Jenny Brown has worked as a social worker and family therapist since the early 1980s.  Her clinical work has been in alternate care, couple therapy, family therapy, adult mental health, family homelessness, expatriate families and child and family health. She is well regarded in Australia for her training in Murray Bowen's Family Systems Theory and has been dedicated to developing the application of this model in clinical practice and training since the early 1990s.

Having trained in family therapy with the Marriage Guidance Council, Jenny moved to the United States and completed her Masters doing her field work with Dr Salvador Minuchin and his Family Studies Institute in New York City.

Jenny then undertook an advanced training program at the Family Institute of Westchester, New York where she was supervised for 2 years by Betty Carter, one of the founders of the Women's Project in family Therapy. It was here that Jenny was introduced to the work of Murray Bowen and expanded her understanding of the theory by undertaking her own family of origin coaching, and training in the art of teaching the model.  At the completion of her training Jenny was offered a teaching fellowship at the Institute. Jenny has also practiced in the UK where she trained at the Tavistock for accreditation as a systemic supervisor. Her commitment to learning has been recognized with University awards at the University of Sydney and Columbia University.

Upon her return to Australia in 1996, Jenny has worked in child and adolescent mental health, private practice, supervised many teams of clinicians and has presented widely on family systems applications to academic institutions, agencies and national conferences. 

As part of her work at the FSI, Jenny co-ordinates the Certificate program and the Graduates program. She supervises various health care professionals and organisations and is developing parent coaching programs and systems training for those in Family Businesses; and church and pastoral work.

Jenny’s is a PhD candidate at the University of NSW where her research looks at parents’ experience of their adolescents’ mental health treatment.  Her current research interest is in parenting in anxious times.

Publications:

Book chapter, “Agents of Change: A Group of Women in a Shelter” in: Mutual aid groups, vulnerable populations, and the life cycle; Editors: Alex Gitterman, Lawrence Shulman. Columbia University Press, 1994.

“Bowen Family Systems Theory and Practice: Illustration and Critique”; Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy (ANZJFT) Vol.20 No.2 pp. 94-103. 1999.

“Going Home Again: A family of origin approach to individual therapy”. Psychotherapy in Australia Vol.14 No.1 pp. 12-18. Nov 2007.

“We Don’t Need Your Help, But Will You Please Fix Our Children?” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy (ANZJFT) Vol.29 No.2 pp. 61-69. 2008.

“Is Bowen Theory still relevant in the Family Therapy field?: A discussion of common challenges and confusion about the usefulness of Murray Bowen’s Family Systems Approach.” Journal of the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Association of NSW Inc (CAPA) Quarterly Issue 3 pp. 11-17. 2008.

“Inviting each partner out of the fusion:  Bowen Family Systems Theory and couple therapy.” Co-authored with Joanne Wright. The CAPA Quarterly.  pp. 17-20. Issue Two, 2010. 

“Restless Bedfellows: Taking Bowen Theory into a Child-focused Adolescent Treatment Unit in Australia.” Chapter in= Bringing Systems Thinking to Life Expanding the Horizons for Bowen Family Systems Theory. Publisher: Routledge. Edited by Ona Cohn Bregman, and Charles White. 2010.

“Growing Yourself Up: How to bring your best to all of life’s relationships”. Book in press March 2012. Exisle Publishing.

Dr Linda MacKay has extensive experience as a clinician, trainer and clinical supervisor in working with individuals, couples and families. She has a particular specialty in clinical work with those who have suffered severe trauma.

Prior to returning to her home city of Sydney to join The Family Systems Institute, Linda managed a specialist multi-disciplinary team working with grief and trauma based in rural and remote North-West Tasmania. Undertaking clinical work and research with a highly traumatized population, Linda’s PhD in Critical Psychology through the University of Western Sydney, focused on what makes for healing after overwhelming life events where the common sequelae from such events include dissociation, self-harm, suicidality, depression and extreme anxiety. She continues to present her work nationally and internationally and is publishing her first book “The Making of a Viable Life” (in press) in 2010. As a result of her work and research into trauma, Linda is currently an Executive Member of the Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Linda’s earlier clinical life, based in NSW, focused on working with individuals, couples and families, particularly those experiencing domestic violence. She was a facilitator and supervisor of programs for perpetrators of domestic violence for a number of years. Linda has also taught extensively in her role as Convener and Trainer for the Graduate Diploma in Family Therapy within the Australian Institute for Relationships Studies (AIRS), an arm of Relationships Australia.

Both personally and professionally, Linda has been greatly influenced by Murray Bowen’s ideas and has undergone extensive Family of Origin coaching. She began developing training workshops in Bowen Theory in the mid 1990s and is committed to exploring the challenges of keeping a systems view in relation to abuse and trauma in families.