Ackerman Institute for the Family

Ackerman Institute for the Family One of the premier institutions for family therapy, training, and research in the US. Serving families since 1960.

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day.Changing the narrative around su***de starts with compassion, connection, and conv...
09/10/2026

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day.

Changing the narrative around su***de starts with compassion, connection, and conversation.

Sometimes support begins with something simple: noticing a change, asking a direct question, listening without judgment, and helping someone connect to the care they need.

At Ackerman, we believe relationships can be powerful sources of support, hope, and healing.

***dePreventionDay ***dePrevention

It’s not always a lack of love. Sometimes, it’s a mismatch of desire.Desire discrepancy is one of the most common concer...
09/08/2026

It’s not always a lack of love. Sometimes, it’s a mismatch of desire.

Desire discrepancy is one of the most common concerns couples bring into therapy, but it does not have to be approached as a problem within one individual.

In Desire Discrepancy in Couples: A Relational Approach to Assessment & Treatment, Dr. Candice Cooper-Lovett will help clinicians move beyond a pathology-based view of “mismatched libido” and instead examine the relational patterns shaping the couple’s experience.

Participants will explore:

• Pursuer–distancer dynamics
• Shame and attachment-related conflict
• The meaning each partner assigns to the desire gap
• Negotiated initiation and scheduling practices
• Somatic and co-regulation interventions
• Ways to rebuild relational safety and connection

September 25, 2026
10:00 AM–1:00 PM ET
Live Online
3 CE Contact Hours
Tuition: $125

AASECT-approved for 3 CE credits.

Learn more and register: https://www.ackerman.org/events/desire-discrepancy-in-couples/?

If you’ve completed an EFT Externship and are looking for the next step in your training, Emotionally Focused Therapy (E...
09/02/2026

If you’ve completed an EFT Externship and are looking for the next step in your training, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Core Skills, Extended offers an in-depth opportunity to strengthen your practice through hands-on learning.

Led by Elana Katz, LCSW, LMFT and George Faller, LMFT, this small-group course consists of four two-day workshops focused on the core skills essential to the practice of EFT.

Topics include:

• Assessment and identifying the negative cycle
• Cycle de-escalation
• Withdrawer re-engagement
• Pursuer softening

Each segment includes instruction, role play, observation of a live interview, and consultation. Participants will also present a short video clip of their own work as part of the course.

September 17, 2026 – January 8, 2027
Live Online
48 CE Contact Hours

Prerequisite: Completion of an EFT Externship

This is a wonderful opportunity for clinicians who want to deepen their confidence, skill, and application of EFT in a supportive learning environment.

Learn more and register: https://www.ackerman.org/events/emotionally-focused-therapy-eft-core-skills-extended-2026-2027/?

September is Su***de Prevention Month.Every life is precious. Every person matters.This month is an opportunity to check...
09/01/2026

September is Su***de Prevention Month.

Every life is precious. Every person matters.

This month is an opportunity to check in, listen a little more closely, and remind the people around us that they are seen and valued.

You may not always know what someone is carrying. A thoughtful message, a moment of connection, or simply showing up can matter more than you realize.

You are not alone.
You are seen.
Your life has value.

Let’s keep showing up for one another. 💙

***dePreventionMonth

What do you bring into the therapy room?Every clinician brings a self into the work, identity, history, culture, lived e...
09/01/2026

What do you bring into the therapy room?

Every clinician brings a self into the work, identity, history, culture, lived experience, assumptions, presence, and perspective.

In The Self of the Therapist in Clinical Practice: A Multicultural Relational Perspective, renowned clinician, author, and educator Dr. Kenneth V. Hardy explores the Self of the Therapist as a powerful framework for strengthening clinical practice.

This 14-week online seminar helps clinicians deepen self-awareness, strengthen clinical engagement, and develop strategies for navigating therapeutic ruptures, defensiveness, escalation, race, identity, culture, and difficult conversations with greater clarity and intention.

