Dr. Fisher recently returned from the annual Discernment Counseling Symposium in Minneapolis, where he spent the weekend collaborating with Dr. Bill Doherty and a select group of highly specialized clinicians from across the country.
Hosted by the Discernment Counseling Community, the symposium is a gathering designed for therapists trained in working with couples on the brink of divorce. The event offers a unique environment for deep, case-based learning, collaborative dialogue, and the development of what organizers describe as “group wisdom” that emerges in an intimate, multi-day setting.
Discernment Counseling itself is a brief, structured approach that helps couples gain clarity and confidence about the future of their relationship - whether that involves working toward repair, maintaining the status quo, or moving toward separation.
During the symposium, Dr. Fisher presented alongside Dr. Bill Doherty on their ongoing research into family systems intelligence, an emerging framework aimed at helping clinicians better understand how relational dynamics and third-party influences shape conflict within marriages and families.
Family systems intelligence expands upon concepts like emotional intelligence and relational intelligence. While emotional intelligence focuses on understanding and communicating one’s own emotions and the emotions of others, and relational intelligence explores the patterns that develop between two people, family systems intelligence examines how conflict and emotional processes operate across an entire relational system.
In many struggling marriages, there is often a “third party” influencing the relationship dynamic in some way - such as a child, extended family member, in-law, friend, or chronic health issue. The framework of family systems intelligence helps clinicians and couples better recognize how these outside dynamics impact communication, conflict, emotional reactivity, and decision-making within the marriage.
The presentation also highlighted ongoing research connected to the recently published article in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Family systems intelligence in couple and family therapy—and beyond, co-authored by Dr. Doherty, Dr. Fisher, and Dr. Nathan Hardy. The project explores how individuals understand and interpret relational conflict, including the degree to which they recognize the broader family and emotional systems contributing to a problem. The research aims to measure the complexity and systems-awareness reflected in a person’s understanding of conflict.
For Dr. Fisher, the collaboration has been especially meaningful. Dr. Doherty—a retired professor at the University of Minnesota, pioneer in the field of marriage and family therapy, and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Braver Angels, which works to bridge political divides and strengthen civic dialogue in America—has been a longstanding professional influence and mentor.
Dr. Hardy, Assistant Professor in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Hawai‘i, has also played a significant role in the ongoing development of the Family Systems Intelligence research.
Dr. Fisher remains committed to advancing thoughtful, evidence-informed work with couples navigating critical relationship crossroads and contributing to the evolving understanding of relational and family systems dynamics within the field of therapy.
Read the published article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13100459/
(Pictured left to right: Dr. Bill Doherty, Dr. Adam Fisher, and Kathleen Haley, LMFT, daughter of Jay Haley, a pioneering figure in the field of family therapy.)
