Psychotherapists Working in Public Spaces, with Maria Nardone, Ph.D.

When she was an early career psychologist, Dr. Nardone was asked to provide psychological testimony for a man facing deportation which would have deeply and negatively affected his U.S. citizen family. Subsequent cases included green card holders who committed crimes and were rehabilitated, people seeking asylum, and undocumented parents with U.S. citizen children. These experiences ignited a passion that continues to the present.

In this talk, Dr. Nardone will reflect on her experiences working in these and other public spaces. She will discuss what she has learned about the trauma experienced by immigrants and refugees, and in immigrant communities. Deporting undocumented parents can create lasting harm for their American citizen children, including economic turmoil, psychic scarring, and reduced scholastic performance. She will describe her work with the Appleseed Network, a non-profit network of 18 public interest justice centers in the US and Mexico.

Maria Nardone, Ph.D., Director of Technology and Global Learning; Former Director of the Online Interpersonal Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program for Russian Speakers; Former Chair, Council of Fellows, and Founding member and Former Director of the Center for Public Mental Health at the William Alanson White Institute, where she is Faculty Instructor and Supervisor. She is co-director of the Social Issues Department of the American Psychoanalytic Association and a North American Representative to the IPA Board of Directors. Dr. Nardone is Adjunct Associate Professor in Fordham University’s graduate program in Healthcare Administration and a member of the GSAS Dean’s Advisory committee. Previously, Dr. Nardone was Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, Director of the Division of Psychological Services, in the Department of OB/GYN at S.U.N.Y Downstate Medical Center.

Dr. Nardone is an expert witness in Immigration matters. A graduate of the Tavistock Institute, Dr. Nardone is an executive coach and advanced organizational consultant. She has lectured in numerous academic institutions in Europe and the US. Her chapter, “Executive Coaching as an Organizational Intervention,” was published in English and Italian in Mind-ful Consulting (Karnac, 2009, 2014). Dr. Nardone is on the Board of Give Something Back International, a non-profit that provides education for children in Southeast Asia and Haiti and the Board of Moving for Life, a non-profit providing free dance and movement classes for older adults and people impacted by cancer.