WCSPP CANDIDATE ORIENTATION (WCSPP only)
2024-09-03 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
On Zoom. Details to follow.

Welcome Wine & Cheese Party (WCSPP only)
2024-09-08 16:00 - 18:00
We invite all WCSPP members to come meet the incoming candidates.
Watch the listserv for location!

Start of the Fall Trimester
2024-09-10

Understanding and Using the Traumatic Narcissism Theory
2024-09-20 19:00 - 21:00
Since the publication of his 2014 book, Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, Daniel Shaw has been refining and updating the psychological profile of the traumatizing narcissist, specifically for the purpose of helping victims of narcissistic abuse inflicted by parents, romantic partners or others. Many patients have difficulty articulating what happens to them in these relationships, and clinicians often miss the important clues that indicate this type of relational abuse. In this presentation, Shaw outlines the most prominent controlling behaviors of the traumatizing narcissist, how they impact his or her victims, and the specific ways that these patients can be helped to restore their critical thinking, their self-esteem, and their freedom from subjugation.
Presenter
Daniel Shaw, LCSW, is an author, teacher and psychotherapist in private practice in New York City and Nyack, NY. Integrating contemporary trauma theories with psychoanalytic work, Shaw works internationally with survivors of narcissistic abuse as well as cult survivors, and consults to other mental health professionals individually and in groups. www.danielshawlcsw.com.

2 CE HOURS available for:
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
CT Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LMFTs, LPCs and Licensed Psychologists
Teaching Method: Lecture, Discussion and Q & A.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
1. identify the most prominent behaviors of the traumatizing narcissist.
2. formulate treatment goals for victims of narcissistic abuse suffering from Complex-PTSD.
3. utilize psychoeducation about the traumatic narcissism theory to help patients consolidate therapeutic gains.
A completed survey must be submitted after the meeting for 2 CE hours.
Who should attend: Psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychoanalysts, other mental health professionals, nurses, graduate students.

How, When, Why and If to Consider Retirement (WCSPP only)
2024-09-22 14:30 - 17:30
Linda Fleischman, LCSW, former Director of the Supervisory Training Program at WCSPP will share her thoughts and experiences and facilitate a discussion around retiring from an active practice in psychoanalysis.
Watch the listserv for more information and location in Westchester.

Erich Fromm: A Contemporary Introduction
2024-09-27 19:30 - 21:30
CE CREDITS AVAILABLE FOR NYS PRACTITIONERS.
This webinar is live, real-time and interactive.
From our speaker Sandra Buechler: Erich Fromm, who was born in 1900, continues to inspire me in 2024. His humanistic insights are highly relevant to the clinical and societal challenges we face today. In this talk, I explore Fromm’s concepts of the “pathology of normalcy,” paradox in treatment, productive and non-productive orientations, and becoming a “physician of the soul,” among other concepts. I express why Fromm has a special place in my own “internal chorus” of wise voices I can “consult” in moments of need.
Sandra Buechler, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute. She is the author of Clinical Values: Emotions that Guide Psychoanalytic Treatment (Analytic Press, 2004), Making a Difference in Patients’Lives (Routledge, 2008), which won the Gradiva award, Still Practicing: The Heartaches and Joys of a Clinical Career (Routledge, 2012), Understanding and Treating Patients in Clinical Psychoanalysis: Lessons from Literature (Routledge, 2015), Psychoanalytic Reflections: Training and Practice (IPBooks, 2017),Psychoanalytic Approaches to Problems in Living (Routledge, 2019), Poetic Dialogues (IPBooks, 2021), and Erich Fromm: A Contemporary Introduction(Routledge, 2024).

WCSPP Graduation (WCSPP only)
2024-10-20 17:00 - 20:00
Join us as we celebrate this year’s graduates and honoree Linda Fleischman, LCSW at a beautiful and festive dinner in Westchester. All members are invited.
Watch the listserv for location and more details!
A LINK TO SIGN UP IS IN THE MEMBER PORTAL OF THE WEBSITE.

