Dr. Christiana Ibilola Awosan is an Assistant Professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, in the Marriage and Family Therapy program and an Associate Faculty with the Eikenberg Academy of Social Justice. She’s also the Founder of Ibisanmi Relational Health and a licensed Couple and Family Therapist. Dr. Awosan conducts national and international trainings and seminars on issues of related to understanding sociocultural trauma such as racial trauma on the mental, emotional and relational lives of People of Color. Her research focuses on diversity, inclusion and social justice. She has published several book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals, including “Therapy with heterosexual Black couples through a racial lens” (2019, New York, NY: The Guilford Press) and “Emotionally Focused Therapy: A culturally sensitive approach for African American heterosexual couples” (2019, Journal of Family Psychotherapy).

Michael Barnett, LPC is a certified supervisor and trainer in Emotionally Focused Therapy, and the founder and director of the Atlanta Center for EFT. Michael brings extensive experience in the addictions field and a passion for helping couples and families impacted by addiction. Michael’s focus and passion is working with couples and training other professionals who work with relationships. His interest in couple therapy began early in his career when he noticed that successful treatment healed not only the relationship, but helped individuals transform their core working models and sense of self. He concluded that effective couple therapy could facilitate the deepest levels of change for the individual as well as for the couple. In addition to his clinical work, supervision and training, Michael is leading a research project that incorporates EFT into inpatient addiction treatment protocols at a leading alcohol and drug treatment center in Atlanta. He and EFT trainer Jim Thomas co-created this training module using EFT to treat couples on the addictive continuum in outpatient settings. Visit his website at www.michaelbarnettlpc.com/about-us.

Steffani Brandenburg, LCSW, LICSW, CST is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker/Psychotherapist with a full-time private practice in Mt. Kisco, New York. She is a Certified Emotionally Focused Therapist and Approved Supervisor through The International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, with advanced training in psychoanalytic psychodynamic psychotherapy, attachment and trauma-informed therapy including EMDR. Ms. Brandenburg has over 30 years of experience working with individuals and couples and specializes in working with LGBTQ identified individuals and mixed and same-gender couples. As a leading professional in the field of human relationships, Ms. Brandenburg has extensive experience providing clinical consultation, advanced clinical training and professional and community education throughout the New York Tristate area. Contact Steffani here.

Carolyn Broudy, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist and the Director of The Family Connections Center. She received her M.D. and M.S. from NYU School of Medicine, and completed her psychiatry residency and a fellowship in Women’s Mental Health at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She subsequently completed the Infant-Parent Mental Health Fellowship at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and the American Psychoanalytic Association Fellowships. She has taught at the Smith School of Social Work, and worked as a consulting psychiatrist for the state-wide program Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project for Moms. Her years of experience working with new parents and young children inspired her to open The Family Connections Center as a way to bring together a team of therapists who could better serve the needs of the entire family during the early years of parenting. Learn more about Carolyn at www.thefamilyconnectionscenter.com.

Lorrie Brubacher, MEd, LMFT, RMFT is the Founding Director of the Carolina Center for EFT. She is certified with the International Centre for Excellence in EFT (ICEEFT) as a therapist, supervisor, and trainer. She is author of Stepping into Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Key Ingredients of Change (2018). She has worked in private practice in couple and family therapy since 1989, and currently practices in Greensboro and Winnipeg, Canada. She has an adjunct faculty appointment at UNC Greensboro, and has previously served as an instructor at 3 Canadian universities. She publishes and presents frequently on the topic of EFT, often publishing with Dr. Sue Johnson, the originator of EFT for couples. Lorrie has co-authored six chapters with Dr. Sue Johnson, published in the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, in the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy and in Person Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies and is on the editorial board for the ICEEFT newsletter. Additionally, she teaches Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy and is co-developer, with Dr. Lillian Buchanan, of the first EFT interactive video training program, accessible at www.attachmentinjuryrepair.com. For additional information about Lorrie and her work, please see www.lbrubacher.com, www.carolinaeft.com, and https://steppingintoeft.com.

