Viewpoint - February 2024
IN THIS ISSUE
From the President: Fostering Community and Connection
TPI Walk and Talk
The Executive Perspective: "COMMUNITY PSYCHOANALYSIS and The Generative Landscape of Our Times"
DEI News: Holmes Commission Reading Group
TPI Training Programs Information Meetings
Spring Symposium and CE Course Announcements
From the President
Fostering Community and Connection
Reflecting on the past months, I am invigorated by the turnout and response to our recent events. From the celebratory “Launching TPI’s Future” event on November 5th to the joyous gathering at our "Winter Wonderland" holiday party, it's clear that our membership enjoys opportunities to come together and connect. Your presence at these events enriches the fabric of our organization. I am grateful for your active participation.
In light of the positive feedback and the spirit of camaraderie experienced at these gatherings, I invite you to our upcoming TPI Walk and Talk, this Saturday, February 10th, 2024 for a morning stroll through our Institute's neighborhood. Let's share our thoughts and dreams for TPI's future as we take steps towards building a stronger community together.
During the pandemic, we temporarily paused in-person events for the safety of our community. Now, as we gradually resume these gatherings, it's an opportunity for us to come together, heal, and envision the future of our organization. Your presence and participation are invaluable as we embark on this journey together.
As we gather for the TPI Walk and Talk and future events, let's celebrate our community and the bonds that unite us. Together, we can inspire, support, and empower one another on our shared journey at TPI.
Looking ahead, we have a commitment to host opportunities for members to connect, meet, and network. I invite you to reach out with suggestions or thoughts you may have.
Wishing you a month filled with warmth, connection, and meaningful conversations.
Warm wishes,
Kyra Peyton
President
TPI Walk and Talk
Saturday, February 10th, 2024
Join Kyra, Sandra, Sierra, and Jim for a morning stroll through the Institute’s neighborhood.
Share your thoughts and dreams for TPI’s future. Save the world, one step at a time.
(friends, family, and pets are all welcome)
9:30am
Coffee and Bagels in the Center Room
10:00 – 10:45am
Neighborhood stroll
The Executive Perspective
We are so fortunate to have Sandra Gaspar as our new TPI Associate Director. In this issue of Viewpoint, we are sharing a bit about Sandra and her writing, as a way to introduce her to our members.
A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Sandra is a first and second-generation Mexican American, claims both Mexico and California as her homes. Sandra uses psychoanalytic sensibilities, Liberation Psychology, trauma and social lens, and collective healing frameworks in her community mental health work with immigrants, Black, Indigenous communities, and people of the Global Majority, who have been historically and systematically marginalized and minoritized. Sandra has been a practicing bilingual clinician and clinical supervisor for 16 years in community mental health clinics. In addition to serving as TPI’s Associate Director, she serves as a bilingual clinical supervisor at Westcoast Children’s Clinic, an adjunct professor at San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis in the program Coalition for Clinical Social Work, and a community consultant at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC). She holds a private practice in Oakland, CA.
As a member of PINC’s Community Psychoanalytic Track, Sandra was invited to co-write an article. Following is an excerpt of her writing through which she shares the development of her interest in community psychoanalysis.
Warm Wishes,
Jim
"COMMUNITY PSYCHOANALYSIS
and The Generative Landscape of Our Times"
Lani Chow, Sandra Gaspar, Betsy Kassoff, Julie Leavitt, Rachael Peltz
SANDRA
In a synchronistic kind of way, I was invited to join the Community Psychoanalytic Consortium (CPC) as a Community Consultant through PINC and in its CPT after a 6-month sabbatical in my home Mexico. Although skeptical at the beginning, since psychoanalytic institutes have not been a welcoming space for me, I was intrigued by this CPT&C. At my initial meeting, I found a group of people who were also questioning the stance of psychoanalysis, questioning the use of phrases like “psychoanalysis in/or with the community,” or “community psychoanalysis.” This sounded like resistance to something archaic. I was on board and quickly joined.
