In this panel, Brian Ngo-Smith will share a paper entitled Canceling Oedipus, or A Plea to Share the Future, reflecting on a period in his work with a young man in analysis in which a hateful and regressive impasse brought both analyst and analysand into contact with the dangers of the pursuit of hope. Drawing on the 2019 film The Lighthouse, Ngo-Smith will invite attendees to become immersed in this dynamic to highlight its implications for cross-generational treatment dyads, as well as for our broader professional institutions and communities.

Teresa Méndez will present Training Terminable and Interminable, a personal reflection on her experiences and observations of psychoanalytic training. Attending to intergenerational and institutional anxieties, she will focus on endings – whether of a supervision or of the training process as a whole – asking what makes it so difficult to allow candidates to graduate.

Brian Ngo-Smith, LCSW, BCD-P, FABP is a psychoanalyst and clinical social worker in Denver, CO. He received his MSW from the University of Iowa and completed analytic training at the Denver Institute for Psychoanalysis, where he is now on faculty. Brian has worked in the mental health field for over 20 years in residential, hospital, community mental health, and private practice settings. He is a Past President of the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work and he was the recipient of the 2024 Ernst and Gertrude Ticho Memorial Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Teresa Méndez, LCSW-C, LICSW is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst practicing in Baltimore, MD. She earned her AB in Anthropology from Princeton University and MSW from the Smith College School for Social Work, and completed psychoanalytic training at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis, where she serves on the Diversities, Scholarship, and Ombuds committees. A former journalist, Teresa has presented and published widely on the mixed-race experience and edited a special issue on race and psychoanalysis for Psychoanalytic Social Work, where she is on the editorial board. She is a past President of the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work, and served as a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Holmes Commission on Racial Equity.

Ethan Grumbach, PhD, FIPA is a member of the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles where he teaches the Infant Observation Course and courses on Gender and Sexuality. He is a training and supervising analyst who in 2014 became the 5th openly LGBT APsA TA/SA. He presents and teaches nationally and internationally on aspects of psychoanalytic and psychotherapy work with Queer individuals as well as infants and their families. Dr. Grumbach is a member of APsA’s Committee on Gender and Sexuality which he previously chaired. At NCP, he is a member of the Diversities and Socio-cultural Inequities Committee, the Education Committee, and the Strategic Advisory Committee. Dr. Grumbach is a also member of the Psychoanalytic Center of Northern California and has completed training in Tavistock Method Infant Observation. He maintains a private practice in Los Angeles where he does Infant Psychoanalysis in addition to analysis and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and couples. Most recently he received the Edith Sabshin Teaching Award in 2025.