Theresa Bullock Cohen, LICSW, BCC, CGP is a licensed social worker, certified group psychotherapist, certified EFT couples therapist, and certified supervisor in full-time private practice. Her clinical focus is working with individuals, couples, and groups who struggle with secure attachment and intimacy. Theresa is a former supervisor for the Harvard University Mental Health Service, and currently provides supervision and consultation to therapists in private practice. She has taught as an adjunct professor at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work and is currently on the teaching faculty for the NSGP group training program. Theresa has over 15 years of clinical experience leading groups, and she has presented continuing education workshops for Boston College, Harvard University UHS, the Psychodynamic Couple and Family Institute of New England, Seacoast EFT Community, Psychology Specialist of Maine, and the annual conference for the Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy. Visit her website at www.tbcohen.com.

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.

Dr. Yamonte Cooper is a Professor of Counseling at El Camino College, adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), National Certified Counselor (NCC), ICEEFT Certified Emotionally Focused Therapist (EFT) & Supervisor, Certified Gottman Therapist, and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist (CST). He specializes in working with couples, trauma, sexual dysfunctions, gender & sexual identity, depression & anxiety, bipolar disorder, personality issues, grief, and other mental health problems.

He is the author of the forthcoming book Racial Trauma and African-American Men (Routledge) and co-editor of the forthcoming book Black Couples Therapy: Clinical Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press). Further, as a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Cooper exchanged best practices in career counseling and development in Germany and has exchanged best practices with higher education institutions in Botswana. He can be reached at dryamontecooper.com.

Annette Cycon, MSW has over 30 years of experience as a social worker, child and family therapist and group facilitator. She is the Founder of MotherWoman, author and Master Trainer of the MotherWoman Support Group Model, which she taught nationally. She is co-founder, with Liz Friedman, of GPS Group Peer Support, LLC, a training organization building the capacity of diverse group leaders nationwide. Together Liz and Annette have designed the GPS model to be utilized with diverse populations, such as perinatal mothers at risk for or experiencing perinatal emotional complications, women in recovery, maternal health care providers, parental bereavement, faith-based and peer groups in educational settings and many others. Annette is well-known for her expertise and training in perinatal mood disorders, group facilitation skills and the application of culturally competent skills in clinical and group settings. She is co-author of the GPS model and is a GPS Master Trainer in the US and Guatemala. Contact Annette at here.

Charles C. Daniels, Jr. is a noted Therapist, DRK Entrepreneur, Author and instructor who has taught at Simmons College and Harvard University. After suffering from the absence of his own father, Charles took an unexpected approach to identify the barriers that prevented his own father from remaining engaged in his life. That personal journey transformed into a mission to serve fathers nation-wide, so they can remain positively engaged in their children lives. His faith has led to the creation of Fathers UpLift, the nation’s first outpatient mental health center dedicated to paternal health and male family engagement. It offers an innovative, self-sustaining, and scalable clinical mental health care model. The programs provided by Fathers’ UpLift help fathers address their often-complicated challenges and needs associated with becoming and being a father, while also helping their children, families, and society overall. Visit Charles’ website at www.fathersuplift.org.

George Faller, MS, LMFT is a retired Lieutenant of the NYC Fire Department, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in New York and Connecticut and an Approved Supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. He is the founder and President of the New York Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). As an EFT Trainer, George teaches several classes at the Ackerman Institute for the Family (the oldest family institute in the United States) in NYC, is a board member of the Porter Cason Institute for the Family at Tulane University in New Orleans and is the director of training at the Center for Hope and Renewal in Greenwich, Ct. Specializing in trauma, Family EFT, and self-of-the-therapist issues, George is committed to bringing EFT to underprivileged populations and pushing the leading edge of effective therapy. George hopes his books True Connection, Sacred Stress and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy contributes to the EFT movement of making our world a more secure place. For more info about George, visit www.georgefaller.com.

Danielle Green, LICSW is a founding partner of the Northeast Contact Center Forum (NECCF).  She received her MSW from Columbia University in 1993 and completed 5 years of further specialist training in couples and family therapy at the Ackerman Institute for the Family, in New York City. She worked and taught at Cornell Medical Center for 10 years before relocating to Boston to serve as Clinical and Training Director of the Couple and Family Therapy Program, at the Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School. There, she trained social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists, and taught throughout the Harvard system. Danielle was certified as an EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) therapist in 2010 and as a certified supervisor in 2011. She has studied AEDP and trauma work with Janina Fisher and has recently embarked on studying Peter Levine’s work on Somatic Experiencing. Learn more about Danielle at www.newenglandcouplesandfamilies.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.