After being a member of the CPC for a couple of years, I was invited to participate as a “community consultant” in one of the core seminars for a community mental health agency located in San Francisco. We met twice a month and not on a weekly basis since the two candidates were beginning their second year facilitating the same group. I am always aware of my own social location when I am in an institute or among trained psychoanalysts. Perhaps it is a way to protect myself and remain vigilant to any transgressions. However, I quickly realized the eagerness of the CPT candidates in truly wanting to learn from the group and shared their knowledge with the group they were facilitating. The candidates were open to the groups’ feedback and together we would mull over the week’s topic, the reverberations of the group and the challenges at hand. Although all the members came from different experiences and social locations, there was a feeling of togetherness and wanting to find “something more” as co-author Lani Chow has mentioned. This was a new experience for me, to be in a diverse group where all of our voices had space and value. Click here to continue reading.
DEI News
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee is pleased to announce a
Reading Group:
"The Holmes Commission on
Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis"
In a historic and groundbreaking action, the APsA [the American Psychoanalytic Association] funded and convened the Holmes Commission to study systemic racism in American psychoanalysis. In its final report, the Commission examines what occurs in the lived experience of psychoanalytic training and education across American psychoanalysis. The report offers recommendations and a path forward to reduce its harmful effects.
Group members will read and discuss the report’s findings and recommendations. We will make time to explore our biases and experiences. In order to facilitate sharing, we will limit the group size to 10 participants. The format of the group (e.g., how we discuss the report, who will facilitate, what we want to do - focus on group process or the content of the report) will be decided by the participants during the first meeting.
The group will meet at TPI on Thursdays 7pm to 8:30pm
It will be held for eight sessions from 2/29 to 4/18.
If interested, please contact DEI co-chair
Eric Bottino, MFT, PhD
Read or download the Holmes Report here:
https://apsa.org/about-apsa/holmes-commission
TPI Training Programs
Upcoming Information Meetings
Psychotherapy Training Program Open House & Information Meeting
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
6:30 pm- 8:00 pm PST
at 2232 Carleton St. Berkeley, CA
Learn about TPI’s 2-year Post/Pre-Graduate Psychodynamic Training Program.
Meet the clinical director & recent graduates.
Discuss the application process.
Tour TPI's building.
Unable to attend the open house; Join our virtual information meeting: Friday, February 16, 2024 at 5 pm via Zoom.
Group Therapy Training Program Information Meeting
via Zoom
The Group Therapy Training Program (GTTP) is a one-year training program offering an in-depth study of the theory and practice of group therapy facilitation.
Friday, February 23, 2024
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm PST
Learn about the Group Therapy Training Program
Meet with senior program faculty and alumni
Discuss the application process
Edu-News
The Education Committee is pleased to present
our calendar of Spring classes and Symposia:
Liberation in Psychology
with
Debra J. Myers, MD
Saturday, March 16, 2024
9:00 am- 12:00 pm, PST
Via Zoom ONLY
Individuals engage in psychoanalysis motivated by dissatisfaction with life as they experience it. In psychoanalytic training, we spend much time preparing to understand family of origin, relationships, and developmental discontinuities. Too often, socio-cultural discontinuities do not receive significant emphasis as warranted. Dr. Myer analyzes her biography using eclectic psychoanalytic theories to demonstrate the potential to use psychoanalysis in the service of personal liberation. Mentalization and Developmental and Attachment psychoanalytic theories may be used in an emancipatory effort by those currently oppressed or marginalized in our society when trained psychoanalysts are accessible. The history of anti-Black racism is relevant to the psychoanalysis of patients regardless of race. The 'Racial Battle Fatigue' concept will be described and applied to the analysis of Dr. Myers, a person of African descent. Learn more and register.
Professional Reparations:
What Should We Repair?
with
Beverly Burch, PhD
Saturday, April 27, 2024
10:00 am- 12:30 pm, PST
In-Person and via Zoom
Our profession is in a transitional moment. Two major reports, the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis and the CA Task Force on Reparations, take a deep look at our profession and find racial equity lacking. We’ll review their findings, learn how to support change and contribute our own thinking about what we need to do to move forward to equity. We’ll also consider resistance to these reports and the need to engage with critical voices.