Erotophobia: Laplanche, Queer Theory & Psychoanalysis
2024-10-25 19:00 - 21:00
2 CE HOURS available for:
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
CT Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LMFTs, LPCs and Licensed Psychologists
In contemporary psychoanalysis, it has become popular to accuse the clinical field of hating sex, hating pleasure, and being generally – both in its theory and in its techniques – hostile and averse to sex and sexuality. Although this isn’t a particularly new argument – French psychoanalysis has been accusing American psychoanalysis of this in one form or another for the past seventy-five years – the argument has taken on new momentum with the popularization of queer theory, and alongside recent attempts to radicalize psychoanalytic theory and practice. In this presentation, I will draw on Laplanche to challenge this popular argument by showing that it depends on a simplistic version of queer theory that totally misrecognizes its radical potential. In so doing, I will demonstrate that to the extent we are afraid of sexuality it may have less to do with sensational, exotic or shattering sex, but sexuality in relation to otherness, desire that thrusts and propels us toward others in ways we can’t comprehend and can’t quite escape. I elaborate Laplanche’s account of “enlarged sexuality” to elaborate “erotophobia” as the denial of enlarged sexuality.
Presenter:

Gila Ashtor, PhD, LP is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychoanalysis at Columbia University as well as a faculty member of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. She is on the Faculty at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, and at IPTAR. She is the author of three books, Homo Psyche: On Queer Theory and Erotophobia (Fordham UP, 2021), Exigent Psychoanalysis: The Interventions of Jean Laplanche (Routledge, 2021) and Aural History (Punctum, 2020). Her primary areas of academic and clinical expertise include identity, trauma and sexuality. She is in private practice in New York City.
Moderator
Sylvia Steinert, LCSW is the current co-Executive Director of WCSPP and Faculty, WCSPP. Steinert holds certificates in psychoanalysis and supervision from WCSPP. She is in private practice in Ridgefield, CT.

POSTPONED: WCSPP's 50th Anniversary Celebration (Continued!)
2024-11-08 19:00 - 21:00
POSTPONED: WCSPP’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Continues!
Purchase the 50th Anniversary Video by clicking the Eventbrite link below.

Annual Conference: Moral Development: Implications for Clinical Work with Children and Parents
2024-11-23 09:00 - 13:00
Continuing Education
4 CE credits for most NY and CT Licenses
About
This conference invites reflection upon the cultivation of morality within
today’s families often challenged by an exclusive emphasis on individual development,
the weakening of binding institutions, and the influence of the Internet. How can clinicians
help parents hold in mind the importance of moral development alongside their goals
and good wishes for their children’s future? How can they help parents define and
integrate values that support the well-being of their own families and society? Through
presentations and discussions, we will delve into these timely and urgent questions.
Richard Weissbourd, PhD
Concerns regarding the deleterious impact of contemporary culture influence parents
and educators to focus intensely on the well-being and achievements of children.
Too much preoccupation with these two aspects of individual success—and the
constant praising of children that goes with it—can undermine children’s capacity
to care for others and their investment in the common good. Further, concentrating
so much on achievement and happiness risks making kids not only less caring, but
ironically, less happy and consequently less likely to achieve at high levels. In the
current socio-political climate, where tolerance and empathy seem to be in short
supply, it is more important than ever to help children develop concern for others.
This talk will explore these current trends and help clinicians working with families
understand these challenging dilemmas.
Ken Barish, PhD
In this talk, Dr. Barish will discuss Dr. Weissbourd’s ideas on moral development in
children, highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement. The discussion will focus
on how our current culture of individual achievement erodes children’s capacity for
empathy and the importance of helping others. Dr. Barish will offer recommendations to
therapists on how we can most effectively immunize our children and teens against the
emotional pathogens of loneliness and shame, help promote constructive engagement
in their communities, and foster a spirit of generosity and kindness toward others.