Tony Hudson, MEd helps leaders and organizations explore how race matters to them, and assists them in becoming racially conscious inclusive organizations. His purpose is to align people and resources to center racial consciousness and intersectional equity in relationships and collaboration. He developed the Racially Conscious Collaboration™ (RCC) Framework, a suite of research-based tools structured to assist people and organizations in transformation. His process includes three phases: 1.) Capacity building; 2.) Organizational assessment and plan development, and 3.) Deep implementation coaching.

Tony spent the last six years traveling across the country, successfully ushering organizations through racial consciousness development and organizational change with the Pacific Educational Group. He has worked with a wide range of clients, including fortune 500 companies, school districts, health care organizations, non-government, and municipal entities. As a result of his work as the lead consultant guiding New York University Langone Center for Early Childhood Health and Development through their transformation, the organization was recognized with a national award for their success. Tony’s success as an expert journey partner to organizations stems from his ability to meet organizations where they are at and move them from having uncertainty about race to progressively maintaining race equity and inclusion. Contact Tony here.

Jane Fleishman, PhD, MS, MEd, CSE is a Certified Sexuality Educator, researcher, and writer with more than 40 years’ experience. After retiring as the Director of Medical Education and Staff Development at a large psychiatric hospital, Jane pursued her PhD and began her successful encore career in human sexuality. In her recent TEDx talk “Is it OK for Grandma to have sex?” she articulates her mission to promote the sexual well-being of older adults. Her recently published research assessing the sexual satisfaction of aging adults in same-sex relationships is available here. Dr. Fleishman’s focus on changing the ways older adults’ sexuality is perceived allows her to bring together decades of experience in organizing, educating, researching, and implementing lasting change across a wide variety of disciplines. In 2000, she received Governor’s Service Award in Healing of Racism; in 2015, a Graduate Scholar Award from the Aging and Society Knowledge Community; and in 2016, the William R. Stayton Award for Leadership in the field of human sexuality. In 2020 her book on sexuality aging will be released by Skinner House Press. Visit her website at www.janefleishman.com.

Nancy Knudsen, LMFT is a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Northampton, MA with over 30 years experience in the field. She has used a family systems orientation over the years 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 served two years as the Assistant Director of the New England EFT Community. Nancy has taught a number of workshops on EFT for professionals, and has facilitated over 12 couples weekend workshops using the Hold Me Tight® Program developed by Dr Sue Johnson. Additionally, she is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor. Her most recent enterprise is Co-Founding and Directing the Couple and Family Institute of New England.

Dr. Bukky Kolawole is a Black, queer, gender non-conforming person and the founder and executive director of Relationship HQ. Her* purpose is to boldly disrupt systems of oppression with love so that we can all show up in the fullness of our humanity, i.e. with authenticity and vulnerability. She* is committed to helping therapists develop their racial consciousness so they can better serve all clients and not just a subset of clients (i.e. clients with privileged identities).

As a trainer, Dr. Bukky is dedicated to the design and delivery of dynamic, evocative learning experiences in which participants increase their knowledge and skills while feeling emotionally engaged through the learning process. Her* unique training style is culturally informed, emotionally engaging and captivating of participants’ hearts and minds. The combination of her* passion for teaching, unique training style and the emotionally-attuned environment she intentionally creates sets her* apart from other trainers. Dr. Bukky is a certified EFT therapist and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). Read more about Dr. Bukky on her* website.

Mirza Lugardo, LMHC has 14 years of experience as Director of the Intensive Family Services Program of Harrington Hospital working with chronically mentally ill children and their families. Her skill set includes community outreach, program development, crisis intervention, clinical supervision, prevention, dual diagnosis, co-occurring disorders and psychological assessment among other things. She is working towards her Ph.D. in Applied Psychology, Couples and Family Therapy from Antioch University New England Graduate School. Mirza is also credentialed as a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor.  In addition, she has been trained as a Doula and has helped over 100 women go through labor and childbirth in hospitals and birth center settings. Contact Mirza here.

Kerry Lusignan, LMHC holds a Master’s from the Department of Applied Psychology at Antioch New England Graduate School, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and has more than 25 years of experience in the field of mental health. In 2002, she opened her first private practice in Northampton, MA, and in 2009 began dedicating her practice exclusively to the treatment of couples in distress. Kerry founded The Northampton Center for Couples Therapy in 2010, where she acts as Director and Supervisor of the center’s eight licensed couples therapists. Dedicated exclusively to evidence-informed/state-dependent couples therapy, NCCT treats over 100 couples a week, and offers intensive private intensive retreats attracting couples from around the country and abroad.

