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September 2011

Note from the Director and Co-Director

Roger Segalla and Maxine Ellenberg Arnsdorf

As summer draws to a close ICP&P once again prepares for another year filled with exciting programming and opportunities for friends and colleagues to connect in a community of learning and exploration. We are especially excited by the September 17th opening of the Self Psychology Institute (SPI) which promises to provide the very latest in thinking from the forefront of Self Psychology. If you've thought about registering for the SPI but haven't yet committed there is still time - we have a couple of slots still available. If you didn't, or couldn't, register for the whole SPI year you will still be able to register individually for each Saturday program and for the Friday afternoon "pre-conferences." Please see the information about registration for the September 17th conference: The Growth of the Individual: A View Through The Empathic Lens.

As you know ICP&P, is a voluntary organization that depends on the hard work of our members. We need your help to keep ICP&P running and thriving. Volunteering to help out with the Institute is a great way to make new friends, explore your hidden talents and stay connected with our community. We need volunteers for our many committees and work groups and we are currently looking for a Program Coordinator, a chair for the Fundraising Committee, and someone to serve as the ICP&P Librarian. If you are interested in volunteering to be a part of a committee or to fill one of our open positions please contact our Administrator Morgan Theriot at icpeastadmin@att.net.

In the fall, ICP&P will be forming a Research Committee to explore the ways in which we can utilize our resources and membership to develop research that expands our understanding of psychodynamic therapy and analysis. If you have some interest in being part of this newly forming committee please contact Morgan to express your interest.

And finally we would like remind you that the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP) is holding its annual conference in Los Angeles, California. This year's conference is titled The Influence of Attitude in Psychoanalysis. The conference starts on Thursday, October 13th and runs through Saturday, October 15th. These international conferences are ways exciting events which bring the very best of the world of Self Psychology together in one place. For more information on the conference go to their website at: http://www.iapsp.org/conference/


Note from Coordinator of Programs

Patricia Olsen

Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D., ABPP will join us on Saturday morning, December 10, 2011 to speak on how she helps couples tackle and transcend the trauma of infidelity. Even the most experienced therapists can feel overwhelmed by couples in the midst of a crisis of infidelity, when partners rage and precipitously drop out of therapy. Both the client and therapist battle feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Dr. Spring will discuss:

  • How to manage secrets in couples therapy, helping partners decide how much and what information should be shared about the affair.
  • How to help couples normalize the emotional avalanche of their experience so they don't feel so discouraged, ashamed, self-righteous, or alone.
  • How to help unfaithful and hurt partners identify yearnings, addictions, family of origin experiences, and other contributing factors that made them vulnerable to an affair.
  • How to better understand the power and illusion of romantic love, and make a thoughtful decision about whether to fight for the marriage or end it.
  • How to facilitate the re-building of trust, rekindle intimacy and connection, and earn forgiveness for couples recommitting to their relationship. The emphasis of this workshop will be on providing practical and concrete tools for helping partners take responsibility for their share of the relationship damage and grow as individuals and as a couple.

Dr. Spring has written After the Affair: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner Has Been Unfaithful, Amazon's #1 best seller in its category of couples and family therapy and How Can I Forgive You? The Courage to Forgive, The Freedom Not To. These books will be on sale at the workshop.

Note that this workshop is free to Members of ICP&P, and will be held at the 4H Youth Conference Center, 7100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD. Registration

Finally, save the date for ICP&'s Scientific Day on March 3, 2012.


Scientific Day

Richard Ogden


ICP&P's Scientific Day is scheduled for Saturday, March 3, 2012. This is a half-day event that happens every other year in order to provide ICP&P members an opportunity to present an original paper and receive feedback from colleagues. There are no restrictions regarding topic, format, or theoretical orientation. In past years, the presentations have been approximately 35 minutes long with another 25 minutes reserved for discussion. While additional information is forthcoming in future newsletters, this note will hopefully prompt you to consider ideas that you might want to organize and share with member colleagues in a supportive and creative milieu.

If you are interested in learning more about presenting at Scientific Day, please contact me at rlogden@hotmail.com or (301) 986-5499.