About the Speakers
Richard Weissbourd, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education, and he also teaches at the Kennedy
School of Government. His work focuses on moral development,
meaning and purpose, mental health challenges among teens and
young adults and effective schools and services for children facing
risks. He directs the Making Caring Common Project, a national
effort to make moral and social development priorities in child-raising
and provide strategies to schools and parents for promoting com-
mitment moral and social capacities. He leads an initiative to reform
college admissions, Turning the Tide, which seeks to elevate ethical
character, reduce excessive achievement pressure and increase
equity and access in the college admissions process. Weissbourd
is the author of The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America’s
Children and What We Can Do About It (Addison-Wesley, 1996),
named by the American School Board Journal as one of the top 10
education books of all time. His most recent book, The Parents We
Mean to Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children’s
Moral and Emotional Development (Houghton Mifflin 2009) was
named by The New Yorker as one of the top 24 books of 2009.
Ken Barish PhD, is a graduate and faculty member of the Westchester
Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is
also on the faculty of the William Alanson White Institute Child and
Adolescent Psychotherapy Training Program, Clinical Professor of
Psychology at Weill – Cornell Medical College, and Visiting Professor,
Tongji Medical College in Wuhan, China. He is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association. Ken is the author of How To Be
a Better Child Therapist: An Integrative Model for Therapeutic Change
(W. W. Norton, 2018) and Pride and Joy: A Guide to Understanding
Your Child’s Emotions and Solving Family Problems (Oxford
University Press, 2012). Pride and Joy is the winner of the 2013
International Book Award and the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award

Start of the Winter Trimester
2024-12-03

Psychoanalysis and the Unspoken
2024-12-04 19:00 - 21:00
Presented by:
Joyce Slochower, PhD, ABPP
Moderated by:
Rabbi Irwin Kula, President Emeritus, Clal
2 CE HOURS
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
In this presentation, Dr. Slochower reflects on what is most often left unspoken and unexamined in our field. Dr. Slochower illustrates the ways our analytic ideal has influenced us in both positive and negative ways. Revisiting her own thinking about relational holding, analytic breaches, and a range of existential issues, she invites us to do the same.

Joyce Slochower Ph.D., ABPP, is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Hunter College & the Graduate Center, CUNY. Joyce is faculty and supervisor at the NYU Postdoctoral Program, the Steven Mitchell Center, the National Training Program of NIP, Philadelphia Center for Relational Studies in Philadelphia and the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California in San Francisco. She is on the Editorial Boards of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Ricerca Psicoanalitica and Psychoanalytic Perspectives and is on the Board of the IARPP. Joyce has published over 100 articles on various aspects of psychoanalytic theory and technique. Joyce is co-Editor, with Lew Aron and Sue Grand, of “De-idealizing Relational Theory: A Critique from Within” and “Decentering Relational Theory: A Comparative Critique (2018, Routledge). Second Editions of her two books, Holding and Psychoanalysis: A Relational Perspective (1996) and Psychoanalytic Collisions (2006), were released in 2014 by Routledge. Her new book, Psychoanalysis and the Unspoken, was released by Routledge in June. She is in private practice in New York City where she sees individuals and couples, runs supervision and study groups.
Moderator
Rabbi Irwin Kula is a 7th generation rabbi and a disruptive spiritual innovator. A rogue thinker, author of the award-winning book, Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life, and President-Emeritus of Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, he works at the intersection of religion, innovation, and human flourishing. A popular commentator in both new and traditional media, he is co-founder with Craig Hatkoff and the late Professor Clay Christensen of The Disruptor Foundation whose mission is to advance disruptive innovation theory and its application in societal critical domains. He serves as a consultant to a wide range of foundations, organizations, think tanks, and businesses and is on the leadership team of Coburn Ventures, where he offers uncommon inputs on cultural and societal change to institutional investors across sectors and companies worldwide.

Conflict in Divorce: Helping Parents Protect Children’s Innocence
2024-12-15 16:00 - 18:00
2 CE HOURS
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
This interactive training will present an overview of the psychological impact of divorce on parents and children. We will examine how divorce can go wrong and what parents and clinicians can do to significantly improve the lot of children during the process.
The Problem: In every divorce there is a leave-er and a leave-ee. One initiates and one is left; it’s asymmetrical and painful. Also, by definition, divorce is a failed marriage, so it’s no surprise that the original marital struggles get played out – and amplified. Anger is accentuated, blaming abounds and fear undermines the project. But, since the goal of a divorce is to separate and build a new life, an alternative narrative is required, especially if there are children involved.
Presenter
Mark Banschick, MD is the co-founder of The Katonah Study Group for Integrative Medicine, now in its 25th year. Dr. Banschick completed a residency in Psychiatry at Georgetown University and a Child Fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Medical Center. He is a contributor to Psychology Today with sixteen million readers to date – and author of The Intelligent Divorce book series. Recently, Mark co-founded Alums for Campus Fairness, promoting healthy dialogue on college campuses, with over 50,000 members representing 75 colleges. Dr. Banschick works with children and adults in private practice in Stamford, CT.

