Barry University Professor Brian S. Canfield, EdD, Chair of the Counseling Department, recently presented an international workshop on family counseling at the invitation of the University Putra Malaysia (UPM.) The 3-day training event - “Couples and Family Therapy: Strategies and Techniques for Effective Change” - took place at the Ministry of Education in Putrajaya, Malaysia and was attended by more than 100 mental health professionals and university professors from throughout Malaysia and several other countries.
Canfield’s workshop addressed ethical considerations and therapeutic procedures for ameliorating “high-risk” client behaviors within the context of the family – including suicidal ideation and intimate partner violence. The workshop provided a culturally sensitive approach for therapeutic intervention when working with clients within a Muslim community subject to Sharia law. Canfield also presented cybernetic and systemically based approaches to working with marital, couple, and family issues.
Canfield is a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and a licensed Mental Health Counselor in Louisiana, and a licensed Psychologist in the State of Arkansas. His research interests include professional practice issues, applied cybernetics, and intercultural counseling.