New Member Introduction

Martha Blechar Gibbons

It is my pleasure to welcome Eleanor Lee, LCSW, to ICP&P. Eleanor currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia where she has conducted a private practice since 1972. She shares an office there with Mary Earle Haynes, also an ICP&P member. Earlier in her practice Eleanor included children and families, but for the last twenty years she has been focusing on adults, providing individual and couples psychodynamic psychotherapy. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Eleanor attended graduate school in Atlanta. Specializing in Psychiatric Social Work taught from an ego psychological and classical psychoanalytic throretical perspective, she graduated from what was then The Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) School of Social Work in 1967. From 1972 - 1990 Eleanor took extension courses through the Atlanta Psychoanlytic Society. She had the benefit of supervision from two psychoanalysts for five years, James Brooks, MD and H. Lee Hall, M.D., the Director of the Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute, a program which until recently did not accept social workers.

Through her own reading she developed an interest in Self Psychological and Relational Perspectives and was delighted to discover the conferences/courses provided by ICP&P and the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, where she heard Joe Lichtenberg speak. She found herself feeling "at home" with this approach.

Eleanor currently is an adjunct faculty member serving as a Clinical Supervisor for the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program now offered by The Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute. Her practice is structured so that she works three twelve hour days (!) and one six hour day. This allows time to commute to a home in Florida which she shares with her retired husband, to be available to her family (including nine grandchildren), and to enjoy kayaking and organic gardening. Fortunately, many of us will have the opportunity to meet Eleanor in person without traveling to Atlanta or Florida, for she will be participating in the ICP&P's Self Psychology Institute, starting in September.


Thoughts on Being a Therapist

Lauren Brandt and Jeffrey Jay

Feelings, thoughts, reflections, moments of humor, moments of insight, moments of relief, joy, victory, or defeat in being a therapist?

We would like to introduce a new occasional column in the newsletter, "Thoughts on Being A Therapist," as a space for ICP&P members to share reflections relating to this audacious, humbling and poignant work of being a therapist. The notes should be no longer than 400 words, but can also be much shorter. In addition to small lessons learned, we welcome personal writing to complement the theory, training, and hard work of treatment. Haikus and less formal expressions are welcome, but no identifying information of clients or breaches of confidentiality, please. Submit your writing for this column to Lauren Brandt or Jeffrey Jay at LBJLS@rcn.com or jeffjayphd@aol.com.

Lessons on Living, by Martha Blechar Gibbons

The rising sun filtered through lavender lace curtains as Corinne stepped into the silent bedroom to wake her daughter for school. Approaching Dana's bed, she whispered her name. The mother stretched her hand to stroke her daughter's dark tangled hair. Slowly lifting the silken-cased pillow, she tenderly turned the girl's face toward her. Confusion turned to terror as she touched Dana's rigid form. A thin line of dried blood trailed from the corner of the girl's mouth down her pale, mottled skin. Corinne shook her daughter desperately, pleading with the lifeless form. Stumbling to the balcony, she threw open the French doors and screamed for help. As she searched the street below, she was gripped by an impulse to hurl herself over the wrought iron railing. Gasping, her breath formed a haze of anguish in the icy air. An anomalous sound pierced the sinister stillness, half-moaning, half-shrieking, like the muffled wail of a wounded animal. Shuddering, Corinne realized that the strangled expression was her own.

Facing me from her chair in my consulting room, dissecting the lurid landscape of her life, Corrine has labored in mourning since that fateful first Monday in November when her fifteen year old daughter succumbed to bacterial meningitis. Focusing intently as she shared her narrative, I joined her in empathic attunement. Early in our therapy, as Corrine agonized over lost opportunities, I suggested that she journal her experience, to facilitate expression, organization and insight following the trauma. She responded by recording daily. As her marriage dissolved and she transitioned to single parenthood with custody of her surviving son, Corinne created a ritual of selecting excerpts from her journal to initiate each therapy session.

Corrine states that she knows that journaling has saved her life. For ten years she has recorded a purposeful, active communication with self. Through a profound process of expression and reflection she has found clarity in the midst of crisis. The practice has allowed her to discover and develop resilience and self-acceptance. She has gained insight, and has managed to take responsibility for the direction of her life. Corinne has confronted death, and has found a reason for living.

What Corrine doesn't know is how deeply her story has stirred my soul. I am haunted by the explicit description of her descent into desolation, the emptiness and isolation that once dominated her life. I am awed by the intensity of her agony, the overwhelming sense of failure to protect one's child from harm. I am inspired by her indomitable spirit, courage and tenacity to find meaning in loss and purpose in life.

Corinne's published journal stands prominently on my book case.