The Dynamic Interplay of Adult Development and the Treatment Process
2025-01-10 19:00 - 21:00
From our speaker, Steve Axelrod: In this presentation, I will elaborate two perspectives on the psychology of adulthood – a developmental scheme of tasks and emerging capacities as well as the drivers of individual growth and vitality.
The developmental framework I described in my recently published paper is a revision and expansion of Erikson’s original epigenetic scheme that incorporates what we have learned from others’ observations (especially those drawn from longitudinal studies) and theorizing. I will describe how this developmental perspective can inform and improve our clinical work, and I will illustrate this with case material.
Follow-up data from psychotherapy outcome studies can give us a window into the processes of growth in adulthood more generally. There is evidence that some patients not only get better in treatment but also show continuing improvement and better adjustment over time after termination. The final part of this presentation will consider the factors in treatment and the processes post treatment that sustain these kinds of gains.
Dr. Steve Axelrod is a psychoanalyst in independent practice in New York City. He is on the faculty of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, where he is Co-Chair of the Independent Track, working to foster innovation and improve the intellectual experience for all members of the Postdoc community. He is a Principal in the Boswell Group of psychodynamic management consultants and is on the board of the Psychotherapy Action Network. He is the author of books and articles on adult development, the psychology of work—Work and the Evolving Self (Analytic Press, 1999),—leadership and management, male development, and hospital-based psychiatric treatment. He is the co-editor of Progress in Psychoanalysis: Envisioning the Future of the Profession (Routledge, 2018). This presentation is based in part on his recent article “Growth in adulthood: A revised psychoanalytic framework for adult development” in this year’s Psychoanalytic Study of the Child.

Parenting in Today's World: Clinical Conversations
2025-01-12 16:00 - 18:00
2 CE HOURS
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
Fathers for Change (F4C) is a novel, individual clinical intervention for fathers who have been violent with their partners and/or children. F4C addresses 9 individually focused core topics, 4 co-parent topics, and 5 father-child focused topics in 60-minute individual therapy sessions over 18-24 weeks. In the context of a strong working alliance developed through focus on fatherhood, F4C employs a continual emphasis on reflective functioning and emotion regulation skills. Improvement in these targets in turn leads to reduced intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment. F4C motivates the father to change by continually recognizing his desire to be a better parent and facilitating his ability to reflect on the experiences of his co-parent and children and learn skills to manage his emotions to improve outcomes for his family. This presentation will include: 1) an overview of F4C intervention, the theory of change and research data to support F4C as an emerging evidence based approach to reducing IPV.

Carla Smith Stover, PhD is a Professor at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Child Study Center, and an Investigator with the IPV Center for Implementation, Research and Evaluation at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Stover was awarded a Career Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse that began her research on interventions for fathers to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) and substance misuse behaviors and improve parenting. She developed Fathers for Change and her recent book published by Guilford Press Fathers and Violence: A Program to Change Behavior, Improve Parenting and Heal Relationships is the manual for this intervention approach. She currently has two NIH research grants to conduct clinical trials of Fathers for Change. One for families involved with child protective services due to IPV and the other for fathers with co-occurring IPV and substance misuse disorders seeking substance use treatment in the community or the VA. She has presented trainings internationally on the topics of family conflict, healthy relationships, family violence, engaging and treating fathers and interventions for childhood trauma.

Admissions Open House
2025-01-23 19:00 - 20:00
Learn about our extensive training opportunities for Fall 2025 in:
Advanced Psychoanalysis
Foundations of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Child, Adolescent, Parent Psychotherapy
Couples Therapy
Join us to meet our program directors and ask questions of current candidates, graduates, and faculty.
Hear candidates discuss the transformational impact of training: deepening their work in agency settings and building/growing their private practices with the help of our collegial referral network.
With optional in-person learning and social opportunities in Westchester and Connecticut
CE credits will be offered for the coursework.
Financial aid is available to those who qualify.
Who is eligible and should apply?
Applicants must be licensed Masters or Doctoral-level mental health professionals: MD, PhD, PsyD, LCSW, NP, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC, LMFT

