ICP+P Celebrates Gender and Sexual Diversity, Sept. 27 & 28
by Janna Sandmeyer
I hope you will join us for a special upcoming weekend, in which ICP+P will celebrate gender and sexual diversity. Embedded in rapidly changing societal and cultural times, the clinical landscape surrounding gender and sexual fluidity is fast moving and complex. As such, clinical challenges abound.
We will start the weekend with a preconference on Friday afternoon, during which I will present my paper, “Understanding Homophobia in our Forefathers: Rethinking How Kohut Actually Worked.” The paper was conceived as both a critique of the homophobic aspects of Jule Miller’s article, “How Kohut Actually Worked,” as well as an update to Kohut’s clinical principles that are depicted in the article. The idea for the paper came about a few years ago, when I assigned Miller’s article for an introduction to Self Psychology course. It had been taught to me many years prior in my own training at ICP+P, and I found it valuable and accessible, but increasingly troubling. After we discussed Miller’s article, I asked the class if they believed that the utility of the article outweighed the pain of reading the homophobic aspects of it. One of the students replied that no, the utility did not outweigh the pain. It was the first time that a student had said that. This comment led to my concern that assigning Miller’s article was an act of homophobia in which I had become the perpetrator. While discussing the students’ reactions to Miller’s article, I off-handedly commented that I should write a ‘corrective’ for it. The class was enthusiastic. This paper is my attempt at correction and was originally conceived as a companion piece for Miller’s article.
Since that time, the paper won the Ralph Roughton award for an “unpublished manuscript that makes an original and outstanding contribution to the psychoanalytic understanding and/or treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, trans or gender-variant people,” and I have presented it at several institutes. I have been struck by the wide resonance it has had with therapists who are current students/candidates, as well as senior therapists and analysts who have faced various forms of homophobia in training, literature, treatment, and in the psychoanalytic community at large. I am very much looking forward to sharing this paper with our community, and especially to having Dr. Mark Blechner to join us as a discussant.
I am thrilled for us to host Dr. Mark Blecher for our Saturday conference, “The Evolving Landscape of Gender and Sexuality: Clinical Implications.” Mark is a dynamic speaker and expert on gender and sexuality. He is the author of Sex Changes: Transformations in Society and Psychoanalysis (2009), in addition to over fifty articles on gender, sexuality, and dreams. He is a leader in the psychoanalytic community, Faculty and Supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute, former Editor in Chief of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and has worked for decades as an advocate for LGBTQ folks. As Founder and Director of the William Alanson White Institute’s HIV Clinical Service from 1991 – 2001, Mark led the first psychoanalytic clinic devoted to working with people with AIDS, their relatives, and caregivers. The White Institute has recently created the Mark J. Blechner Psychoanalytic Scholarship, which is an award given to a person of color or a transgender person who demonstrates financial need and high ability.
In his clinically based presentation, Mark will help us focus on countertransference reactions and challenges when working in the realm of gender and sexual diversity and fluidity. He will discuss his own clinical work, as well as several vignettes presented by members of our community. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own assumptions and biases, as well as open themselves to reflection and discussion. Mark’s presentation is geared toward therapists at all levels of clinical experience, and all degrees of familiarity with issues surrounding sexuality and gender. All are welcome, and I look forward to seeing you there.
Call for Submissions for Clinical Reflections Day Due by October 1, 2019
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Upcoming Training + Education
Short Course
Circling the Chairs: Starting Groups in Private Practice
Friday, September 20, 2019 from 12:30-3:45 pm ~ ICP+P Office, 4601 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 8, Washington, DC 20008
Presented by:
About the Short Course:
Launching a group can be one of the most challenging tasks you face as a group therapist. It is easy to get stuck because you are unsure what to do next. In this workshop participants will explore the potential pitfalls of starting a group and learn how to avoid them. Using practical advice that is grounded in group theory, participants are guided through a stepwise process of launching a group.
At the conclusion of the short course, attendees will be able to:
- Define the parameters (open, closed, time-limited, population, etc.) and focus of the group they want to start.
- Evaluate how to identify and connect with referral sources, and to promote your group, to ensure a successful group therapy experience for the participants.
- Identify the important elements of forming a group.
- Plan how to launch a group.
This program is appropriate for introductory and intermediate level clinicians and offers 3 CEs.
