This Home Study Program is adapted from Navigating the Complexities of Race and Gender for African American Couples that was audio recorded as a live event on June 10, 2022.
When: Anytime (Distance Learning/Home Study)
Presenters: Nalini Calamur, LMFT; Paul T. Guillory, PhD; James Hawkins II, PhD, LPC; and Marjorie Nightingale, JD, LMFT
Moderator: Nancy Knudsen, LMFT
Rates: Full Rate – $85; Agency Clinician/Student Rate* — $70; Equity Rate* — $60; prices include CEs
CEs: 4 CEs approved for LMFTs, LICSWs, LMHCs, and Lic. Psychologists
Target Audience: Marriage & Family Therapists,Social Workers, Mental Health Counselors, Psychologists
Level: Beginner
This program is a fundraiser for Black therapists to attend the 2024 Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
Read CFINE and ICEEFT’s Diversity Statement
The impact of racial stress shows up in a multitude of ways in the lives of African American couples and families, often exacerbating difficulties in their primary relationships. As EFT therapists learn more about the racial and cultural factors that impact those in our care, it is important to examine the complexities surrounding the intersection of race and gender. This home study program is designed for couple and family therapists to hear from four experts who each speak to how Black men and women’s experiences of racism in the larger culture impact their most important relationships. The program concludes with a moderated panel discussion among the four presenters.
Schedule:
00:00:00-01:08:05 – Gender Differences in EFT Research with African American Couples with Marjorie Nightingale, JD, LMFT
01:08:05-02:15:05 – Helping Black Men Have Success in Vulnerability with James. L. Hawkins II, PhD, LPC
02:15:05-02:55:45 – Deep Roots: Attachment & Culture Impacts EFT Road Map with Paul T. Guillory, PhD
02:55:45-03:34:40 – Accountability Moments: Harnessing the Blindspots with Nalini Calamur, LMFT
03:34:40-04:00:46 – Panel Discussion Moderated by Nancy Knudsen, LMFT
At the conclusion of this program, participants will be better able to:
- Discuss 2 aspects of a racially attuned frame for the protective tendencies of black men.
- Identify 2 strategies towards working in a racially sensitive way to access and honor black men’s vulnerability.
- Identify 2 cultural adaptations to the EFT model utilized in the study for African American couples.
- Describe 2 ways EFT treatment in recent studies had different impacts on the level of stress for African American men and women.
- Discuss 4 aspects of the impact of whiteness, racism, and internalized racism on the socioemotional work of Black heterosexual couples.
- Present 4 measures of the impact of socio-historical, socio-cultural, and socio-structural racial barriers on Black couples’ efforts to establish and sustain romantic unions.
- Describe 2 clinical skills to see, name and work with whiteness, racism and internalized racism in your work with Black couples.
- Discuss 2 accountability moments to support couples when oppressive patterns are recreated within the relationship.
Presentations
Gender Differences in EFT Research with African American Couples with Marjorie Nightingale, JD, LMFT
In this workshop, Marjorie discusses the findings from her study using a culturally adapted Emotionally Focused Therapy with ten African American couples. She will discuss some of the questions that arose regarding gender differences over the course of EFT therapy, even where the treatment was successful in reducing relationship distress for couples.
Helping Black Men Have Success in Vulnerability with James. L. Hawkins II, PhD, LPC
The focus of this training is to present clinicians with a relationally sensitive framework to help black men have success in vulnerability.
Deep Roots: Attachment & Culture Impacts EFT Road Map with Paul T. Guillory, PhD
In this clinical demonstration, Dr. Guillory demonstrates the power of having both a clinical map of EFT and a model of race-matters. In this discussion, he shows how he seamlessly integrates the attachment experiential therapy with race-matters. He suggests race-matters is:
- The impact of racism (higher baseline stress)
- Racial Identity (a dynamic view of self & other)
- Negative racial priming (internalized racism)
- The impact of this multidimensional model on Black male and female interpersonal
interactions (in this case, the negative pattern of interaction with respect to Value,
Opportunity, and Worth [VOW])
Accountability Moments: Harnessing the Blindspots with Nalini Calamur, LMFT
Partners come into relationship with their own unique experiences of oppression and can get caught in negative cycles in their efforts to be understood, sometimes, reenacting trauma of oppression within the relationship. Clinicians can struggle to know how to lean in and create safety for these difficult conversations. This presentation offers a framework to shape accountability moments to deepen empathy, enhance safety, and support each other more fully in the relationship and in the world.
