy through exceptional training, mentorship, and leadership. He possesses a remarkable ability to help others think systemically, understand relational patterns, and make meaningful connections across training, supervision, and clinical practice.
Throughout every training experience, Zack creates an atmosphere of safety, challenge, and collaboration. He skillfully balances validation with accountability, encouraging clinicians and supervisors to engage in self-reflection while remaining grounded in the principles of ESFT. His commitment to cultivating growth extends beyond teaching concepts—he helps others integrate systemic thinking into the way they understand themselves, their work, and the systems they serve.
Zack’s influence can be felt across countless clinicians, supervisors, and organizations. His ability to distill complex concepts into accessible and practical applications has empowered many to deepen their practice and strengthen outcomes for families. His leadership reflects a deep commitment to learning, connection, and the belief that transformation occurs through relationships.
Honoring a Legacy
The Marion Lindblad-Goldberg Award celebrates individuals who carry forward Dr. Lindblad-Goldberg’s vision of strengthening families through systemic, relational, and trauma-informed practice. Cassie Chase, Becca Bowman, and Zack Elisio each embody this vision in unique and meaningful ways.
Their dedication to fostering competence, cultivating belonging, and creating opportunities for growth reminds us that lasting change occurs when people are seen, supported, and challenged within the context of meaningful relationships.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to this year’s recipients and our gratitude for the impact they continue to have on families, communities, and the field of systemic family therapy.
Congratulations, Cassie, Becca, and Zack, on this well-deserved recognition.
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The Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center is proud to recognize Christi Taylor as a nominee for the 2026 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg (MLG) Award. Christi’s work reflects the heart of Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT) through her compassionate, family-centered, and relational approach to healing and growth.
Building Trust Through Relationships
Christi consistently demonstrates the core principles of the ESFT model in every aspect of her work. She understands that meaningful change begins with connection, and she intentionally creates strong, trusting relationships with the families she serves.
By honoring each family’s values, cultural context, and lived experiences, Christi ensures that every voice within the system feels heard, respected, and valued. Her ability to join with families authentically creates spaces where caregivers and youth feel safe enough to engage in difficult conversations, strengthen relationships, and work toward lasting change.
Empowering Families Through Trauma-Informed Care
One of Christi’s greatest strengths is her ability to support families through trauma-informed and collaborative interventions. She skillfully strengthens protective factors within the family system while empowering caregivers to recognize their own leadership, resilience, and capacity for growth.
Christi approaches her work with empathy, patience, and intentionality, helping families move beyond immediate challenges toward deeper healing and stronger relational patterns. Her calm and grounded presence allows her to navigate even the most complex family dynamics with compassion and clinical insight.
A Commitment to Lasting Change
Christi’s unwavering dedication to family-centered care is evident in the meaningful progress families experience through her work. She remains committed to helping families identify strengths, build connection, and create sustainable changes that support long-term well-being.
Her leadership, professionalism, and commitment to relational healing reflect the true spirit of the ESFT model. Christi’s work continues to make a lasting impact on the individuals, families, and systems she serves.
A Well-Deserved Recognition
For her exceptional dedication, systemic thinking, and compassionate leadership, we are honored to celebrate Christi Taylor as a nominee for the 2026 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg Award.
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The Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center is proud to recognize Beth Anne Keller as a nominee for the 2026 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg (MLG) Award. Beth Anne’s leadership, dedication, and unwavering commitment to the principles of Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT) have made a lasting impact on staff and the families they serve and the systems she supports.
A Leader Who Creates Safety and Growth
Beth Anne consistently exemplifies the heart of the ESFT model through the way she supports and develops clinicians. She leads with compassion, cultural humility, and genuine respect, creating an environment where staff feel safe, valued, and empowered in their professional growth.
Her ability to foster trust allows clinicians to stretch themselves, embrace learning opportunities, and grow in both confidence and competence. Beth Anne understands that supervision and support are relational processes, and she intentionally creates spaces where staff feel both challenged and encouraged in meaningful ways.
Strengthening Teams Through Relational Leadership
One of Beth Anne’s greatest strengths is her ability to strengthen team functioning through a relational and systemic lens. She skillfully identifies and amplifies the strengths of those around her while also providing thoughtful guidance and structure that promotes continued development.
Her trauma-informed approach to supervision and staff support reflects a deep understanding of how relationships shape growth and learning. Whether navigating everyday clinical challenges or moments of intensity, Beth Anne remains calm, grounded, and intentional, helping staff feel supported even during difficult situations.
Supporting Growth Through ESFT
Beth Anne is deeply committed to helping staff develop a strong understanding of the ESFT model. She consistently goes above and beyond to support her supervisor and team in “thinking outside the box,” encouraging creativity, reflection, and second-order change within supervision and clinical work.
Through her leadership, she helps staff translate ESFT concepts into meaningful practice, guiding them toward greater systemic understanding and relational competence. Her ability to simplify complex ideas while maintaining the integrity of the model strengthens both clinicians and the families they serve.
A Lasting Impact
Beth Anne’s professionalism, clinical insight, and dedication to family-centered care make her an exceptional nominee for the MLG Award. Her leadership reflects the true spirit of ESFT—grounded in collaboration, relational healing, and belief in the capacity for growth and change.