Group Therapy Training Program
Spring Symposium
From Sensation to Relation: Bringing our Bodies into
Process Groups
with
Dr. Carlos Canales
Saturday, May 4, 2024
9:00 am- 1:00 pm, PST
via Zoom ONLY
This year's GTTP Symposium will explore the inherent, organic, and restorative wisdom of the body as it relates to interpersonal relationships, intrapsychic dynamics, and group processes. The voice of the body is often subtle, unspoken, and particular to each individual. Our bodies are in constant relationship with their immediate environment, assessing for safety and guiding our every behavior. Prioritizing the body allows for wholesome, validating, and satisfying connections. Conversely, ignoring the body leads to dissociative, intellectual, or partial communication and compromised living. From a Somatic Experiencing frame, our bodies signal sensations, affects, images, movements, and felt senses; all neuroceptive, proprioceptive, and cognitive experiences that authenticate group process.
Through didactic and experiential learning, this symposium will focus on the use of somatic awareness and tracking to support regulated, congruent, and embodied interactions in group work. In addition, the potential effects of sociocultural power differentials and identity differences will be examined.
Understanding Your Neurodivergent Clients
with
Teresa Currivan, LMFT
Saturday, June 8, 2024
9:00 am- 12:00 pm, PST
In-person and via Zoom
This introductory class explains neurodivergence by describing the various traits of neurodivergence such as ADHD, Gifted and Talented, Sensory Processing Disorders, Autism, and more. It will help clinicians understand how each trait co-occurs in order to make each neurodivergent individual unique. Tips for working with neurodivergent individuals will be given.
Accurate treatment and diagnoses in the clinical setting will be touched upon so that any previous misdiagnoses may be understood. Some examples of what neurodivergent school-aged individuals go through in the educational setting will be given so as to be better able to help both children and adults who may have experienced school trauma. Learn more and register.
Save the Date
TPI's Spring Symposium
Stories of War, Trauma, Survival
and Overcoming
June 22, 2024
9:00 am- 1:00 pm
with
Era A. Loewenstein, Ph.D.
& Paula Kliger Ph.D.
More details and registration will be
announced in the next few weeks!
As president, Paula Kliger Ph.D., founded Psychological Assets, PC. Over the course of 30 plus years, locally, nationally, and abroad, she has been in private practice with diverse individuals, families, organizations, and communities. Dr. Kliger specializes in working with people with histories of severe adversity, crisis, and trauma. She has been the principal consultant to leaders, family businesses, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies, working through critical incidents and implementing transformational change and growth processes. Dr. Kliger is Associate Faculty of Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, where she has taught Ethics Seminars for psychoanalytic training candidates. She is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Psychiatry Residency Program, and is Adjunct Assistant Professor, Clinical and Organizational Consultation Supervisor, at University of Detroit Mercy, in the Department of Psychology. At the University of Detroit Mercy, Dr. Klinger designed first-in-kind graduate courses in diversity, inclusion and identity formation that explored intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics, and cultural and socially embedded complexities. Dr. Kliger is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), including Division 39, American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO), and Ohio Psychological Association (OPA). She is a licensed psychologist in New York, Michigan, and Ohio.
Era A. Loewenstein, Ph.D., is an adult, adolescent, and child psychoanalyst. She is on the Faculty and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SFCP). Dr. Loewenstein was an Associate Board Member of The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. She presents locally, nationally, and internationally on various topics including the challenges of working psychoanalytically with patients trapped in perverse pathological organizations. Dr. Loewenstein has been especially interested in working with children, adolescents, and adults suffering from the painful and enduring impact of personal trauma and trans-generationally transmitted familial and social trauma. Era is in private practice in San Francisco, where she also provides supervision and consultations as well as leading study groups and consultation groups. Since the election of Donald Trump, in 2016, Dr. Loewenstein has been exploring fascistic states of mind. Among her recent publications are: Dystopian Narratives: Encounters with the Perverse Sadomasochistic Universe. (Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2017) and The Agitator and His Propaganda Machine: Donald Trump and the Road to American Fascism (Fort Da, 2018). Era is the Editor of the Psychoanalytic Inquiry Issue: Perspectives on Populist and Fascistic States of Mind. (February 2023. Volume 43, #2). The Issue includes her paper: In Dark Times: Psychoanalytic Praxis as a Form of Resistance to Fascist Propaganda.
Contribute to Viewpoint
We encourage contributions to Viewpoint from the TPI Community.
To submit or plan submissions, contact Executive Director, Jim Brandt jbrandt@tpi-berkeley.org
