BUILDING THE TRAINING PROGRAM

Under the leadership of Carolynn Maltas and David Berkowitz, PCFINE developed the one-year Couple Therapy Training Program integrating psychodynamic theory, family systems thinking, attachment theory, and emerging research. The program launched in 2002, meeting monthly on Sunday mornings to welcome working clinicians and parents.

During the first year, David Berkowitz developed a devastating neurological illness and could no longer teach. His loss deeply affected the community—but the program endured through the resilience and collaboration of faculty and students alike.

A CULTURE OF MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES

Justin Newmark stepped into leadership, bringing creativity, accessibility, and a relational teaching style that profoundly shaped PCFINE's culture. Joe Shay later joined the faculty, contributing his experience from the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and reinforcing an approach to learning that was lively, humane, and intellectually rigorous.

A defining feature emerged during these years: faculty openly and respectfully challenged one another in front of students. Disagreements about theory and technique became teaching tools, communicating something essential—there is no single "right" way to do couples therapy. Clinical judgment emerges through reflection, dialogue, and responsiveness to each unique couple.

Students became co-creators of the Institute. Their feedback led to small consultation groups, an optional second year of training, and committees for ongoing learning, programming, and community building.

From the beginning, PCFINE operated differently. 

There were no hierarchies of "expert" and "learner." Instead, we brought cases, asked questions, and thought out loud together.

WE WERE COMMITTED TO:

• Integrated training in psychodynamic and systemic approaches to couple and family therapy

• Collaboration across disciplines (social work, psychology, psychiatry, marriage and family therapy)
• Consultation to community agencies serving families in need
• Public programs that brought depth-oriented thinking to broader audiences

We were building a culture where curiosity mattered more than certainty, where questions were welcomed, and where the complexity of this work was honored rather than oversimplified.

This still holds true today.

As PCFINE matured, students urged the creation of formal organizational structures to ensure sustainability beyond the founding generation. The Institute established bylaws, a Board of Directors, and important leadership roles. In 2017, a carefully stewarded transition brought David Goldfinger into the role of Director of Training—a "peaceful transfer of power" that reflected PCFINE's relational ethos and commitment to continuity. Throughout these changes, Alice Rapkin's institutional memory and administrative stewardship provided steady guidance.

PCFINE weathered significant challenges with creativity and resilience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, training programs and workshops moved online seamlessly. New offerings emerged addressing contemporary clinical concerns: teletherapy, racism and social inequality, aging, illness, and end-of-life conversations. A dedicated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee was established, deepening the Institute's commitment to examining systemic inequities both within clinical work and within PCFINE itself. The Institute continued to evolve its curriculum, bringing in distinguished speakers from Esther Perel to Virginia Goldner, while maintaining the intimate, relational atmosphere that had characterized it from the beginning.

More than three decades later, PCFINE is still the collaborative learning community our founders envisioned—but with a deeper commitment to equity, inclusion, and honoring the full diversity of how people form families and build intimate lives together. PCFINE is recognized as a major center for training in psychodynamic couple therapy that actively welcomes integration with family systems, attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, trauma studies, and sociocultural perspectives. 

WE CONTINUE OFFERING:

• A comprehensive one-year training program with an optional second year, 
• ongoing consultation groups that often continue for years beyond formal training, 
• workshops, conferences, and 
• a vibrant community of learning.

We remain intentionally small, relational, and community-centered.

Many of our faculty, board members, and committee leaders are former students—a testament to the Institute's capacity to foster deep professional belonging and growth.

Our approach continues to honor multiple theoretical perspectives, encouraging clinicians to develop their own clinical voice through thoughtful dialogue rather than adherence to a single school of thought.

Our core commitment has remained the same: this work is too important, and too complex, to do alone.

What's deepened is our understanding of what "inclusive" and "responsive" really mean. We've committed to ongoing anti-racism work, recognizing that the field has historically excluded BIPOC clinicians and pathologized non-dominant family structures. We've expanded our definition of "family" to honor the diverse ways people form intimate connections. And we've recognized that financial barriers keep too many clinicians out—so we've implemented sliding-scale membership and are working toward structural change in how we operate.

OUR EVOLUTION IS ONGOING.