Meet Your Presenters
Nalini Calamur, LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has extensive experience working in Community Mental Health. She has a strong commitment to empowerment and healing in and for both multiply-stressed communities of color and queer communities. She also serves on the Diversity Committee for the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT). Ms. Calamur is interested in helping couples and families support one another more effectively in the face of systemic and internalized oppression. She sees clients in her private practice and primarily works with Black, Brown, and multicultural individuals and/or cross-cultural relationships and families that are struggling with high conflict, trauma, substance use, and/or suicide.
Paul T. Guillory, PhD is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Clinical Science Program, Psychology Department. He has taught courses on Emotionally Focused Therapies at U.C. Berkeley. He is certified trainer, supervisor, and therapist of Emotionally Focused Therapy. He is the author of “Emotionally Focused Therapy with African American Couples: Love Heals” Routledge, August 2021. Dr. Guillory has presented at a number of recent workshops including “Emotionally Focused Therapy in a time of Racial Reckoning” with the Couple & Family Institute of New England; “Race and Couples Therapy Conference” with the Eikenberg Academy For Social Justice; and “Deep Roots: Attachment & Culture” with the LA Center of EFT. He has recently produced two EFT training videos that dynamically integrate Emotionally Focused Therapy with a cultural lens for working with race-matters in couple’s therapy. He is the former chairperson of the Northern California Community of Emotionally Focused Therapy. Dr. Guillory was the psychological consultant to the Oakland Raiders professional football team and the National Football League for 14 years. He has also been a consultant to the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team, and is a selected provider for the National Basketball Players Association. He served as Director of the Center for Family Counseling in Oakland California for ten years. He is a life-time member of the Association of Black Psychologist. And he is a life-time member of the USA Masters Track & Field Association. He has been in private practice in Oakland California for over 30 years. For more info about Paul, visit www.paultguilloryphd.com.
Dr. James Hawkins, ‘Doc Hawk’, is a Licensed Counsellor with 11 years of experience and an ICEEFT certified trainer, supervisor, and therapist. He obtained a Master’s in Marriage and Family Counseling and a PhD in Psychology and Counseling. He currently serves as a Clinical Coordinator at a non-profit counseling practice in Northwest Arkansas. James is the founder of Healing Conversations, a training program developed to equip organizations and communities to have productive conversations about race. He is the co-host of two podcasts, The Leading Edge in Emotionally Focused Therapy, and The Leading Edge: Transforming Leadership Through Attachment Science. James is a part of the online training program, successinvulnerability.com developed to help EFT therapists and supervisors gain more focus in their clinical work. Doc Hawk brings a passion for helping individuals, couples, families, and communities in relational distress. James is married to his wife, Nicola, and together they have five daughters.
Dr. Marjorie Nightingale is in private practice in Washington, D.C. where she specializes in couple and sex therapy. She received her master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from LaSalle University. She received her doctorate in Couple and Family Therapy at Drexel University where her research focused on racially sensitive interventions for African American couples. Additionally, she teaches in Marriage and Family Therapy programs at University of Maryland, College Park. She has extensive clinical experience working with diverse couples. In addition, Ms. Nightingale spent several years as a family law and child welfare attorney in Baltimore where she worked with marginalized populations. As a scholar-practitioner, she has a special interest in addressing the intersection of sex and race in therapy for people of color. She recently received the 2020 AAMFT Foundation’s Outstanding Research Publication Award for her first academic article: Emotionally Focused Therapy: A Culturally Sensitive Approach for African American Heterosexual Couples.
Meet Your Moderator
Nancy Knudsen, LMFT is a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Northampton, MA with over 35 years experience in the field. She uses a family systems orientation to work with individuals, couples, and families on a wide range of issues. Over the past 10 years, Nancy’s primary clinical modality has been Emotionally Focused Therapy. She is a certified EFT therapist as well as a certified EFT supervisor, and serves on the planning committee of the New England Center for EFT. Nancy has taught a number of workshops on EFT for professionals. Additionally, she is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. She is co-founder and co-director of the Couple and Family Institute of New England.
*Agency Clinician/Student Rate: We offer this discounted rate to enable students and clinicians working in community mental health settings on a full-time basis to be able to participate. Group practices are not eligible.
*Equity Rate: This registration option is for participants with historical/institutional barriers to access. Please choose equity pricing only if you are a member of one or more historically marginalized communities.
This activity is approved certification by Amego, Inc. (DBA Amego Prepare) on behalf of:
- The American Psychological Association for Licensed Psychologists
- The Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health & Human Services Professions for LMFTs
- The Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health & Human Services Professions for LMHC/LPC
- The Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health & Human Services Professions for LICSW/LCSWs.
NOTE: It is the participant’s responsibility to check with their state boards to determine CE requirements and rules of reciprocity, i.e. to assess whether out-of-state and/or APA-approved certificates can be accepted.
This program is being offered independent of any commercial support or conflict of interest.