Maintaining Professional Boundaries in Psychotherapy (Ethics Course)
2025-01-26 10:00 - 13:00
This 3-Hour CE Course meets the NYSED Office of the Professions requirement for Ethics and Appropriate Boundaries for LCSWs, LMSWs, LMHCs, LMFTs, Licensed Psychoanalysts and Licensed Psychologists.
3 CE HOURS
Presented by:
Bruce V. Hillowe, JD, PhD
The New York State Board of Regents mandated that effective April 1, 2023, psychologists, social workers and mental health practitioners (LMHC’s, LMFT’s, LPsa’s and LCAT’s) take as part of their required continuing education a three credit course on the maintenance of professional boundaries with patients. The reason for the new requirement is concern about the number of professional disciplinary proceedings by the State’s licensing boards against mental health professionals where boundaries have allegedly been violated. This course has been designed to meet the State’s mandatory CE requirement for both boundaries and ethics: courses on boundaries that cover New York laws, rules and regulations related to unprofessional conduct may also be counted toward the ethics requirement.
Topics to be discussed will include the ethical, professional, legal and clinical backgrounds for boundaries; discriminating between boundary crossings and violations; the establishment and maintenance of boundaries at the outset of and during psychotherapy including issues of multiple relationships, at- risk patients and social media; the challenge of vulnerable patients and therapists; and maintaining clinical creativity and flexibility within the therapeutic frame. The potential harm and legal consequences of boundary violations will also be reviewed. The presenter is Bruce V. Hillowe JD PhD, a psychologist-psychoanalyst and mental health care attorney who has defended hundreds of mental health practitioners in professional disciplinary proceedings in New York State, many of them for alleged boundary violations.
Presenter
Bruce V. Hillowe, JD, PhD, is a mental healthcare attorney with a law practice in Mineola, New York. A graduate of Binghamton University, Duke University School of Law, and Adelphi University Derner Institute (Clinical Psychology and Postdoctoral Programs), he formerly practiced as a psychologist-psychoanalyst, including as a coordinator of clinical training and director of a forensic mental health service. He was a teaching attending psychologist in law and ethics at a major teaching hospital for 15 years. He currently teaches courses in ethics and law as adjunct faculty at the Derner Institute. He is legal counsel to numerous mental health facilities, institutes, and practitioners and sponsors legal plans for professional associations. He has written articles and book chapters including for law reviews and healthcare publications, is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in healthcare law and is a “SuperLawyer” featured in the New York Times Magazine.

The "Big Shot" Raises His Fee: Social Class in the Psychoanalytic Encounter
2025-02-07 19:00 - 21:00
The role of social class in the analytic encounter has been given little attention in our psychoanalytic literature and training institutes. This dimension of the treatment relationship tends to remain invisible most of the time. However, when the analyst raises the fee, it can become a catalyst for bringing social class concerns of both patient and analyst into the treatment room. The fee increase discussed in this presentation evokes shame, envy, and guilt for both participants, each raised in a working-class home. The author considers unconscious dynamics informing psychoanalytic work between patients and analysts who outwardly appear to have no conflict about their social class origins but privately harbor much shame and anger about where they come from.

Foundations and Advanced Psychoanalytic Training Programs Open House
2025-02-19 19:00 - 20:00
The Foundations of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training Program is a two-year program designed to provide candidates with a solid theoretical and clinical base in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A three-pronged approach is used, which includes coursework, personal therapy, and consultation/supervision with a number of master clinicians who are a part of the WCSPP Faculty. Candidates will learn how to better recognize aspects of their work that are occurring outside the conscious awareness of the patient (or even the clinician) and how to use this expanded understanding in a dynamic, transformative way.
The Advanced Psychoanalytic Training Program is open to graduates of the Foundations Program and/or an equivalent program at another training institute. The Advanced course is an additional three-year program (beyond the Foundations program) that provides further in-depth training in psychoanalysis. The training consists of concurrent participation in didactic course work, supervised clinical work, and a personal psychoanalysis. Such an intense immersion enables the candidate to transform experientially and deeply understand the empirical basis of theoretical formulations and to develop analytic skill in the conceptualization and execution of psychoanalytic work.
Who is eligible and should apply?
Applicants must be licensed Masters or Doctoral-level mental health professionals:
MD, PhD, PsyD, LCSW, NP, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC, LMFT
Financial Aid is available for those who qualify.
Timeline:
Rolling admissions with decisions made by July 30, 2025
Program begins September 2025
We will continue to be on Zoom for the 2025-2026 year.

