Allen Sabey

Allen K. Sabey, PhD, LMFT, is an assistant clinical professor and program director of the Couple and Family Therapy Master’s Specialization in the Human Development and Family Science program. He is an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor.

He balances his passions for teaching, scholarship and clinical work to ultimately increase emotional availability and responsiveness in couples and families across the lifespan. He also publishes, presents and works clinically around the topics of fatherhood and masculinity.

• Dr. John J. B. Morgan Clinical Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Northwestern University, 2018
• PhD, Human Development and Family Studies, Auburn University, 2016
• MS, Marriage and Family Therapy, Auburn University, 2012
• BS, Psychology, Brigham Young University, 2010

• Adolescent and At-Risk Youth
• Adult Development and Aging
• Child Development
• Family Systems
  • Couple/marital/romantic relationships
  • Parent-child relationships
• Human Development and Family Studies
  • Fatherhood and masculinity
• Intimacy/Sexuality

Dr. Sabey’s research is clinically oriented and aims to increase emotional availability in couples and families across the lifespan, particularly within the context of couple and family therapy.

His research interests began with studying older couples and their relational experiences of compassionate love, and have expanded to explore and directly facilitate how couples and families of all ages can be more emotionally open, developmentally attuned and emotionally responsive within their relationships.

These dynamics shape human development and contribute significantly to healthy and overall well-being.

His recent projects include:

• a clinical study of an experiential intervention for parents and caregivers
• an educational study that tracked MFT/CFT graduate students’ clinical concerns (i.e., fears) during their training programs
• a community intervention study that supported parents and caregivers to provide a therapeutic apology to their children

He has also published and presented on the intersection of fatherhood and masculinity, and on attachment theory in family therapy (e.g., cultural enrichments in applying attachment theory, supporting caregivers towards openness).

One new project will evaluate how Reddit users describe and discuss the parent-child rupture-repair process.

• Sabey, A., Jensen, J. & Jacobs, B. (2025). “Fathers are frightened but don’t know it: Considering masculinity and attachment when working with fathers in family therapy.” Family Theory and Review.
• Sabey, A., Shanahan, E., Strahan, E., & Lafrance, A. (2025). “From fear towards confidence: Understanding change in clinical concerns and self-efficacy in couple and therapy students.” Psychotherapy Research.
• Sabey, A., Lafrance, A., Furrow, J., Diamond, G., & Hughes, D. (2024). “A family reunion of ‘clinical cousins’: Attachment and emotion in four family-oriented therapy models.” Family Process, 63(3), 1119-1144.
• Goveas, A., Duku, E., Sabey, A., Dhariwal, T., & Duncan, L. (2024). “Outpatient treatment of children and adolescents using Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) caregiver workshops: A pre- post-intervention evaluation.” Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice. Advance online publication.
• Choi, E. & Sabey, A. (2024). “’I could just exist...not in a box’: Experiential examinations of masculinity within a contemporary men’s group.” Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 25(2), 187–202.
• Sabey, A., Stillar, A., & Lafrance, A. (2022). “Processes and outcomes of an Emotion-Focused Family Therapy two-chair intervention for transforming problematic parenting patterns.” Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 48, 738-757.

• Sabey, A. & Allen, S. (2025). Universal attunement: A cultural enrichment of attachment theory in family therapy. Paper presented at the National Council of Family Relations conference, Baltimore, MD.
• Sabey, A. & Scott, B. (2025). Utilizing a therapeutic apology to repair family relationships. Workshop presented at the AAMFT Systemic Family Therapy Conference, virtual.
• *Sands, B., Sabey, A. & Horton, W. S. (2025). Internal working model's expression through self-paced reading. Poster presented at Midwestern Psychological Association conference, Chicago, IL.
• Sabey, A. (2025). Understanding and working with men and fathers in family therapy. Invited Presentation at the Alabama Marriage and Family Therapy Association Conference, Auburn, AL.
• Sabey, A. (2024). The development of MFT students’ clinical concerns. Paper presented at the AAMFT Systemic Family Therapy Conference, Orlando, FL.
• Scott, B. & Sabey, A. (2024). Facilitating caregiver therapeutic apologies. Research and Clinical Presentation at the American Family Therapy Academy conference, Denver, CO.
• *Li, Y., Sabey, A., & Foster, R. (2023). Self-reported factors predicting completion of a parental apology intervention. Poster presented at National Council of Family Relations conference, Orlando, FL.
• *Lee, J. & Sabey, A. (2023). Attachment and therapeutic self-efficacy: The mediating role of supervisory alliance. Poster presented at National Council of Family Relations conference, virtual.
• Rastogi, M., Russell, W. P., Henry, R. R., & Sabey, A. (2023) Healing the healer: Therapists seeking mental health services. Panel Presentation at AAMFT Systemic Family Therapy Conference, virtual.
• Sabey, A. & *Wilson, T. (2023). Themes and frequencies of experiences contributing to MFT students’ clinical confidence. Paper Presentation at AAMFT Intervention Research Conference, Provo, UT.
• Sabey, A. & *Reed, A. (2022). A pilot study of an apology intervention with a non-clinical sample of parents. Poster presentation at AAMFT Intervention Research Conference, East Lansing, MI.
• *Ryu, H., Sabey, A., & Sher, T. (2022). Psychotherapy training during COVID-19: An exploration of supervisory alliance and therapeutic self-efficacy. Poster presented at Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
• He, Y., Sabey, A., & Zamir, O. (2022). Clients’ initial relationship goal, perceptions of therapy, and couple therapy outcomes. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations Conference, Minneapolis, MN.
• Sabey, A., Stillar, A., & Lafrance, A. (2021). Processes and outcomes of an Emotion-Focused Family Therapy two-chair intervention for transforming problematic parenting patterns. Poster presentation at AAMFT Intervention Research Conference, Virtual.