The Family Institute at Northwestern University to host Love & Happiness: Relationships in the African American Community

Event to be held October 29th in Matteson, IL

EVANSTON, IL – The Family Institute at Northwestern University, an organization committed to strengthening and healing families from all walks of life through clinical service, education and research, announces its first event in the Circle of Knowledge Event Series, entitled Love & Happiness: Relationships in the African American Community. The event will be held on Tuesday, October 29 at 7:00 in Matteson, IL at Victory Apostolic Church.

Intimate partnered relationships are vitally important to fostering and maintaining our social, familial and emotional well being. Everyone benefits — both adults and their children. But what exactly does a healthy intimate relationship look like? Is there a roadmap to finding, building and maintaining a stable, long-term relationship? What can be done to strengthen these relationships to provide couples with the intimacy, happiness and longevity they seek and deserve? Love & Happiness: Relationships in the African American Community will address these questions and more, and how these issues impact the African American community.

The event features Bishop Horace Smith, who will speak on the topic of African American relationships and the challenges and opportunities present within them. Bishop Smith, pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church and an attending physician specializing in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Memorial Hospital, brings his years of medical and interpersonal relationship expertise to his presentation.

Bishop Smith’s talk will be followed by a panel discussion featuring relationship experts Dr. Anthony Chambers, Staff Licensed Clinical Psychologist at The Family Institute and Director of The Institute’s Couples Therapy Program and the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, and Dr. Donna Baptiste, Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Licensed Family Therapist at The Institute.

The discussion will be facilitated by Dr. Reginald Richardson, PhD., LCSW., and Vice President for Evaluation and Clinical Services at The Family Institute. “The African American social fabric is still the same,” says Dr. Richardson. “It’s faith, it’s family, it’s education. So we’re going to talk about those things.”

The event will be held at Victory Apostolic Church at 20801 Matteson Avenue, Matteson, IL. Registration is at 6:30 p.m. and Bishop Smith’s presentation begins at 7:00. The event is free of charge but donations are accepted.

For more information on this event or the Circle of Knowledge Event Series, please call 312-609-5300, ext. 480 or visit www.family-institute.org/cok. For more information on The Family Institute, contact Tammy Reed at 312-609-5300, ext. 484, or visit www.family-institute.org.

About The Family Institute at Northwestern University

An affiliate of Northwestern University, The Family Institute is a unique, innovative not-for-profit organization, governed by its own independent Board of Directors and responsible for its own funding. The Institute offers a wide range of high quality mental health counseling services through our staff practice and sliding-fee scale clinic, where we are committed to serving at-risk, under-resourced communities. The Family Institute also operates two nationally-renowned graduate programs in marriage and family therapy and counseling psychology in affiliation with Northwestern university, and conducts cutting-edge research projects that lead to better understanding and treatment of mental health issues