Reclaiming the Power of Female Aggression, a Psychoanalytic Perspective
2025-02-28 19:00 - 21:00
2 CE HOURS
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
This presentation addresses the fraught relationship between women and aggression, one that is troubled by age-old patriarchal forces that disparage the ambitions, assertions and voices of women.
Approached from a psychoanalytic perspective, the presentation details the sociocultural forces that infect a woman’s intrapsychic dynamics and compel her to sacrifice her goals and dreams.
The critical question of how a woman can ever succeed in this disabling environment is addressed through the stories of six highly influential women who reimagine their own “nastiness” as an innovative, vitalizing tool that powers their success.

Janet Rivkin Zuckerman, PhD, JD, is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, and previously practicing attorney. She is Former Director, current Faculty, and Clinical Consultant at the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, and Clinical Consultant at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis. She conducts supervision and study groups in interpersonal/relational psychoanalysis and is in private practice in Rye, NY. She can be reached at janetzuckerman@gmail.com.
Round Table Discussants
Janet Shimer, LCSW, MBA is current Co-Executive Director of the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. She is Faculty and Supervisor, WCSPP; She earned her Certificate in Psychoanalysis and Supervision at WCSPP. She is a Former Director of WCSPP Annual Conference; a Former Director of WCSPP Marketing, and Past President, WCSPP Psychoanalytic Association. She is in private practice in Armonk, NY.
Sylvia Steinert, LCSW is the current co-Executive Director of WCSPP and Faculty, WCSPP. Steinert holds certificates in psychoanalysis and supervision from WCSPP. She is in private practice in Ridgefield, CT and in Manhattan.
Diane Malkin, LCSW is incoming Co-Executive Director of the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. She has been the Co-Director of Admissions for WCSPP for two years. Diane earned her Certificate in Psychoanalysis and Supervision at WCSPP. She has a private practice in Ardsley, New York.
Jennifer Havens, MD is the Arnold Simon Professor and Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Director of the Child Study Center at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, and Director of Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Strategy & Growth in the Office of Behavioral Health at NYC Health and Hospitals. Dr. Havens is an expert in the treatment of behavioral and mental health issues in children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma.

Start of the Spring Trimester
2025-03-04

WCSPP Film Night: "The Quiet Girl"
2025-03-07 19:30 - 21:30
2 CE Hours available to NYS
LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, Psychologists and PsyDs
This film is available for viewing on Kanopy, Amazon, Google Play and other Streaming Services
Watch the Movie before the Event — then Join Us To Discuss!
A discussion will be facilitated via ZOOM by Sarah Fisher, LCSW & Carter Thornton, LCAT, LP
Co-Hosted by WCSPP’s Child Adolescent, Parent Psychotherapy Training Program (CAPP)
This film provides a unique opportunity to reflect upon the vulnerability both children and parents feel as they experience loss, and grief, over the course of their development. It also sheds light on the impact of different caregiving styles and the challenges of economic hardship.
Sarah Fisher, LCSW, is finishing the CAPP program at WCSPP and is co-chair of the Film Committee. She has over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescents and families in Westchester County. She is currently working with Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) as Director of WJCS’s Mobile Crisis Response Teams (MCRT), which provide mental health co-responses to police departments in Northern and Central Westchester County.
Carter Thornton, LCAT, LP, is a Psychoanalyst and Creative Arts Therapist in private practice in Westchester County, NY. Thornton teaches at WCSPP and is co-chair of the Film Committee. He is a graduate of the Institute for Expressive Analysis, where he teaches, supervises, and has served on the board as Program Chair. He is also a visual artist and musician.