Kerry is one of approximately 135 Certified Gottman Method Couples Therapists who has trained directly with Dr. John Gottman and received certification from the Gottman Institute. In addition, she has completed advanced training and supervision in Emotionally Focused Therapy and is a candidate for certification in 2017. She has advanced training in Stepfamily Systems and is registered with The National Stepfamily Resource Center. Most recently, Kerry has embarked on training with Brent Atkinson in Pragmatic Experiential Therapy (PEX-T). Her sub-specialties include high conflict couples, couples on the brink of divorce, and working with couples in marathon format; focusing on the integration of the different strands of state-dependent couples therapy from the leading evidence-based models of relationship distress. Learn more about Kerry at www.northamptoncouplestherapy.com.

Julie Mencher LICSW is a therapist, clinical consultant, and educator in Northampton MA who specializes in working with the LGBTQ community. Her organizational consulting work focuses on helping pre-K through college educational institutions and health care organizations in several countries to work toward trans inclusion and trans-competency. Formerly, Julie was the Transgender Specialist at Smith College (2001-2004), adjunct professor at Smith College School for Social Work, and Visiting Scholar at the Stone Center and Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at Wellesley College. She has published book chapters and articles in clinical journals and the media on LGBTQ topics, and is the co-author of the chapter, “Two Middle-Aged, White, Jewish, Cisgender Lesbians Sitting Around Talking About Trans Sex,” in Sex, Sexualities, and Trans Identities (2019, forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishing). Her general psychotherapy and clinical consultation practice includes a focus on working with LGBT clients, particularly with the parents of gender-nonconforming and trans youth. Visit her website at www.juliemencher.net.

Michael Moran, LCSW, CST is a Certified EFT Couples Therapist and Supervisor as well as an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist based in New York, NY where he specializes his practice at the intersection of relational and sexual issues. He is also an adjunct professor at Rutgers University and travels the country training mental health professionals on how to effectively address sexual issues in couples therapy. Contact Michael here.

Gail Palmer, MSW, RMFT is one of the Founding Members of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute and Co-Director of the International Center of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. She holds a Masters degree in Social Work and is a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist in Canada. Over the past 30 years, Gail has worked closely with Dr. Sue Johnson, creator of Emotionally Focused Therapy, and is an experienced supervisor and trainer in EFT. She currently offers workshops, externships, and core skills trainings to mental health professionals in a variety of different settings across the world. She chairs the ICEEFT Education Committee and is responsible for mentoring and training EFT trainers internationally. Gail is an adjunct faculty member at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada and a sessional lecturer at Oxford University, Oxford, England.

Gail has a particular interest in applying the model with work with families. For the past decade, she has been one of the lead EFT trainers who have developed and expanded on Sue Johnson’s EFFT method. The definite text co-authored by Gail Emotionally Focused Family Therapy: Restoring Connection and Promoting Resilience is now available. Gail’s work has included EFFT trainings across North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand, presentations at EFT summits, workshops at the Networker and AAMFT, publications in the EFFT workbook and casebook, articles in professional journals and the ICEEFT newsletter. Professionally, Gail’s primary passion is to help therapists who are both new to EFT and trained in EFT, to bring the powerful interventions and skills of this model to the family therapy room. Visit Gail’s website www.gailpalmerefft.com.

Dr. Janine Roberts is Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and past-president of AFTA (American Family Therapy Academy). “The first families I saw back in the 70s were in court-mandated sessions done in people’s homes. I went on to supervise several teams in the area that worked in clients’ living spaces, as well as train Masters and Doctoral level family therapists at UMASS for 25 years. I currently see families in my home.” Janine authored Tales and Transformations: Stories in Families and Family Therapy (Norton Press); coauthored Rituals for Our Times: Celebrating, Healing, and Changing Our Lives and Our Relationships (Jason Aronson); coedited Rituals in Families and Family Therapy (Norton Press); and has written some seventy articles and chapters, and a poetry book, The Body Alters (Slate Roof Press). She has had two Fulbrights to Latin America and works frequently there as well as other parts of the world. Contact Janine here.