Psychotherapist Committee Update Spring/Summer 2026

By Kathryn (Katie) Fleming-Ives MD and Margo P Goldman MD

 

We, as the Psychotherapist Committee, have been working on adding new Committee members. We are thrilled to have two very able members joining us this spring: 

Kathleen Heaney, MD, DFAPA is a psychiatrist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She specializes in addiction psychiatry and consultation-liaison psychiatry and is a graduate of the Minnesota Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (MPSI) Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program. Dr. Heaney practices at Hennepin County Medical Center, a large safety net hospital and Level One Trauma Center providing essential care to a diverse and underserved population. She teaches and supervises psychiatry residents in the Hennepin–Regions Psychiatry Residency Program and serves as Director of the Resident Psychodynamic Clinic, working in close collaboration with analysts from MPSI. She is deeply committed to psychiatric education and to supporting residents as they develop their professional identities as psychiatrists. In addition to her hospital-based work, Dr. Heaney maintains a small private psychotherapy practice. 

 

Anne Ruble, MD is a psychiatrist from Baltimore who is the Director of the Jerome Frank Program in Psychotherapy at Johns Hopkins, where she teaches foundations of the therapeutic alliance, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and family therapy. She is also the Associate Program Director of Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Adult Psychiatry Training Program. In addition to joining the Psychotherapist Committee, she is also the new chairperson of the APsA Teachers’ Academy.

 

 

We are continuing our focus on the transition from being Psychotherapist Associate Members to full Clinical Members. The Psychotherapy Department’s ad hoc committee, the Psychotherapy Advisory Group, joined with APsA leadership and the IRRC to develop an aspirational model for psychoanalytic psychotherapy training programs. This spring, this model was approved by the APsA Board of Directors. This endeavor is in addition to the work that the Psychotherapy Advisory Group did last year, in collaboration with the MRRC, to develop an expanded membership pathway for psychotherapists not trained at APsA-affiliated psychoanalytic psychotherapy programs. We are optimistic APsA will continue to attract psychotherapist members. We remain aware that with our transition to full membership, our annual membership dues are increasing. We will continue to monitor the effect of this increased cost on membership retention and morale. 

 

Psychotherapists continue to participate in APsA Committees, Task Forces and leadership bodies. We are thrilled to have two psychotherapists on the Board of Directors: Linda Michaels and Michael Groat. Linda also serves on the Board of Director’s Nominating Committee. If anyone is interested in seeking a nomination in APsA governance, please contact Linda at [email protected].  

 

We continue to sponsor quality scientific sessions at the APsA National Meeting. At the 2026 National Meeting, this past January, we had several wonderful offerings.

One was The Business of Practice Workshop. The presenter, Joe Feldman, highlighted his organization, Cover My Mental Health, which offers resources for providers and patients to ensure appropriate mental health care coverage. Linda Michaels, the discussant, spoke about the influx of corporate care into the mental health care ecosystem and its deleterious effects. The Psychotherapists Present Discussion Group included a wonderful presentation by committee member, Michael Burke on his powerful work with a child performer. Bonnie Buchele, APsA’s president-elect led an incisive discussion. 

 

In addition to our Committee-Sponsored programs, Richard Summers and Petra Pilgrim, Co-Chairs of the Psychotherapy Department, were involved in three other psychotherapy-focused scientific sessions: the 2026 Scientific Paper Prize Symposium on psychoanalytic interpretation and treatment outcomes; the 2-day Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Clinical Workshop and the Fellowship Research Seminar on the perceptions of the HPV vaccine among gender diverse individuals.  

 

The Committee also hosted two social events which were a hit. One was our annual Dine-Around at a delicious Mexican restaurant and the other a Networking Reception at a fun local jazz club. Both had excellent attendance and lively conversation. Thank you for coming out! 

 

Based on the recommendations of APsA’s Future Meetings Task Force and the advent of the Meetings Department, all future National Meeting scientific sessions will need to be submitted annually. We worked diligently this winter and early spring to develop relevant and timely topics for presentation and discussion at next year’s meeting. Stay tuned to hear if any of those submissions are accepted! In addition, if you have an idea for a scientific session, please check out the submission guidelines when they reopen for the 2028 Meeting. 

 

This June, we are very fortunate to have one of our current Committee Co-Chairs, Cynthia (Cindy) Lucas continuing to chair for another 2-year term; when Co-Chair Katie Fleming-Ives steps down this June, Cindy will be joined by James Woody and we know they will be an excellent leadership team. Thanks so much Katie for continuing to serve on our Committee and for your excellent co-leadership during the past 2 years! We are also very fortunate to have both Rick Summers and Petra Pilgrim staying on as co-heads of the Psychotherapy Department. 

 

As always, we hope this Newsletter inspires you to submit a future article and of course, to join APsA. We welcome a variety of topics ranging from personal/professional journeys, memorable professional experiences, book or conference summaries or anything related to being a psychoanalytic therapist. Don’t hesitate to contact both Margo Goldman ([email protected]) and Katie Fleming-Ives ([email protected]) for more information about a possible submission. Please also spread the word about the tremendous benefits of being an APsA Psychotherapist Clinical Member.