CAPP Training Program Open House
2025-03-15 12:00 - 13:00
Learn about our extensive training opportunities for Fall 2025 in: Child, Adolescent, Parent Psychotherapy
Our program weaves together the study of individual child & adolescent, and parent development through understanding the impact of psychological histories, relational patterns, intergenerational effects, and changing social contexts and constructs. Training is based on a psychodynamic, relational orientation to change, integrating parent guidance and advice as needed.
We welcome all mental health practitioners, whether your work is exclusive to children & adolescents, primarily serves adults or some combination. We never forget that there is, after all, a child’s history within each adult and the challenge of growing within every child, adult, and parent.
Who is eligible and should apply?
Applicants must be licensed Masters or Doctoral-level mental health professionals:
MD, PhD, PsyD, LCSW, NP, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC, LMFT
Financial Aid is available for those who qualify.
CE hours available for some coursework for eligible NYS LCSW, LMSW, LMFT, LMHC,LCAT, LP and NYS Psychologists and CT Social Workers through NASW CT.
Timeline:
Rolling admissions with decisions made by July 30, 2025
Program begins September 2025
We will continue to be on Zoom for the 2025-2026 year.

The Power to Heal
2025-03-16 12:00 - 14:00
2 CE HOURS
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
This clinical seminar offers an overview of neurodevelopmental disorders and learning differences that interfere with academic, social, emotional and behavioral development. Participants will learn how to incorporate a neurodevelopmental perspective in their ongoing diagnostic curiosity. A key component of the seminar will be addressing the psychodynamic challenges people with neurodevelopmental issues and learning differences face, how these constant challenges are understood as microtraumas that affect the nervous system and affect dysregulation and how that in turn may negatively influence learning and behavior.
Sheri Perlman, OT, LCSW is an adult, teen and child psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. Sheri’s particular areas of interest include trauma, parent-child relationships, parenting, learning differences and recovery from narcissistic abuse. She incorporates a myriad of tools in an eclectic, integrated approach to her work while maintaining an analytic, neuropsychoanalytic and trauma frame. Sheri graduated from Washington University with a Bachelors of Science in Occupational Therapy and New York University with a Masters in Social Work. Additionally, Perlman received certificates from both the Institute for Child, Adolescent and Family Studies (ICAFS) and the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) for adult treatment. She is a member of CFS and an affiliate of WCSPP. Sheri has also trained in trauma work including EMDR, trauma stabilization, and in alternative treatment modalities such as Craniosacral work Journeying and Meditation. She sees patients in her full time private practice in person and online from her offices in New York and Israel.

Couples Therapy Training Program Open House
2025-03-19 19:00 - 20:00
Our Couples Therapy Training Program is a one-year program which teaches both basic and advanced couples therapy techniques and theory with a combination of psychoanalytic and systems perspectives. Candidates are introduced to several different theoretical approaches including object relations and relational theory, self psychology, Bowenian theory and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with emphasis on the clinical work with couples. We also discuss issues pertaining to LGBTQ relationships, divorce, cross cultural relationships, and substance abuse. In addition to the didactic instruction, weekly supervision is provided by senior faculty for cases seen through our Psychotherapy Service.
The Couples Therapy Training Program provides a solid introduction to couples work and provides an opportunity to join the warm, supportive community at our institute, build your referral network, and be exposed to the many and varied learning opportunities provided at WCSPP.
Who is eligible and should apply?
Applicants must be licensed Masters or Doctoral-level mental health professionals:
MD, PhD, PsyD, LCSW, NP, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC, LMFT
Financial Aid is available for those who qualify.
The Rosalind Cohen Scholarship fund will award one fully paid scholarship for course work and supervision to qualified applicants to WCSPP’s Couples Therapy Training Program.
CE hours available for some coursework for eligible NYS LCSW, LMSW, LMFT, LMHC,LCAT, LP and NYS Psychologists and CT Social Workers through NASW CT.
Timeline:
Rolling admissions with decisions made by July 30, 2025
Program begins September 2025
We will continue to be on Zoom for the 2025-2026 year.

Exploring Political Polarization in America and How to Bridge the Divide
2025-03-22 10:00 - 12:00
2 CE Hours available for
NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs
This presentation will feature a dialogue between psychoanalytic psychotherapists and authors Ken Barish, PhD, and David Lotto, PhD.
Ken Barish will address the urgent questions explored in his most recent book, Bridging Our Political Divide, focusing on how Americans can listen to and engage with one another constructively, with less hostility and contempt. He will outline principles of constructive dialogue and reasoned debate, offering alternatives and solutions to the angry, repetitive, and unproductive arguments that currently dominate American political culture.
David Lotto will explore concerns about the potential erosion of democracy and fears of fascism, alongside anxieties surrounding the rise of racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, and gun violence. Inspired by Ken Barish’s ideas, he will strive to understand the current wave of American discontent.
The presentation will consist of lecture, discussion between the presenters, and a question and answer period.

