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Community Forum – The End of the Hour: A Therapist’s Reflections on Closing a Practice
November 14, 2020 @ 9:30 am - 11:30 am EST
Community Forum
THE END OF THE HOUR:
A THERAPIST’S REFLECTIONS ON CLOSING A PRACTICE
Sharon Medoff Picard, LCSW
Saturday November 14th, 2020
9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Admission: $30
2 CEU credits offered to
LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, and LCATs
ON ZOOM!
MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW
RSVP to:
Assistant@wcspp.org
845 867-7318
To pay by credit card go to wcspp.org/register
To pay by check addressed to WCSPP, please mail to:
Zoe
PO Box 997
Millbrook, NY 12545
Choosing to close a private practice carries profound ramifications for therapist and patients. Generally, our patients leave us. Usually—and ideally—through a mutually constructed and thoughtful termination process. Sometimes, terminations are marked by an abrupt rupture; with rare exceptions, however, these, too, are at the behest of the patient. In addition, for most of us, a termination is accompanied by the understanding that a patient is welcome to return should the need arise. Choosing to close up shop for personal reasons involves interrupting ongoing work, disappointing and angering patients and stirring up abandonment issues. As well, for the therapist, it involves separating from a deeply cherished identity.
With reference to some of the limited available literature, this presentation will address the conundrums of making such a choice, the dilemmas facing the therapist, the theme of loss and the arc of the work during the months between the announcement and termination.
Discussion will invite commentary from therapists dealing with the prospect of closing a practice since the onset of the pandemic. A time when all the anticipated affects and quandaries are made more awkward and delicate and when an imposed sense of crisis may infuse the process.
Sharon Medoff Picard, LCSW is a faculty member at WCSPP and a former director of their Adult Psychotherapy Training Program. She recently closed her private practice but remains involved with training and supervision.
CONTINUING EDUCATION – 2 CE CONTACT HOURS
The Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy is recognized by NY State Education Department’s State Board of Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Clinical Social Workers # 00063; Licensed Psychoanalysts # P-0027; Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists #MFT-0040; Licensed Mental Health Counselors #MHC-0075; and Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0028.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
1) Discuss the impact of choosing to close a practice on both patients and therapist.
2) Describe the themes that mark the period of transition between the announcement of the closing of a practice and the final termination.
3 ) Describe the impact of closing a practice on the identity of the therapist.
Teaching method:
Presentation of paper followed by group discussion
A completed survey must be submitted at the end of the community forum.
Who should attend: Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychoanalysts, other mental health professionals, nurses, graduate students.