Teaching Amongst Diversity in the Psychoanalytic Classroom: Facing the Adaptive Challenge
This workshop will explore and discuss material related to diversity in the psychoanalytic classroom. In particular, the workshop will offer attendees an opportunity to address the anxieties that arise when teaching in diverse groups and about matters of which there are a diversity of opinions. The particular learning environment within psychoanalytic institutes presents both unique challenges and opportunities to grapple with themes related to diversity. Following the paper, “Race as an Adaptive Challenge,” by Kimberlyn Leary, this workshop will offer attendees an opportunity to explore their own reactions and resistances to addressing sociocultural ideas that challenge their psychoanalytic loyalties, and to think about how to offer a holding/learning environment that facilitates this for students.
NCSPP is aware that historically psychoanalysis has either excluded or pathologized groups outside of the dominant population in terms of age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, and size. As an organization, we are committed to bringing awareness to matters of anti-oppression, inequity, inequality, diversity, and inclusion as they pertain to our educational offerings, our theoretical orientation, our community, and the broader world we all inhabit.
Presenters Response:
Including issues of diversity is essential in teaching practices yet can be rife with anxiety among institutions and students. Providing a space to discuss such tensions can allow for greater understanding of differences to be heard and considered, which will increase the breadth of learning.
Brian Ngo-Smith is a psychoanalyst and clinical social worker in Denver, CO. He is on faculty at the Denver Institute for Psychoanalysis at the University of Colorado and the Sue Fairbanks Psychoanalytic Academy at the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked in the mental health field for 20+ years.
This course is intended for doctoral and masters level clinicians and graduate students.
Enrollees who cancel at least SEVEN DAYS prior to the event date will receive a refund minus a $35 administrative charge. No refunds will be allowed after this time. Transfer of registrations are not allowed.
For program related questions, contact Katherine Eng, Ph.D., at KEng@NCSPP.org.
For questions related to enrollment, locations, CE credit, special needs, course availability, to obtain the grievance policy or report a grievance, or any other administrative issues contact Niki Clay by email or 415-496-9949.
Community Mental Health Committee
This committee is a group of clinicians who are interested in the relationship between Community Mental Health (CMH) and psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is anchored in a quality of close care and attention that is often systematically denied to members of disadvantaged communities and difficult to locate in stressed, under-resourced public mental health clinics. CMH clinicians hold the tension between a variety of institutional, social, and political pressures and constraints. Meanwhile, psychoanalytic thinking sometimes misses the significance of these systemic influences on individual lives.
There is important work to be done in bridging the theoretical and concrete gaps between community work and psychoanalytic practice. The CMH committee aspires to create a more inclusive home for CMH clinicians within the NCSPP community. In turn, we advocate for greater investment from psychoanalysis in the projects of CMH practitioners- in terms of both theory and practical engagement.
We seek to identify the needs and interests of our various partners both in CMH and NCSPP. We invite our community members to engage with us by emailing us at cmh@ncspp.org .