News and Notes

Karen Lutwin has recently moved and relocated her practice to New York City. She currently currently has openings for individuals and couples. Her contact information is 841 Broadway, Suite 302, New York, NY 10003. Telephone (646) 660-5699 and email klutwin@gmail.com.

Melinda Salzman and Flora Ingenhousz will present Stories of Stroke at the Washington School of Psychiatry on Sunday October 23rd. As one of the leading causes of long term disability and the fourth leading cause of death in our country, they will address how our clients and their families are affected and the bio-psycho-social impacts of stroke. For more details, contact Flora at flora_lcsw@verizon.net or Melinda at melinda@salzmanmsw.com

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ICP&P Yahoo Member Listserv - ICP&P maintains a member listserv which is intended as a place for members to post information (like conferences sponsored by other organizations that would be of interest to ICP&P members) or to ask for information regarding professional issues or resources. As new members join the organization or at any time after that up on request, the ICP&P Administrator will initiate an invitation to join the listserv from Yahoo. The method of posting items on the listserv is as follows: go to Yahoo groups on the Yahoo website and find the group "ICP-Info" under "My Groups". Click that group name. You will enter the ICP&P Yahoo group for members. To send a message, click on "Messages" the click "Post". If you are interested in joining the Yahoo Listserv, please contact Morgan Theriot at icpeastadmin@att.net so that she can send you an invitation.


UPCOMING EVENTS

  • Friday, September 16, 2011, November 18, 2011, February 3, 2011 and April 27, 2011 – ICP&P presents Self Psychology Institute Optional Pre-Conferences. 3:00pm – 6:15pm. 3551 Winfield Lane, NW, Washington, DC.
  • Saturday, September 17, 2011, November 19, 2011, February 4, 2012 and April 28, 2011 – ICP&P presents Self Psychology Institute. The Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC.
  • October 1, 2011 – ICP&P Faculty Workshop, 2:00pm – 5:00pm. Seekers Church, 276 Carroll Street, NW, Washington, DC 20012.
  • Thursday, October 13, 2011 – Saturday October 15, 2011 – the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology presents its annual conference The Influence of Attitude in Psychoanalysis at the Omni Hotel at California Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, visit www.iapsp.org
  • Friday, October 14, 2011 - ICP&P presents Short Course – A Dialogue on Couples Therapy from thePerspective of Two Complementary Contemporary Theories with Mary O'Farrell, PhD and John Gualtieri, PhD. 11:30am – 2:30pm. ICP&P Office, 4601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 8, Washington, DC.
  • Selective Friday, October 14, 2011 – December 16, 2011 – ICP&P presents A Series of Short Courses: An Integration of Neuroscience, Mind-Body Principles and Self & Relational Psychotherapies with Jean Gearon, PhD, Bill Harman, PhD, Katie Kelly, Faith Lewis, MSW, Karen Schachter, MSW and Stephen Stein, PhD.
  • Sunday, October 23, 2011 – The Washington School of Psychiatry presents Stories of Stroke with Melinda Salzman, MSW and Flora Ingenhousz, MSW.
  • Saturday, October 29, 2011 - Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work presents the Alice Kassabian Memorial Conference Shadows of Multiple Realities and Difference within Clinical Experience. Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC.
  • Saturday, December 10, 2011 – ICP&P presents After the Affair: From Trauma to Reconnection with Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, ABPP. 9:00am – 12:30pm. National 4-H Conference Center, 7100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD.
  • Saturday, March 3, 2012 – ICP&P presents Scientific Day. National 4-H Conference Center, 7100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD.

Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work, Inc. Presents Ethical Record Keeping: Protecting the Professional Relationship

with Ellen Luepker, MSW

Author of "Record Keeping in Psychotherapy & Counseling: Protecting Confidentiality & The Professional Relationship"

Saturday, October 15, 2011, 9am - 12:30pm (Registration starts at 8:30am)
Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, Maryland


3 Ethics CE Credits


Description: In today's pressured practices, the need for an ethical framework to help clinicians and supervisors remain grounded in our own clinical wisdom has never felt more urgent. The purpose of this conference is to meet the need for knowledge about ways competent record keeping in clinical practice can support ethical practice and strengthen the therapeutic relationship. Through presentation, handouts, and discussion we will address the purposes, contents and characteristics of good records, the challenges clinicians face in record keeping and methods to prevent errors. When we confront clinical dilemmas, what ethical principles in our decision-making are helpful to balance and to document? Howe can we use records as therapeutic tools—to provide an informed consent process, safeguard confidentiality and manage its exceptions, ensure continuity of care during interruptions in practice, and help us navigate boundary issues in electronic communications?


