Thank you to those who attended The Family Institute at Northwestern University's inaugural In Session with The Family Institute: A Conversation with Vienna Pharaon, LMFT on Thursday, May 7, 2026.
With the generous support of our community, sponsors, in-kind donors, and attendees, the evening helped advance access to mental and behavioral health care through our Bette D. Harris Family & Child Clinic, which provides free therapy services for children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families who could not otherwise afford care.
Photos from In Session with The Family Institute
View more photos from In Session with The Family Institute: A Conversation with Vienna Pharaon, LMFT by Buzz McBride Photography.
In Session with The Family Institute Program Speakers
Vienna Pharaon, LMFT
Founder of Mindful Marriage and Family Therapy
Vienna Pharaon, MS, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist, bestselling author of The Origins of You, and founder of Mindful Marriage and Family Therapy in New York City. A Northwestern University alumna with clinical training at The Family Institute and the Bette D. Harris Family and Child Clinic, Vienna is nationally recognized for her work on "origin wounds" and how early family dynamics shape adult relationships.
Her work has reached hundreds of millions of people worldwide, helping individuals break unwanted relational patterns by exploring unresolved childhood experiences. More than 50,000 people have taken her free What's Your Origin Wound? quiz, receiving personalized insights to support their healing journeys. Her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, Motherly, and across national media. She has also led workshops for organizations including Peloton and Netflix.
Vienna can be found on social media @mindfulmft.
Nancy Burgoyne, Ph.D., ABPP
Chief Clinical Officer, The Family Institute at Northwestern University
Nancy Burgoyne, Ph.D., is the chief clinical officer at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and a family therapist who abides by the scientist-practitioner model. She has more than 30 years of experience providing direct service to clients, and for more than 20 years, has supervised and served as a leader to her fellow clinicians. In Dr. Burgoyne's current leadership role, she created and oversees The Family Institute's continuous clinical quality improvement team. She led the integration of teletherapy into the practice, established the Clinical Practice Advisory Council, and leads the organization's effort to provide continuous learning opportunities for clinical staff in order to ensure high quality care.
Dr. Burgoyne is a faculty member in the Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy program and has extensive experience developing graduate school level systemically oriented curricula. Dr. Burgoyne is committed to approaching her work with cultural humility and believes that every human being is worthy of compassionate witnessing.
Event Information
Date: Thursday, May 7, 2026
Time: 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Location:
The Arts Club of Chicago | 201 E Ontario St. Chicago, IL 60611
Speaker:
Vienna Pharaon, MS, LMFT
Alumna of The Family Institute and Bestselling Author of The Origins of You: How Breaking Family Patterns Can Liberate the Way We Live and Love
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Event Sponsor
Hospitality Sponsor
Katie Lamb-Heinz and Bill Heinz
Book Sponsors
Dr. Horace Smith and Susan Smith
Contact Information
For questions regarding the In Session event or to learn more about event sponsorship, please contact advancement@family-institute.org.