Hi my name is Walter Vega
and i am the Interim Director of
Training and Dean of Admissions at the
Ackerman Institute for the Family.
I guess you could say my career as a
family therapist started
a long long time ago.
I am proud to say i'm Brooklyn born and
bred.
I'm the firstborn child of immigrant
parents from Honduras.
I grew up in a predominantly Latinx
community in a neighborhood known as
Sunset Park.
Most of the kids I knew were also born
to immigrant parents
and one of the things i noticed early on
in life is that
many of us were the cultural brokers of
our families.
We were the ones who helped our families,
our parents,
navigate systems. I often went with my
mother to translate for her
whenever we went to see a doctor or lawyer.
Certainly anytime we went to school and
it was there that I learned
really early on all the different
systems that families can come into
contact with
and perhaps more importantly I really
got
an early lesson in the ways in which
these systems
impact families who also experience
racism
discrimination and poverty. So i suppose
you could say
I had some pretty early lessons in
family process
and maybe i was the beginning of my
career as a family therapist.
The Ackerman Institute for the Family
is a world-renowned family therapy
training institute and clinic.
We offer mental health professionals
interested in postgraduate
study a variety of training
opportunities
that includes a three to five year core
curriculum program
in family therapy, short courses, and one-day workshops.
Our curriculum's goal is to train people
to become
systemic and relational thinkers and
practitioners.
Our faculty have made major
contributions to the field, presented
nationally and internationally,
and are deeply committed to ushering in
the next generation of family therapists.
We emphasize the importance of
considering the many layers of context
of a family's life and experience.
Most important we believe in families
resilience and power to heal themselves.
Listen, I had a pretty good graduate
education
however I knew that in order to affect
the kind of change I wanted,
I needed additional training. I needed
something else.
I think there's a lot of great stuff out
there that really does focus on the
individual.
However my personal conviction is that
if we can help families heal and find
new ways
of being and connecting to one another,
we can heal our communities
and the world. Our training program will
provide you with the grounding and skill
to effectively go out into the community
in various roles.
Be it as clinical directors at
community-based agencies,
as family therapy consultants, faculty at
an educational institution, or
private practice. In an ever-changing
world where racism, poverty, xenophobia
continue to exert an influence on
family communication,
attunement, and connection, we need family
therapists who are highly skilled,
compassionate, and socially-just. The
Ackerman Institute for the Family is
proud to provide that opportunity.
