FSI Graduate Group 2026

The FSI Graduate Group provides structured ways to continue engagement with Bowen Theory for graduates of relevant training programs including the FSI’s Advanced Certificate in Couple and Family Systems Therapy and Certificate in Family Systems Theory and Application. In 2026, the FSI extends the invitation to graduates of international Bowen Theory training programs to join the FSI’s Grad Group learning community.

The 2026 program includes an introductory meeting in January, followed by five online meetings during the calendar year, and a hybrid presentation meeting in October. There are opportunities to network with others in-person including at the March and October events for those able to attend, as well as the FSI conference in August.

FSI Graduate Group Program 2026
Cost: $450+GST

• Orientation Session: Wednesday 21^st January 6:30pm – 7:15pm Syd AEST (online)
• Session 1 – Wednesday 18^th February 6:30pm – 8:00pm AEST (online)
• 2026 FSI Program Launch + 2025 Graduation (in-person)
  Wednesday 4^th March 6-8pm
• Session 2 – Wednesday 25^th March 6:30pm – 8:00pm AEST (online)
• Session 3 – Wednesday 13^th May 6:30pm – 8:00pm AEST (online)
• Session 4 – Wednesday 10^th June 6:30pm – 8:00pm AEST (online)
• Session 5 – Wednesday 22^nd July 6:30pm – 8:00pm AEST (online)
• Session Break for the FSI Conference- 19^th & 20^th August – Sydney
  Resilience in Relationships: Fresh perspectives in differentiation of self
  (25% discount onsite or online for Grad Group members)
• Session 6 – Friday 30^th October 12:30pm – 4:30pm (hybrid)
  Followed by FSI Network Event (in-person) Friday 30^th October 5-7pm

Graduate Group membership in 2026 also includes access to a range of FSI and Bowen Family Systems Theory resources including:

• Access to the FSI article library - in addition to existing access to organisational access to the Family Systems Journal and Family Systems Forum newsletter
• Free access to the FSI conference archives online (1 year + archives)
• Discounted access to recorded workshops and symposiums
• 25% off FSI Annual Conference and FSI workshops
• Free drink at FSI launch event and presentation/network event

2026 Program Focus

In 2026 the learning material will examine the opportunities Bowen Family Systems Theory generates, as a systems theory of emotional functioning, to deepen knowledge on the similarities in emotional functioning between humans and our closest primates. Bowen’s theory of human functioning is embedded within a natural systems knowledge base and the concepts within BFST provide a way to understand and see the similarities and differences between humans and all living species humans co-exist with.

The curriculum focus for the 2026 program is designed to explore the following assumption in Bowen Theory:

“[Hu]man is conceived as the most complex form of life that evolved from the lower forms and is intimately connected with all living things. The most important difference between man and the lower forms is his cerebral cortex and his ability to think and reason. Intellectual functioning is regarded as distinctly different from emotional functioning, which man shares with the lower forms. Emotional functioning includes the automatic forces that govern protoplasmic life. It includes the forces that biology defines as instinct, reproduction, the automatic activity controlled by the automatic nervous system, subjective emotional and feeling states, and the forces that govern relationship systems” (FTiCP, pg. 304-5).

The 2026 Program will include the following meetings:

1. Introduction and program overview meeting (45 minutes online)
2. Sessions 1-5 between Feb and July each 90 minutes duration online with pre reading designed to be no more than 30 minutes for each session.
3. Session 6 will be a face to face afternoon in Sydney, with online option available, followed by a broader FSI network face to face event.

The introductory meeting in January will outline the new structure for FSI Grad Group in 2026. There will be an opportunity for members to elect a stream of learning that aligns to their goals and resources in 2026. There will be a stream that supports an efforts to observe systems gathering data to develop hypotheses about a systems functioning, and there will be an project/presenter stream which aims to support efforts to test out hypotheses about systems or an effort to take a dominant paradigm concept and conduct systems research to deepen an understanding of the concept.

“When Bowen (1978) examined the relationship system of the family, he moved from thinking in terms of a collection o f relatively autonomous individuals toward thinking in terms of the group as an emotional unit. Following years of observation, Bowen observed that the functioning of family members is regulated more by family relationships than previously thought. What accounts for the variability in functioning among family members? What mechanisms heighten the vulnerability of family members to dysfunction? What is the relationship between the functioning of family members in past, present, and future generations? What factors influence the transmission of family patterns from generation to generation? These are but a few of the questions that the systems-oriented model for family researched based on Bowen Theory addresses”.  (Keller, in Handbook of Bowen Family Systems Theory and Research Methods, 2020, pg. 49).

In 2026 there will be new streams for learning available – an observer stream and a researcher/presenter stream – giving flexibility for participants to decide on their level of participation in the group and personal and professional goals for the year. Click here to find out more about these streams, that will be discussed in more detail at the January 2026 online 45-minute introductory meeting.