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The Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center is proud to recognize Cory Wolff as a nominee for the 2026 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg (MLG) Award. Cory exemplifies the heart of Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy (ESFT) through his compassionate, relationship-centered, and trauma-informed work with families.
A Relational and Systemic Approach
Cory consistently demonstrates the principles of the ESFT model by approaching every family with cultural humility, empathy, and deep respect for their lived experiences. He understands that meaningful change happens through relationships, and he works intentionally to create safe and trusting spaces where caregivers and youth feel supported, valued, and empowered.
His ability to join with families in authentic ways allows them to feel seen beyond their struggles. Cory approaches challenges through a systemic lens, helping families recognize patterns, strengths, and opportunities for growth within the larger family and community context.
Strengthening Families Through Compassion and Competence
One of Cory’s greatest strengths is his ability to strengthen caregiver capacity while honoring the resilience already present within the family system. Through trauma-informed and relational interventions, he helps families build confidence, improve communication, and create healthier interactional patterns that support long-term healing and stability.
Cory’s calm and grounded presence during moments of intensity allows families to feel safe even in difficult situations. He navigates complex family dynamics with patience, thoughtfulness, and clinical insight, helping families move beyond crisis and toward meaningful, sustainable change.
Commitment to Growth and Healing
In addition to his dedication to families, Cory demonstrates a strong commitment to professional growth and reflective practice. His thoughtful engagement with colleagues and his ongoing investment in learning reflect his dedication to providing high-quality, family-centered care rooted in the ESFT model.
Those who work alongside Cory recognize not only his professionalism and clinical skill, but also his unwavering belief in the potential of the families he serves. He consistently communicates hope, possibility, and respect, helping families recognize their own strengths and capacity for change.
A Well-Deserved Recognition
Cory Wolff’s work embodies the spirit of Dr. Marion Lindblad-Goldberg. Through his compassion, systemic thinking, and commitment to relational healing, he continues to make a meaningful impact on families, teams, and communities.
We are honored to celebrate Cory’s nomination for the 2026 MLG Award and grateful for the care, dedication, and leadership he brings to the field every day.
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We are proud to recognize Kristie Hartzel as a nominee for the 2026 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg (MLG) Award in the Supervisor category. This marks Kristie’s second nomination for the award—an affirmation of the consistent and lasting impact she continues to have on those she supervises.
Kristie embodies the heart of systemic supervision. Those she works alongside consistently describe her as someone who is always available to guide them—a steady, grounding presence in both everyday clinical work and moments of intensity. Her accessibility creates a foundation of trust that allows clinicians to stretch, reflect, and grow within the ESFT model.
Supervising Through the Model
Kristie does not simply teach the model—she supervises through it.
She joins with her supervisees intentionally, contextually, and meaningfully, modeling the relational stance we hope clinicians bring into their work with families. In supervision, she demonstrates how to hold awareness of the entire ecosystem while thoughtfully attending to the clinician’s developmental edge. Her guidance is rooted in systemic thinking, helping clinicians move beyond surface-level interventions toward deeper understanding and second-order change.
Intentional and Contextual Leadership
Kristie’s supervision reflects careful attention to context—whether that context is the family system, the clinician’s growth, or the broader organizational environment. She understands that professional development is relational and creates supervision spaces where clinicians feel supported while also appropriately challenged.
Her joining is purposeful. She meets clinicians where they are and walks alongside them toward greater clarity, confidence, and competence.
Sustained Impact
That this is Kristie’s second nomination speaks to the enduring nature of her leadership. Her impact is not momentary—it is steady, consistent, and woven into the fabric of her team’s development. Supervisees experience her presence as thoughtful, accessible, and deeply invested in their success.
Kristie Hartzel strengthens clinicians, which in turn strengthens families and systems. We are honored to celebrate her continued leadership and her well-deserved nomination for the 2026 MLG Award.
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Kristen embodies the highest standards of the ESFT model, making her an exceptional nominee for the MLG Award. In her work, she consistently fosters strong, collaborative partnerships with families, honoring their cultural identities, strengths, and unique narratives. Kristen approaches every interaction with deep empathy and curiosity, creating safe, trusting spaces where caregivers and youth feel genuinely seen, heard, and supported. Her ability to join with families in meaningful and authentic ways allows her to build strong therapeutic relationships that promote hope, connection, and lasting change.
Kristen demonstrates a remarkable ability to maintain a systemic perspective, helping families understand patterns and interactions through a relational and trauma-informed lens. She thoughtfully supports caregivers in recognizing their own strengths and leadership within the family system, while also helping youth feel valued and understood. Her calm and grounded presence during moments of crisis allows families to feel supported even in the midst of chaos, creating opportunities for growth and healing rather than remaining stuck in distress.
Her skillful use of trauma-informed, family-centered interventions strengthens protective factors, enhances caregiver capacity, and empowers families to achieve meaningful and sustainable change. Kristen is also deeply committed to her own professional growth and consistently engages in supervision, reflection, and collaboration to strengthen her clinical practice. Her unwavering dedication, clinical insight, and commitment to relational healing stand out in every service she provides, reflecting the true spirit of the ESFT model. She is profoundly deserving of this recognition.
Sincerely,
Kristie Hartzel, Program Director, RHA
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