Dr. Mercy Burton Russell is a UCLA -trained clinical social worker with 30 years of experience and training in the application of Bowen Family Systems Theory to a wide range of clinical, social service, organizational and community systems settings. During her career she has been an active member of a national network of Bowen Theory professionals in U.S.A. through the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family in Washington, D.C. The founding President of the Vermont Center for the Study of the Family, Dr. Russell is currently living in Arizona and is an active contributor to Programs in Bowen Theory, a center based in California.

As an undergraduate at Carleton College and throughout her career, Mercy has worked with children, teenagers and their parents in a variety of clinical settings as well as schools. In order to deepen her knowledge of societal emotional process, she recently completed doctoral studies at the University of Vermont in educational policy and leadership studies. Her research focused on teachers and their families, as well as the creativity of boundary spanning leadership consultants trained as psychotherapists.

Passionate and optimistic about the social role of emerging generations, Dr, Russell brings her expertise in Bowen Family Systems theory and educational policy to inspire and challenge parents as well as innovative clinicians and educators. Systems thinking grounded in the social evolution of the family provides an invaluable perspective and tools for guiding and supporting our children, clients and students. Thoughtful, calm and creative leadership in the family and workplace is required to face the widening diversity of student needs, as well as an intensification of emotional responses to social issues.