Linking Field Theory and Systems Psychodynamics to Enhance Leadership
Perspectives on Racism, Discrimination and Othering
Co-Leaders: James W Barron, PhD and Paula Christian-Kliger, PhD
Guest Faculty: Anton Hart, PhD, Beverly J. Stoute, MD, Mira Erlich-Ginor, M.A., and Shmuel Erlich, Ph.D., ABPP
Candidate Faculty: Himanshu Agrawal, MD
Thursdays 11 AM–1:30 PM ET / 4–6:30 PM GMT
October 5, 12, 19, 26; November 2, 9, 16, 30
Addressing the challenges presented by systemic racism, discrimination, and othering in our psychoanalytic and community-based organizations is a long-term, multi-generational endeavor. As part of that effort, the Council for Leadership and Organizational Studies (CLOS) of the Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE), American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA), in collaboration with the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), is offering an innovative virtual course to the future international leaders of psychoanalysis: current candidates, students, and recent graduates of psychoanalytic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy programs. Enhancing their knowledge and skills in leadership and group dynamics will help them, their psychoanalytic organizations, and other community-based organizations in which they participate to more effectively address the challenges of systemic racism and othering.
This virtual seminar will explore critical concepts in systems psychodynamics and field theory, such as intersubjective processes, group relations, the social unconscious, projective identifications, splitting, and social defenses. Thinking of the individual and the group simultaneously, developing what Bion referred to as binocular vision, we will deepen our understanding of racism and othering in ourselves and in the groups in which we are embedded. In addition, we will consider applications of these concepts organizationally to enhance our individual and collective efforts to become more inclusive, more open in our thinking, and equitable in sharing power. Each session will be evenly divided between theoretical and experiential components. In the group-as-a-whole we will discuss key points in the assigned readings. Then we will break into pre-assigned small self-study groups to observe and reflect on our own group process as it relates to our learning together about racism and othering. Membership in the small groups will remain constant throughout the course. There is no charge for this course. However, we ask registrants to commit to attending all 8 sessions, if possible, in order to foster trust, cohesion, and a deeper level of engagement.
Faculty
James W. Barron, Ph.D., ABPP
James W. Barron, Ph.D., ABPP is Associate Head of the Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Chair of the DPE Council for Leadership and Organizational Studies (CLOS), and Associate Editor of the Section of Psychoanalysis in the Community in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. His previous leadership positions include Chair of the DPE Section of the Psychoanalyst in the Community, President of the Division of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; President of the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England and the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis; Director of Executive Education for Innosight, founded by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, focusing on concepts of disruptive innovation; and faculty and consultant of The Levinson Institute for Executive Education, founded by Harry Levinson, a pioneer in applying psychoanalytic concepts to challenges of leadership and management. Dr. Barron is author and editor of articles and books on such topics as restoring institutional integrity in the wake of sexual boundary violations; a psychoanalytic institute’s response to existential threats; self-analysis – critical inquiries, personal visions; humor and psyche – psychoanalytic perspectives; interface of psychoanalysis and psychology; impact of managed care on psychodynamic treatment; and making diagnosis meaningful – enhancing evaluation and treatment of psychological disorders. Dr. Barron maintains a private practice in Brookline, MA with a focus on psychoanalysis and organizational consulting.
Paula Christian-Kliger, Ph.D., ABPP
Paula Christian-Kliger, Ph.D., ABPP is a member of Black Psychoanalysts Speak, the American Psychoanalytic Association (ApsA, International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations, and American Psychological Association. She is the North America Region Representative, IPA The Community and The World Committee On Prejudice, Discrimination & Racism (PDR); Chair, APsA Department of Education/Section of the Psychoanalyst in the Community; President/Chair of the Board, Harlem Family Services; Principal Consultant, Harlem Family Institute/Organizational, Relational and Cultural Alignment Initiative; Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Detroit Mercy, Clinic and Organizational Consultation Supervisor, Department of Psychology; Clinical Assistant Professor and Supervisor, Henry Ford Health Care System, Wayne State University Medical School, Psychiatry Residency; Associate Faculty, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, Psychoanalytic Candidate Training Program. She is a board-certified psychologist and a psychoanalyst who founded Psychological Assets, PC and Kliger Consulting Group, LLC over 30 years ago. Within her diverse professional practice, she sees individuals, families, and organizations, consults to communities, and specializes in extended work with those who have suffered from crisis, disaster, and historical trauma-based adversities. Dr. Kliger earned her MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology (with a minor in Statistical Measurement and Design) from Wayne State University, and is fully licensed in New York, Michigan, and Ohio. She completed psychoanalytic training at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Kliger teaches Advanced Ethics at Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, and teaches Cultural Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Working Through in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy as Clinical Assistant Professor, at Wayne State University, School of Medicine.
Anton Hart, Ph.D., FABP, FIPA
Anton Hart, Ph.D., FABP, FIPA is Training and Supervising Analyst and Faculty of the William Alanson White Institute. He presents and consults nationally and internationally. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Psychoanalytic Psychology and Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Dr. Hart has published articles and book chapters on a variety of subjects including psychoanalytic safety and mutuality, issues of racial, sexual and other diversities, and psychoanalytic pedagogy. He is a member of the group, Black Psychoanalysts Speak, and, also, Co-produced and was featured in the documentary film of the same name. He teaches at The Manhattan Institute, Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, the National Institute for the Psychotherapies National Training Program, the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, the Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia, and the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis. He serves as Co-Chair of the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Hart is in full-time private practice of psychoanalysis, individual and couple psychotherapy, psychotherapy supervision and consultation, and organizational consultation, in New York.