Cost: GWSCSW Members - $75(before 9/30) or $90.00 (after 9/30)
Non-members $100(before 9/30) or $115.00 (after 9/30)
Students $25.00 (before 9/30) or $40.00 (after 9/30)


Register online: www.gwscsw.org or mail check to PO Box 3235, Oakton, VA 22124 (Please write Ethical Record Keeping on the memo line and include your email address.)


*This is a paid advertisement


BULLETIN BOARD

The Policy for Bulletin Board items is: Members can place items three months a year. Items can be up to eight lines in length. Longer items or additional months are available for a fee. Please contact the administrator for the fee schedule.

  • New Meditation Group For Therapists - East Meets West Reflections on the Dialogue Between Mind and Body! First meeting will take place on September 19, 2011 at 7:15. 908 Pa. Ave, SE, Washington, DC. Initial monthly meeting will be free, subsequent meetings will be $60.00. Contact Joe Tarantolo 202-543-5290 or drjtarantolo@earthlink.net
  • New Fall Groups - offered at 4707 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC.
    • Experiential , mixed gender psychotherapy group for ages 30 – 50
    • Experiential, mixed gender psychotherapy group for ages 50 plus
    • Experiential and support group for family caretakers co-led by Anya Gill and Tybe Diamond.
    Candidates receive a complimentary 30 min. phone call. Sliding fee scale and Medicare accepted. Collaboration with referring therapists is available. For more information contact Tybe Diamond at 202-966-1381 or email to ibtybe@aol.com .
  • Mixed Psychotherapy Group - age range 40-66, has openings Monday 7 PM in Potomac, MD. Group dealing with issues of transition, intrapsychic issues and interpersonal issues. All group members are also in individual therapy with myself or referring therapist. If interested, please contact Joan Medway at 301 704 2162.
  • Journey of Recovery: Women in Eating Disorder Recovery Group - Tuesdays, 6:45-8:00 pm beginning in October. This group will help members share ongoing strategies and encouragement for symptom alleviation; process family and relationship struggles in the here and now; and develop and sustain deeper and more fulfilling relationships. Group is designed for women who alternate between periods of symptom usage and no periods of symptom usage, and/or are engaged in minimal symptom usage and actively working on recovery goals, and who seek a complement to their individual therapy with a desire to improve interpersonal relationships. For more information, please call Angie Snyder 202-549-7310.
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Group - has openings for new members. This is a mixed therapy group for people between the ages of 45 and 65 who seek to explore, experience and resolve their relationship issues. Please contact either Roger Segalla at 301 652-1707 or Pat Petrash at 202 450-1947.
  • New Experiential Consultation Group - Monica Leonie Callahan is offering a biweekly consultation group to begin in September, meeting every other Friday from 12:00 to 1:30 in her office in Bethesda. The group will address members' clinical experiences utilizing a combination of contemporary theory (self psychological, relational, intersubjective, etc.) and psychodrama-based action methods. Psychodrama is particularly well suited to exploring nonverbal elements of the therapy relationship, including mutual enactments, role responsiveness, and "countertransference," and allows for experimenting with alternative interventions. For more information, contact Monica at 301 587 6211 or callahanml@erols.com
  • Office Space Available - in private office with kitchenette and bath in Dupont Circle. Residential building, open 24-hours, with lobby desk monitored. Great place to build a practice -- so far three of my tenants have moved on to their own offices following start-up in my office. Available for whatever time blocks needed mornings Mon - Wed and all day Thursday. Contact Sheila Cahill at sheilacahill@mac.com or call 202-656-2415.
  • Office Space Available – in McLean, VA for a mental health professional. The suite consists of 4 offices with a large waiting room, kitchen and a group room. The office has large windows and has been recently been refurbished. It is situated on the ground floor and is easily accessible. There is ample parking. Please contact Beulah Levy at beulahalevy@gmail.com or at 703-356 8994.
  • Office Space Available – located at Dupont Circle two blocks from the Metro. The office is spacious, charming, sunny, has a waiting room and is available hourly or as a part-time sublet on Fridays. If desired, two parking spaces available, 1 for renter (inside garage), 1 for renter's patients (outside garage.) Contact Sarah Pillsbury at 202-332-9473.

The deadline for submitting items for the October 2011 Newsletter is September 25, 2011