Author: Jennifer Benjamin

Jessica says – “The training through the Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center has taught me to look through a systemic lens to support staff within supervision. I have been able to help staff see how their own life experiences impact the way they enter homes and see families. The training center has provided me with an alliance of individuals who are all working toward a common goal of inspiring families to be their own best resource for lasting generational change as they navigate trauma, tragedy, and hardship in a new way. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to continue to learn and grow both personally and professionally and support staff on their own learning journey to be ethically competent clinicians. “

Congratulations to all the awardees! Your contributions are invaluable, and your passion for systemic change is a beacon of hope and progress for us all. Here’s to continued success and to the many more lives you will touch in the years to come.

This award has been established by the Philadelphia Child and Family Training Center in honor of Dr. Marion Lindblad-Goldberg whose personal and professional mission was to make the world a better, brighter, and more connected place one family at a time. She believed wholeheartedly in each of us – in our ability, through systemic and relational interventions, to heal disengagement and cultivate belonging.

Each year the award is given to a trainer, clinician, and program director/supervisor, from the ESFT-FBMHS Training Program, who exemplifies the following:

Maintains a systemic perspective. Nominees have an appreciation for the isomorphic process in training, treatment, supervision, and across systems. Nominees maintain awareness of the “whole” while working the “parts.”

Maintains balance between professional boundaries and collaborative relationships to foster positive change and competence. Nominees take a strength-based approach, balancing their professional/expert knowledge while collaboratively engaging the ecosystem to draw on existing strengths and create experiences of trust, building individual competence for all members of the system.

Engages in social ecology. Nominees have a deep appreciation for intersectionality and the lived experiences of others. As such, they express an unwavering commitment to understanding how their own social ecology and zone of proximal development informs their professional work. Nominees consistently utilize their support system to engage in deliberate practice to grow their professional skills.

Makes the most of intensity and crises. Nominees have an ability to see struggle and chaos as an opportunity for growth and development. They demonstrate facilitative leadership by keeping second order change in the forefront of their approach to individual or system distress. They nurture others’ capacity to make meaning, promote new relational patterns and shift belief systems towards lasting change.

Assesses with complexity while acting with simplicity. Nominees have a belief that training, treatment and supervision are relational, contextual, developmental and trauma informed. They demonstrate these concepts actively in their work through systemic assessment and conceptualization. While their understanding of people and situations are complex, those around them experience the person’s actions and communication as accessible and validating.

Congratulations Elena, you have been nominated for the Marion Lindblad-Goldberg Award! This award recognizes and celebrates professionals from across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania shouldering the legacy of Dr. Marion Lindblad-Goldberg, creator of ecosystemic structural family therapy. Your nomination means someone has taken the time to tell us about how they believe you are working to make the world a better, brighter, and more connected place one family at a time. They believe wholeheartedly in you and your ability, through systemic and relational interventions, to heal disengagement and cultivate belonging!

“She has shown a commitment to systemic thinking and an unwavering belief in the power of relationships to overcome challenges during a time when many Family Based programs and their agencies are under tremendous pressure. She did all of this utilizing her natural ability to foster attuned and responsive relationships. She validated and lifted up the voices of her staff
even when it was hard to do so. Elena exemplifies servant leadership, stepping in to help wherever help is needed, working to shift processes whenever possible and supporting new thinking so that barriers are eliminated for those she leads.”

Congratulations Nikole!!!!

You have been nominated for the 2024 Marion Lindblad-Goldberg Award, a distinguished honor recognizing individuals in Pennsylvania who embody the vision of Dr. Marion Lindblad-Goldberg, a pioneer in ecosystemic structural family therapy. This nomination signifies recognition for your efforts in improving the world, promoting positivity, and fostering healing within families. It reflects a belief in your capacity to foster connections among individuals and instill hope through systemic and relational interventions.

“Nikole has demonstrated commitment, change, and hope throughout her program
and company. Nikole has created an environment that helps promote change
throughout the community. Nikole has demonstrated her ability to remain strength-based focused and has lead her team to make positive changes in the lives of their
families. Nikole never backs down when faced with adversity and/or chaos, as she uses
this as an opportunity for growth and development. Nikole has not only made a huge
impact on her staff members, but also throughout other agencies, as she is very
educated on the model and believes strongly about trainings and working the stages
of the model. Nikole is a leading example of commitment and dedication to making
the world a better, brighter, and more connected place.”

PCFTTC had the opportunity to participate in the 21st annual Children’s Interagency Conference in State College, PA. During the event, the Training Center delivered a presentation on “Homicide-Suicide Behaviors & Systemic Family Therapy” and engaged with dedicated professionals & community partners focused on supporting Pennsylvania’s youth and families. By expanding our network and forming new partnerships, we were inspired by numerous stories showcasing the resilience of families. We are already looking forward to next year’s conference!

Dr. Sue Johnson, a prominent figure in the field of couples therapy, passed away at 76 after battling cancer. Known for creating Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), her work emphasized emotional bonds and attachment theory, globally influencing the field. Her legacy lives on through EFT-trained therapists and her impactful books, ensuring her vision for healing relationships endures. Therapists continue her techniques to help couples, honoring her pioneering contributions in couple therapy.

Ms. Lisa Christian’s 30-year career as social worker and public mental health professional has been devoted to cross-system collaboration. She is a shining star that stands out in the field. She has tirelessly advocated for every citizen of Pennsylvania to see, understand, and respond to youth gun violence as public health issue driven by trauma and inequity.

She has worked at the professional level with youth, families, organizations, and government to make public health policy center on healing. She urges others to see youth of color, especially Black male youth, as the segment of our community that are most impacted by gun violence where the cycle of violence leaves many youths feeling unsafe and insecure in themselves and in the community. She challenges herself and others to see that this dislocation leaves them feeling vulnerable and devalued, where they literally believe that Black lives do not matter and find ways to protect themselves which perpetuates this cycle of violence.

Rather than simply turning to law enforcement to solve this problem, she strives to create the framework that goes beyond see gun violence as solely linked to self-protection but see youth gun violence retaliatory. This cycle must be seen as a public health imperative where public health, mental health, and government agencies find innovative and responsive ways to disrupt these processes to prevent further violence. Spurning an individual oriented approach, she has repeated worked to inspire government officials to advance a public health approach recognizing the symptoms of gun violence, much like with a virus, and to strategize interventions that prevent the spread of violence. Her systemic framework advances across system collaboration that is trauma-informed, strength-based, co-discovery, and science based. 

Her 30-year career as a licensed social worker and mental health professional is chocked with numerous compelling examples reflecting the above. Two stories stand out. One, she stood by a family of a youth arrested for a mass shooting whose community not only negatively judged but actively shunned them. She tirelessly worked with individual family members, the family as a unit, and the community to help them seek, find, and use personal, physical, and interpersonal resources to turn risk into resilience. The second story is about families returning to the scene of murder that occurred in their home. Police investigate the crime then suddenly pronounce that the family may return to a blood splattered home and littered with signs of violence. Ms. Christian advocated at the family level and government level to regularly and reliably generate the resources to clean and restore every home. These examples show that Ms. Christian always goes above and beyond her peers to always advance a cross system collaboration based on a trauma-informed, strength-based, co-discovery, and science-based framework.