Still White, Still Privileged – Now What?

  • September 09, 2020
  • Ann Depner, LCSW
  • 4 Comments

Will history recall 2020 as the start of a new civil rights movement? This year’s events have certainly moved me.  Violent policing of people of color, widespread protests, a deadly virus that disproportionately affects Blacks  – all have prompted me to examine my role in ...

Read More

Reflections on White Privilege

  • August 19, 2020
  • Ann Depner, LCSW
  • 4 Comments

“White people have to see how they will benefit from racial equality.” Ibram Kendi, author of How to Be an Anti-Racist, uttered these words in response to a question posed at the University of Pittsburgh’s recent Diversity Forum – “Can white people be engaged in ...

Read More

Pandemic Parenting and Differentiation of Self

  • August 05, 2020
  • Jane Adams, MS
  • 2 Comments

My daughter-in-law recently called me after her school district's superintendent announced tentative reopening plans for the upcoming school year. Like parents the world over, she and my son are torn among the varied options to provide a safe school reentry for their children in light ...

Read More

Family Secrets and Bowen Theory

  • July 22, 2020
  • Sandra Caffo, LCSW
  • 4 Comments

I just finished reading the book When I Was White, a memoir by Sarah Valentine, Ph.D., who found out she was Black at age 27. It served as a vivid illustration of what Bowen theory describes as “the family emotional unit.” Ms. Valentine’s narrative centers ...

Read More

Taking Sides and Managing Self at the Protest

  • July 08, 2020
  • David Swanson, M.Div.
  • 8 Comments

Turn on the news today and you will see people in the streets protesting and demonstrating. These movements are activated around the question of race and the role it plays in our society. The question has become personal for me as an opportunity to deepen ...

Read More

Searching for Self in This Time Outside Time

  • June 10, 2020
  • Wendy Levin-Shaw, LCSW
  • 6 Comments

[ Editor's note: The WPFC blog posts every 2 weeks - "Searching for Self in This Time Outside Time" was written on May 14, 2020. Still the search for self is always important, and during this time of high emotions and concern perhaps even more ...

Read More

On Trying Too Hard to Help

  • May 28, 2020
  • Catherine Rakow, MSW & Carl Jensen, MDiv., MSEd
  • 11 Comments

Is there a therapist alive who has never tried harder to solve a client problem than his or her client?  Dr. Murray Bowen’s family research spoke to this dilemma and led to the surprising conclusion that families asked to simply explore and describe their functioning ...

Read More