Carmen Knudson-Martin, PhD, LMFT and professor and director of the Marital, Couple, and Family Therapy Program at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon was this year’s guest lecturer for the Tony Jurich Lecture on Social Justice. Dr. Knudson-Martin discussed power in relationships and how therapists can bridge social context, emotion and couple interaction in their work with couples. She met with the Couples and Family Therapy Program in the morning and introduced the concept of third order change and the process of attuning clients to each other in relational therapy. During a brown bag lunch in the afternoon with supervisors, Dr. Knudson-Martin discussed with supervisors how to be culturally attuned within the supervisory relationship and attend to power dynamics. The afternoon lecture, which was open to the public, addressed gender and power dynamics for a broader audience.
Dr. Knudson-Martin has published over 80 articles and book chapters on the influence of the larger sociocultural context in couple and family relationships and the political and ethical implications of therapist actions on marital quality, relational development, and couple therapy. Her multicultural research examines the micro-processes by which societal gender, culture, and power play out in couple relationships and couple therapy.
