Jeff Conway, LCSW

Jeff Conway, MS, LCSW, is the previous President of the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST). He is a founding member of the ISST and has served in several roles for the ISST since its foundation. His previous Executive Board positions were Vice President and Training Coordinator. He has many years of experience as a Schema Therapy Trainer and Supervisor. He has served as the Chair of the Supervisor Skills Development Committee and the Case Conceptualization Committee. Jeff is also a founding member of The NY Center for Emotion Focused Therapy and has extensive training in Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), an innovative couple’s therapy model, based on Attachment Theory. He is also a Certified Couples Schema Therapy Trainer and Supervisor. Other areas of training and experience include the treatment of early childhood trauma, Object Relations Theory, and Group Therapy Models. He runs a private practice in New York City, serving individuals, couples, and groups.

11.15 AM - 12.15 PM

Friday Dec 5th

The Missing Link in Couples Therapy: How Schema Therapy Unlocks the Breakthrough Other Models Can’t

Every couples therapist knows this pair. They have mastered every tool, naming their attachment wounds mid-argument, using flawless “I” statements, and tracking their cycles with precision. Yet one glance, one tone, one Saturday morning in the produce aisle, and everything falls apart.

Research tells the same story. Even in the best outcome studies, 30 to 40 percent of couples fail to sustain gains. The problem is not a lack of skill. Many of these partners are driven by schema-based dynamics that traditional attachment or behavioral models cannot reach.

These are not avoiders running from fear. They are overcompensators who attack vulnerability itself. Contempt, control, and punitive defenses protect against shame so deeply rooted that safety alone will not soften them. Schema Therapy explains why. The attachment injuries we try to repair are symptoms of unhealed schemas that keep recreating the wound.

This presentation teaches you how to recognize when schemas, not skills, drive the cycle and how to intervene where change truly begins. Through the Healthy Mode Triad, Connection Dialogues, and imagery rescripting for couples, participants will learn how to go beyond pattern management and foster real schema healing that lasts.

1.45 PM to 2.45 PM

Thursday Dec 4th

THE CONCEPT OF BOUNDARIES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENMESHMENT AND UNDEVELOPED SELF SCHEMA

Healthy boundaries are vital for autonomy and emotional growth, yet they are often misunderstood. When boundaries become intrusive or confused, they can lead to schemas such as Enmeshment and Undeveloped Self. This presentation explores how clarity, mutual respect, and consistency foster healthy boundaries that support a person’s basic need for autonomy.

Through clinical illustrations, participants will learn how early boundary violations shape maladaptive schemas and how the therapist can use limited reparenting to restore safety, strengthen autonomy-supporting modes, and repair the Undeveloped Self. Practical techniques for identifying boundary ruptures, discussing them therapeutically, and modeling balanced, respectful boundaries that promote agency and connection will be offered.