Jennifer Benjamin

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. 

Congratulations Abigail!! You are one of the 2024 Nominees for the Marion Lindblad-Goldberg Award. The prestigious award acknowledges individuals in Pennsylvania who exemplify the vision of Dr. Marion Lindblad-Goldberg, a trailblazer in ecosystemic structural family therapy. Your nomination symbolizes appreciation for your contributions in enhancing the world, advocating for positivity and healing within families. It showcases confidence in your ability to connect people and cultivate hope through systemic and relational intervention.

“Abby is warm and encouraging to our families, yet is able to maintain professional boundaries. I have seen Abby inspire change in many of our families, even those that had been resistant at first. Abby always shows empathy to our families as well as treating them with dignity and respect. Abby is aware of the social ecology that affects our families from the environments that influence them and is able to bring that awareness and interaction into the focus of treatment with a discerning eye. Abby will often set up collaborations with our client’s supports. Abby is able to empower our parents through a crisis to take the lead and de-escalate their children as she has them focus on the positives. Abby will often pause during sessions to assess with all her senses to grasp the next step in helping our families, then will give a simple directive or encouragement that takes the session into a positive direction. Abby will also turn to me as her partner and discuss the next step or talk out how we are going to continue the session so that we model for the family how to utilize turning to each other with positive communication. Overall, I am incredibly proud of my partner. She is organized and supportive and inspires me every day.”