Professional Lecture Series: Lauren Errington, MCFT

Tracking Emotional Process in Relationship Interactions in Clinical Practice 

Lauren Errington, MCFT

Human emotional reflexes operate largely out of awareness in response to a huge range of stimuli. In relationships, the automatic reactivity that is stirred up in the stimulus-response system profoundly affects the relationship. Dr. Bowen described his own effort in working with couples to define the stimulus-response system in “a step-by-step sequence to help spouses gain some control over it” (Bowen 1978, 421). What might a clinical effort towards defining this step-by-step sequence look like in contemporary practice? How can it assist clients to observe themselves, think, and consider doing things a bit differently? 

This presentation will explore how tracking relationship interactions using sequences can facilitate clients’ observation of their own part in their relationship interactions and illuminate the emotional process that drives familiar patterns of relating. It will consider how the use of sequences from a Bowen-theory informed approach differs from other family therapy approaches, and the coach’s own efforts in managing themselves when working with clients using this approach. 

Bio: Lauren Errington is the Executive Director of the Family Systems Institute in Sydney, Australia. She has a Masters in Couple and Family Therapy (UNSW) and is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AASW) and Clinical Family Therapist (AAFT) at the Family Systems Practice in Sydney.  As part of her ongoing interest in the application of Bowen theory to clinical practice, Lauren has published several articles in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy and was a co-editor for the June 2024 Special Issue of the ANZJFT on Bowen Family Systems Theory. 

Host or Publisher The Bowen Center for the Study of the Family