Understanding Homophobia in our Forefathers: Rethinking How Kohut Actually Worked
Featuring Janna Sandmeyer, PhD and Discussant Mark J. Blechner, PhD
Friday, September 27, 2019, 3:30 – 5:30 pm ~ Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring, MD
About the Conference:
Dr. Sandmeyer will present her Ralph Roughton award winning paper, “Understanding Homophobia in our Forefathers: Rethinking How Kohut Actually Worked.” In this presentation, we will explore the impact of Jule Miller’s (1985) account of his supervision with Heinz Kohut, depicted in Miller’s seminal paper, “How Kohut Actually Worked.”
Through the lens of contemporary self psychology, we will revisit the supervision with an eye toward leading edge interpretations that support the patient’s same-sex striving as a healthy expression of his sexuality. We will consider the context of the times in which the supervision occurred, as well as more personal and theoretical factors that may have influenced Kohut and Miller’s thinking. Dr. Blechner will bring his decades of experience as an analyst working with LGBTQ people to this discussion, in which attendees will be encouraged to participate.
At the conclusion of this pre-conference, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the clinical principles that exemplified Kohut’s way of thinking toward the end of his life.
- Identify the heterosexist and homophobic aspects of Jule Miller’s (1985) article, ‘How Kohut Actually Worked.’
- Describe correctives for the heterosexist and homophobic aspects of Jule Miller’s (1985) article, ‘How Kohut Actually Worked.’
This conference is appropriate for mental health professionals at all levels of experience and offers 2 LGBTQ/Diversity CEs.
The Evolving Landscape of Gender and Sexuality: Clinical Implications
Featuring Mark J. Blechner, PhD
Saturday, September 28, 2019, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm ~ Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring, MD
About the Conference:
- Discuss issues of gender, sexual orientation, and sexual problems that are commonly seen in psychotherapy today;
- Analyze the influence of culture on these issues and explain how personal beliefs and attitudes affect clinical work;
- Prepare a strategy for educating yourself about sexual issues well beyond the training offered in mental health programs, and describe ways of dealing with transference and countertransference dilemmas that affect such work.
2019-2020 ICP+P Training
- September 20, 2019, Short Course – “Circling the Chairs: Starting Groups in Private Practice” with Rob Williams, LICSW, CGP, Liz Marsh, MSW, LICSW, Art Therapist, David A. Heilman, PsyD, Jennifer McLish, LCSW. ICP+P Office, 4601 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 8, Washington, DC 20008, 12:30 – 3:45 pm (3 CEs).
- September 27, 2019, Pre-Conference – “Understanding Homophobia in our Forefathers: Rethinking How Kohut Actually Worked” with Janna Sandmeyer, PhD with Mark Blechner, PhD as discussant. Silver Spring Civic Building, 3:30-5:30 pm, 2 CEs. Fulfills LGBTQ/Diversity credit requirement.
- September 28, 2019, Conference – “The Evolving Landscape of Gender and Sexuality: Clinical Implications” with Mark J. Blechner, PhD, Silver Spring Civic Building, 9:00am-12:30pm, 3 CEs. Fulfills LGBTQ/Diversity credit requirement.
- November 15, 2019, Short Course – “Keeping the Body in Mind: Affect Regulation for Trauma Survivors” with Tally Tripp, LCSW, ATR-BC, CTT. ICP+P Office, 4601 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 8, Washington, DC 20008, 12:30 – 3:45 pm (3 CEs).
- December 7, 2019, Conference – “Engaging Diversity through the Therapist’s Being Moved: Radical Openness and the Patient Who is ‘Other'” with Anton H. Hart, PhD, Silver Spring Civic Building, 9:00am-12:30pm, 3 CEs. Fulfills Diversity credit requirement.
- February 22, 2020, Conference – “Clinical Reflections” (previously Scientific Day), Silver Spring Civic Building, 9:00am-12:30pm, 3 CEs.
- May 1, 2020, Pre-Conference – “Misogyny, Hatred and Envy” with Adrienne Harris, PhD
- May 2, 2020, Conference – “Gender Fluidity and Gender Fixed: Contemporary Intersectional and Psychoanalytic Models of Gender and Gender Development” with Adrienne Harris, PhD. Georgetown University Conference Center, 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
News + Notes
Joanne Zucchetto, Simone Jacobs and Ly Vick Johnson have co-written “Understanding The Paradox of Surviving Childhood Trauma: Techniques and Tools for Working With Suicidality and Dissociation “ which was published by Routledge on July 25th.
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