"Being a member of this trip is quite possibly one of the best experiences of my life," said Fairfield University Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) graduate student Tiffany Harris in her reflection on her March 2009 experience of a London study trip with Dr. Ingeborg Haug, associate professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Fairfield University's Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions.

Dr. Haug organized a group of fifteen MFT graduate students and took them to London's Marlborough Family Institute for a week of study and observation. "The agency is unlike anything we have in the states," said Maryann LaBella, a 2009 MFT graduate who now works at Mid-Fairfield Child Guidance. Now, Dr. Haug has planned a second trip for January 2010 and she invites area mental health professionals to join her and the graduate students for a week with a school-based focus.

In the flush of the success of that first trip, Dr. Haug's next trip - Study Tour and Training at Marlborough Family Service - takes place Jan. 23-30, 2010 in London, England. The focus of the study is "Innovative Approaches to Working with Couples and Families With an Emphasis on School-based Interventions." Participants can earn 18 CEUs or 3 Fairfield University graduate credits. Deadline for the program deposit is Nov. 15. Contact www.fairfield.edu/studyabroad for an application or call Kim Baer at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2140; her e-mail is kbaer@fairfield.edu .

The group will spend a week at the Marlborough Family Institute, a London-based program that has developed a unique approach to helping multi-problem families. The institute uses both day and outpatient settings and a multi-family approach. On this trip, the group will spend several days studying Marlborough's unique approach to school issues.

"The Institute sets up structures and therapeutic tasks so that ultimately families are helping each other," said Dr. Haug. "The approach has been so successful that Denmark has now adopted it," she continued.

The program addresses information valuable to family therapists, social workers, school and community psychologists and licensed mental health professionals.

Posted On: 10-14-2009 10:10 AM

Volume: 42 Number: 89