Fall 2026 Seminar Course
Fully online
Tuesdays, 4:00–7:00 PM ET
Starts September 15
42 CE credits
No prerequisites

Explore Dr. Hardy’s seminar:
https://www.ackerman.org/training/seminar-course-hardy/

08/28/2026

In today’s rapidly changing world, couples and families are navigating increasingly complex realities shaped by culture, identity, migration, global conflict, climate change, technology, and shifting family forms.

For clinicians, this complexity can create real dilemmas in the therapy room.

But as Dr. Reenee Singh shares, it also creates opportunities: to bridge differences, strengthen relationships, and foster resilience.

In Practical Strategies for Working with Contemporary Couples and Families, Dr. Singh offers clinicians practical systemic tools for working across difference with greater confidence, awareness, and intention.

Fall 2026 Seminar Course
Fully online
Thursdays, 1:00–4:00 PM ET
Starts September 17
42 CE credits

Comment RESILIENCE and we’ll send you more information.

Your clients are navigating complex relationships in a rapidly changing world.Culture, identity, migration, religion, la...
08/26/2026

Your clients are navigating complex relationships in a rapidly changing world.

Culture, identity, migration, religion, language, class, family structure, and social expectations are not just background details — they shape what happens in the room.

In **Practical Strategies for Working with Contemporary Couples and Families**, Dr. Reenee Singh introduces innovative systemic tools to help clinicians work across cultural, relational, and societal differences with greater confidence, awareness, and intention.

Participants will explore systemic and intercultural frameworks, clinical material, research insights, and experiential learning designed to support resilience in contemporary couples and families.

Fall 2026 Seminar Course
Fully online
Thursdays, 1:00–4:00 PM ET
Starts September 17
42 CE credits
No prerequisites

Explore the seminar:
https://www.ackerman.org/training/seminar-course-singh/

We’re currently accepting new couples and families for therapy. If your relationship or family is feeling stuck, straine...
08/25/2026

We’re currently accepting new couples and families for therapy.

If your relationship or family is feeling stuck, strained, disconnected, or overwhelmed, support is available.

Ackerman Clinic offers:

• Couples and family therapy
• In-person sessions in NYC
• Virtual therapy across New York State
• Warm, affirming, expert-supervised care

You don’t have to wait until things feel unmanageable to reach out.

Visit the link the link to start the intake process: https://www.ackerman.org/intake/

What could shift in your clinical work if you gave yourself the opportunity to step outside the therapy room and back in...
08/25/2026

What could shift in your clinical work if you gave yourself the opportunity to step outside the therapy room and back into learning?

This fall, Ackerman Institute is bringing together experienced clinicians, educators, and leading voices in couple and family therapy for a new season of workshops designed to deepen how you think, assess, and intervene.

Explore complex clinical topics including:

✨ Healing intergenerational wounds
✨ Desire discrepancy in couples
✨ Vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue
✨ Trauma, attachment, and couple conflict
✨ Ambiguous loss
✨ The challenges of blended families
✨ Structural family therapy
✨ Couples and money
✨ Cultural humility with Latinx LGBTQ+ families
✨ Trauma in teens and emerging adults
✨ Relational trauma
✨ Family resilience
✨ Working with BPD in couples therapy

These workshops offer more than new information. You’ll have the opportunity to consider cases through a relational and systemic lens, learn practical clinical approaches, and leave with ideas you can bring directly into your work with individuals, couples, and families.

Choose from live online and in-person workshops throughout the fall.

🎓 Earn up to 5 CE contact hours per workshop
💻 Live online and in person at Ackerman Institute
📅 September–December 2026

Whether you want to strengthen an existing area of practice or explore a clinical topic in greater depth, there is something in this season’s lineup for you.

Visit HERE to learn more: https://www.ackerman.org/training/workshops/

It’s rarely just about the dishes, the laundry, or who forgot to text back.Beneath many recurring arguments is a deeper ...
08/24/2026

It’s rarely just about the dishes, the laundry, or who forgot to text back.

Beneath many recurring arguments is a deeper question: Do I matter to you? Can I count on you? Are we still connected?

Couples therapy helps partners move beyond what they’re arguing about—and begin talking about what the argument really means.

Address

936 Broadway Fl 2
New York, NY
10010

Telephone

+12128794900

Website

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