Conferences

2025

Summer Conference

Friday, July 18, 2025 | Time TBD

"A Unique View of Marriage" - Revisited LIVE discussion from Dr. Michael Kerr and Kathleen Kerr, MSN, MA, CNS 

Join us on Friday, July 18, 2025 for a special virtual event as we revisit the memorable 2006 Heartland Conference, "A Unique View of Marriage", and a LIVE discussion by Dr. Michael Kerr and Kathleen Kerr, MSN, MA, CNS. This conference was originally held at the Kansas City Center for Family Systems.

This full-day online gathering will feature selected clips from the original recordings, interspersed with live commentary and discussion from two of the leading voices in Bowen Theory:

Dr. Michael Kerr

Director of the Bowen Theory Academy and a practicing psychiatrist with decades of clinical and research experience in systems thinking and family therapy. Dr. Kerr worked closely with Dr. Murray Bowen and continues to lead efforts in advancing Bowen Theory.

Kathleen Kerr, MSN, MA

A respected clinician and teacher, Kathleen Kerr has worked in both family systems nursing and psychotherapy. Her work focuses on applying Bowen Theory in health care settings and family systems education.

Together, they will provide fresh insight into topics from the original 2006 presentations, including:

  • Marriage: What is the Rub?
  • An Effort at Differentiation in a Marriage
  • Emotional Objectivity: An Essential Ingredient for Progress
  • The Specifics of "Emotional Divorce"

Mark your calendar now for a full day virtual conference on July 18th, 2025.

We look forward to reflecting together on this timeless content and exploring how Bowen Theory continues to offer clarity in the complexities of human relationships, especially in marriage.

2024

Summer Conference

Friday, July 26, 2024 | Discover groundbreaking insights on emotion from leading experts! Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a distinguished professor at Northeastern University, explores the psychological constructivist view on the experience of emotion. Dr. Michael E. Kerr, Director of the Bowen Theory Academy, offers a different theoretical perspective on the emergence of emotion using family systems theory. Dive into the science of feelings and transform your understanding of emotions through this previously recorded conference.

2021

Heartland Conference

Friday, March 26, 2021 Metropolitan Community College – Maple WoodsCampus Center 110 The 2021 Heartland Conference guest speakers are: Michael Bailey, PhD and Michael Kerr, MD The annual Heartland Conference is open to the public and is dedicated to science and theory.
2019

Heartland Conference

10-4 Friday, May 31, 2019 – 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Metropolitan Community College – Maple Woods. Please Note Room Change: Campus Center. The annual Summer Conference is the last public conference of the academic year.
2018

BTA Conference

The KC Center co-sponsored this first joint conference & Zoom webinar offered with the Bowen TheoryAcademy (sponsor) & Southern California Education & Training in Bowen Theory (co-sponsor) on Friday, November 30, 2018.
2018

Systems Biology Meets Bowen Family Systems Theory Conference

Whether you are a Bowen Family Systems practitioner, a systems biologist, or simply interested in learning more about these fascinating approaches to understanding disease, this conference promises to be an exciting event that will present revolutionary thinking about cancer and other complex diseases. So, join us today and discover the exciting possibility of a new way of understanding! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from some of the leading experts in the field!

2021 Heartland Conference

“Exploring the Gut-Brain Connection and Bowen theory”
Friday, March 26, 2021
Metropolitan Community College – Maple Woods
Campus Center 110

The 2021 Heartland Conference guest speakers are:  Michael Bailey, PhD and Michael Kerr, MD

The annual Heartland Conference is open to the public and is dedicated to science and theory.


2019 Summer Conference

Metropolitan Community College – Maple Woods
Please Note Room Change: Campus Center 104
Friday, May 31, 2019 – 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM

The annual Summer Conference is the last public conference of the academic year.

2018 BTA Conference

“The Hidden Life of Families:
Relationships, Stress and Symptom Development”

The KC Center co-sponsored this first joint conference & Zoom webinar offered with the Bowen Theory
Academy (sponsor) & Southern California Education & Training in Bowen Theory (co-sponsor) on Friday, November 30, 2018.

 


Systems Biology Meets Bowen Family Systems Theory Conference

“If physical and emotional illnesses are accurately conceptualized as symptoms of a more basic process, then all “diseases.” are rooted in one fundamental process, a unidisease.”  (Michael E. Kerr, 2019)

Whether you are a Bowen Family Systems practitioner, a systems biologist, or simply interested in learning more about these fascinating approaches to understanding disease, this conference promises to be an exciting event that will present revolutionary thinking about cancer and other complex diseases. So, join us today and discover the exciting possibility of a new way of understanding! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from some of the leading experts in the field! 

Register Online