Beverly J. Stoute, M.D. FABP, DFAPA, DFAACAP
Beverly J. Stoute, M.D. FABP, DFAPA, DFAACAP, a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, executive coach, and organizational consultant, serves as a Co-Chair of the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis. She is an elected Director-at-large of the Board of Directors of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA), an appointed member of APsA’s Executive Committee. Dr. Stoute serves as a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute; as a Child and Adolescent Supervising Analyst of The New York Psychoanalytic Institute and on the faculties of multiple psychoanalytic training programs including the adjunct faculties of the Emory University School of Medicine, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Advisory Council of the Harlem Family Institute. Additionally, she has taught in the Executive Coaching and Leadership Fellows program for young MBA’s at the Emory Goizueta Business School. As a nationally recognized speaker, author, educator and consultant on issues of racism, diversity, the development of race awareness, implicit bias in healthcare, and psychoanalytic applications in the treatment of children and adolescents with severe psychiatric illness, she has received awards and honors in several areas. Her full-time private practice of child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry and psychoanalysis includes a wide range of clinical modalities and broad range of clinical issues including psychopharmacology, individual psychotherapy, couples and family psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, parent guidance, school and organizational consultation. As a consultant, she is recognized for her work on issues of diversity in psychoanalytic education and organization including but not limited to curriculum development, leadership consulting, incident investigation, professional development, and systems analysis for diversity innovation. Her 2023 book, co-edited with Michael Slevin entitled The Trauma of Racism: Lessons from the Therapeutic Encounter, was released with Routledge.
Mira Erlich-Ginor, M.A
Mira Erlich-Ginor, M.A, is Training and Supervising analyst, Faculty, the Israel Psychoanalytic Society (IPS).
She is involved in Psychoanalytic Education and Group Relations work, both in practice and in writing, and is deeply committed to the application of psychoanalytic understandings to societal issues.
She is the Chair of the Steering Committee of the IPA in the Community and the World; Co-Founder, past chair, member of OFEK – Israeli Group Relations organization; Co-Founder of the “Nazareth Project”- Group Relations work on transgenerational transmission of trauma; Co-founder, management of PCCA, Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities; recipient of the Sigourney Award 2019.
Her past roles include: Chair of the Education Committee IPS, Chair of the European Psychoanalytic Federation (EPF) Working Party on Education. She initiated and led several international research projects on psychoanalytic education, including the End of Training Evaluation Project. She served two terms as the European representative to the IPA Board.
Some relevant references include: Erlich-Ginor, M. (2003) Sliding Houses in the Promised Land: Unstable Reality Worked Through Dreams. In L. Lawrence (Ed.) Experiences in Social Dreaming, Karnac, London, 2003; Erlich-Ginor, M. (2006) Structure and Design in Group Relations Conferences, Issues and Dilemmas. In Bruner L. D., Nutkevitch, A. and Sher, M.(Eds.), Group Relations Conferences: Reviewing and Exploring Theory, Design, Role-Taking and Application. London: Karnac; Erlich, S.H., Erlich-Ginor, M. and Beland, H. (2009) Being in Berlin: A large group experience in the Berlin Congress. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 90:809-825; and Erlich-Ginor, M. (2012) Fed with Tears, Poisoned with Milk: The Way Out from Under the Shadows of the Holocaust. In Varchevker, A. and McGinley, E. (Eds.) Enduring Migration: External and Internal Migration Through the Life Cycle. London: Karnac.
Shmuel Erlich, Ph.D., ABPP
Shmuel Erlich, Ph.D., ABPP, is Training and Supervising analyst and former President of the Israel Psychoanalytic Society. He is Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Psychology of the Hebrew University, where he held the Sigmund Freud Chair in Psychoanalysis and was Director of the Sigmund Freud Center for Psychoanalytic Study and Research. He is currently on the faculty and Steering Committee of “Freud and Followers” track in the post-graduate Psychotherapy Program at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. He received the Sigourney Award in 2005 for his outstanding contributions to psychoanalysis. He served four terms as European IPA Board Representative, chaired the IPA Education and Oversight Committee, and has just completed a tenure as chair of the IPA Institutional Issues Committee, mandated to deal with group and organizational processes affecting psychoanalytic societies and institutes. He consults to organizations, psychoanalytic and others. As part of his long-standing involvement in Group Relations, he has directed many conferences and is Founding-Member of OFEK (The Israel Association for the Study of Group and Organizational Processes) as well PCCA (Partners in Confronting Collective Atrocities) which received the Sigourney Award in 2019. He is the author of numerous articles and the books: “The Couch in the Marketplace – Psychoanalysis and Social Reality” (Karnac, 2013) and “Fed with Tears, Poisoned with Milk: The “Nazareth” Group Relations Conferences: Germans and Israelis, the Past in the Present” (Psychosozial Verlag, 2009).
Himanshu Agrawal, M.D.
Himanshu Agrawal, M.D. was born in New Delhi, India and spent his childhood living with his family in Bangladesh, London, Moscow, and Nepal. He emigrated to the USA in 2002 to pursue training in child psychiatry. In 2016, he started psychoanalytic training at Minnesota Psychoanalytic Institute (adult training) and was their first-ever long-distance candidate. Additionally, over half of his personal/training analysis has been conducted long distance. He is a former Candidate-at-Large of the APsaA Board of Directors, serves on the APsaA Membership Committee, Medical student Education Committee, and the Commission on Economics and Psychoanalysis, and is the current President of the APsaA Candidate Council.
Dr. Agrawal lives in Milwaukee, and serves as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he sees patients, conducts research, and teaches psychotherapists, pharmacy students, medical students, advance practice providers and physicians. He presents on a wide array of topics, including psychodynamic psychiatry, psychoanalysis, wellbeing, burnout and stigma.