Ken Barish, PhD, is a graduate and faculty member of the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He also serves on the faculty of the William Alanson White Institute Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Training Program. In addition, he is a Clinical Professor of Psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College and a Visiting Professor at Tongji Medical College in Wuhan, China. Outside of his academic and clinical work, Ken enjoys playing jazz trumpet.

David Lotto, PhD, is a graduate of WCSPP and has been in practice in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, since 1977. He serves as the editor of the Journal of Psychohistory and has published extensively in psychoanalytic and psychohistorical journals.

Foundations and Advanced Psychoanalytic Training Programs Open House
2025-04-06 12:00 - 13:00
*Advanced Psychoanalysis
*Foundations of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Join us to meet our program directors and ask questions of current candidates, graduates, and faculty.
Hear candidates discuss the transformational impact of training: deepening their work in agency settings and building/growing their private practices with the help of our collegial referral network.
WCSPP PLANS TO OFFER ONLINE LEARNING
FOR THE 2025-2026 ACADEMIC YEAR.
CE credits will be offered for the coursework.
Financial assistance is available to those who qualify.
Who is eligible and should apply?
Applicants must be NY or CT licensed Masters or Doctoral-level mental health professionals: MD, PhD, PsyD, LCSW, NP, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC, LMFT

CAPP Open House
2025-04-23 19:00 - 20:00
New York and Connecticut mental health professionals, join us to meet our program directors and ask questions of current candidates, graduates, and faculty.
Learn about our extensive training opportunities for Fall 2025 in: Child, Adolescent, Parent Psychotherapy
Our program weaves together the study of individual child & adolescent, and parent development through understanding the impact of psychological histories, relational patterns, intergenerational effects, and changing social contexts and constructs. Training is based on a psychodynamic, relational orientation to change, integrating parent guidance and advice as needed.
We welcome all mental health practitioners, whether your work is exclusive to children & adolescents, primarily serves adults or some combination. We never forget that there is, after all, a child’s history within each adult and the challenge of growing within every child, adult, and parent.
Who is eligible and should apply?
Applicants must be NY or CT licensed Masters or Doctoral-level mental health professionals:
MD, PhD, PsyD, LCSW, NP, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC, LMFT
Financial assistance is available for those who qualify.
CE hours available for some coursework for eligible NYS LCSW, LMSW, LMFT, LMHC,LCAT, LP and NYS Psychologists and CT Social Workers through NASW CT.
Timeline:
Rolling admissions with decisions made by July 30, 2025
Program begins September 2025
We will continue to be on Zoom for the 2025-2026 year.

Psychoanalytic Association Retreat (WCSPP only)
2025-05-02 - 2025-05-04
The Psychoanalytic Association presents
Failures in Treatment:
Obstacles and Opportunities
(PA Members Only)
May 2 – May 4
Early bird registration through February 14th. Regular registration through March 20.
FOR MORE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION, PLEASE REFER TO THE BROCHURE YOU RECEIVED IN A SEPARATE EMAIL VIA THE LISTSERV.

From Reverie to Play: Applying Psychoanalytic Principles in Work with Underserved Families
2025-05-09 19:00 - 21:00
This presentation describes a community-based psychoanalytic outreach program developed by the Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Program, which offers dyadic therapy to mothers and infants living in poverty. Drawing from two detailed clinical vignettes, the talk will illustrate how psychoanalytic principles—particularly those related to containment, maternal reverie, and the internal setting—can be applied flexibly beyond the traditional consulting room. The presentation will explore how therapists can maintain a stable internal frame amid chaotic external realities, allowing the therapeutic relationship itself to become a transitional space where emotional growth can occur. Special attention will be given to the intersubjective nature of the therapeutic process, with an emphasis on the analyst’s receptivity and the use of play, reverie, and dream life as clinical tools in work with vulnerable families.
