October 10, 2007
Media Contact: Rick Moore
415-314-8952
rmoore.rockway@alliant.edu

Rockway Director Presents at Chicago Conference Honoring Froma Walsh

Rockway Institute Executive Director and Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Alliant International University Dr. Robert-Jay Green is one of nine invited speakers at a conference to honor the work of Froma Walsh, a leading mental health scholar on family resilience and on strengths-oriented, community-based family interventions.

Green will speak Friday, October 12 at the University of Chicago on “Risk and Resilience in Lesbian and Gay Families.”  Walsh is the Morse and Sylvia Firestone Professor in the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and Professor of Psychiatry at the University’s medical school.

At the conference, Green will join other leaders in the field of family therapy and research who advance mental health, healthcare and social services methods that are strengths-oriented and multi-systemic. The speakers were selected by Walsh to present their innovative practice approaches, research, and cases to inspire community-based programs to strengthen family resilience.

“I’m honored to participate in this event that pays tribute to Froma Walsh’s distinguished career and her pioneering contributions to family theory and therapy, including her books on family resilience, women in families, coping with loss, and religious/spiritual beliefs in families,” said Green.

In his speech at the conference, Dr. Green will focus on three risk factors affecting the well-functioning of many same-sex couples and lesbian/gay parents:  prejudice and discrimination in their communities (workplaces, schools, religious organizations, healthcare settings); lower levels of family of origin support; and lack of legal statuses and cultural traditions that define and protect their relationships.  He will suggest ways that mental health professionals can help lesbian/gay families become more resilient and cope with these special challenges of being lesbian/gay.

Walsh’s scholarly work led her to develop a research-informed, family resilience framework for interventions to strengthen families facing crisis, trauma or loss; disruptive transitions; and prolonged adversity. Her model is used in research, program development and direct practice in many parts of the world. Her most recent work addresses family and community resilience in response to widespread trauma and catastrophic events, including natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, war-related losses, refugee experiences and terrorist attacks.
At the invitation of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency, Walsh has traveled to Jerusalem to provide training for community mental health workers who are serving Palestinian refugee children and families suffering severe trauma and loss.

Her books include Strengthening Family Resilience, Normal Family Processes: Growing Diversity and Complexity, Living Beyond Loss: Death in the Family, Spiritual Resources in Family Therapy and Women in Families.
Walsh holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and also is Co-Director of the Chicago Center for Family Health.

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Contact Dr. Green at rjgreen@alliant.edu or 415-955-2121.