A Conversation with Dov Fogel on Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
With the APsA Symposium Series session Standing on the Shoulders of Giants approaching on Sunday, April 12, we spoke with moderator Dov Fogel about the ideas shaping this conversation. Check out this article to learn more about Fogel and the speakers.
In advance of the program, he reflects on the evolving landscape of child and adolescent psychoanalysis, the balance between tradition and innovation, and the institutional efforts required to sustain and grow training programs. The discussion also previews how this session will address emerging clinical challenges and highlight the enduring, transformative potential of analytic work with children and adolescents.
You’re moderating Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. What drew you to this topic, and why does it feel particularly relevant right now?
Our program has recently undergone an organizational change, one that will make it more sustainable and allow it to grow. As this change could be useful to other programs who are struggling to keep their programs flourishing, we wanted to share our experience with others.
The title suggests both continuity and change. How do you see the relationship between tradition and innovation in children and adolescent psychoanalysis today?
The tradition at BPSI of psychoanalysis and play with children is strong and continues to inform our teaching and practice. At the same time, our understanding from recent neuroscience research in general and around trauma in particular has refined and informed our work with children who are severely challenged.
Without giving too much away, what distinguishes the speakers’ approaches, and what makes their contributions particularly valuable for this discussion?
The speakers highlight what is innovative about child analysis in general; the use of play to create a space with a child to communicate and work through what they are struggling with.
The symposium also highlights efforts to revitalize a child training program at BPSI. What stands out to you about that process?
The revitalization of the program at BPSI took place over the past decade or even longer and included the efforts of several administrations of the program. The devotion of these leaders to the candidates and the program itself stands out. The various foci of their work and the extent of their efforts will be delineated by the last speaker.
Are there lessons from that experience that extend beyond a single institute and speak to broader challenges in psychoanalytic training today?
Our Institute has done a tremendous amount of outreach to the training programs in the various disciplines in our area and to the community in general and this has cultivated numerous pipelines that has grown the pool of trainees.
How might this symposium shift the way clinicians think about their work with children and adolescents?
The Symposium will hopefully inspire child or aspiring child clinicians to learn and be curious about how to deepen their work with children and how transformative the work can be for both child and clinician.
As a moderator, how do you approach guiding a conversation like this—especially when it brings together clinical material and institutional reflection?
Where these two area overlap is how the institutional solidity and sense of continuity fosters increased support for learning and for the analytic work itself. That the candidates have a view of a vibrant post-graduation professional community to join likely motivates them to find cases, write them up and graduate.
Has preparing for this symposium changed or sharpened your own thinking in any way?
I have been impressed and inspired reading the speakers’ cases and confirmed my sense of the preciousness and transformative capacity of intensive work with children and adolescents.
If you had to capture the central question of this symposium in one sentence, what would it be?
What are some of the ways of entering into a child’s world or into an organization’s system that can enable either to become more vital and vibrant.
There is still time to register for Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.
This symposium offers 2 CME/CE credits and provides an opportunity to engage more deeply with the clinical and institutional questions shaping the field today. Learn more and register through the APsA events page linked below.
