Couple Resilience (PDF)

Karen Skerrett is a clinical psychologist and affiliate of the Family Institute/Center for Applied Psychological Studies at Northwestern University and adjunct Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University. She most recently was an Associate Professor at the University of San Diego, where she designed and implemented their advanced practice program in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. She is a long time faculty member at the Chicago Center for Family Health, an affiliate of the University of Chicago. She maintains ties to her dual training as a nurse and a clinical psychologist through a long-term clinical and consulting practice specializing in the treatment of couples and families, particularly those challenged by illness and disability. Her research focuses on resilient processes in couples across the lifespan and strength-based approaches to couple treatment. She is the author (with Jefferson Singer) of Positive couple therapy: Using we-stories to enhance resilience, 2014, Routledge Press and has contributed numerous book chapters and articles to professional journals. She reviews for Family Process and the Journal of Family Nursing, among others. She presents nationally and internationally on adult development, life cycle transitions, innovative approaches to couple treatment and the unique processes of relational resilience and growth in couples across the lifespan. Her work has appeared in

the Chicago Tribune, Parents magazine, Psychology Today and the San Diego Union Tribune.



Karen Fergus, Ph.D., is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor with the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto. She holds a cross-appointment as a Clinician-Scientist at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre-Odette Cancer Centre where, in addition to her research activities, she has had a clinical practice since 1998. Karen's research interests include: couple resilience and couple

“Couple Resilience: Emerging Perspectives, edited byKaren Skerrett and Karen Fergus, is an excellent book. … this book is loadedwith excellent conceptual and empirical information. It should prove veryuseful to clinicians and researchers. I will adopt it for my courses in coupleand family therapy. I will recommend it to my colleagues, and, finally, I willrecommend it to couples experiencing serious illness.” (Doug Pettinelli, PsycCRITIQUES,Vol. 61 (4), January, 2016)