San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, Clinic and Training Center Newsletter
Issue #4
September 15, 2006
In This Issue  

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Welcome to the 4th issue of the SFPRG Newsletter! Thank you for your time and energy in supporting this effort to ensure contact between our members no matter where you are. Again, the magic of email!

A reminder to send in your Membership Renewal now and the Membership Mambo is on for October 22, 2006 at Steve Foreman's home in SF. More info to follow on that.

It has come to my attention that some members are not able to access the "Read On" feature to jump to the continuation of the article. Tech support has told me that some providers do not send the HTML message for that function. So, the best option is to scroll through to the rest of the article. Thanks for your patience on that.

President's Corner
 
From Jessica Broitman

Greetings to all- the New Year is upon us and there is a lot going on! Strange, though I have been out of school for more years than I care to admit to, I still think of September as the start of the New Year. There is something ever so exciting about the beginning of the new school year that remains with me. Our new training year started this week. Although it was very hard to say goodbye to our graduates, the good news is that most of them have gone into private practice locally and are all available for low fee referrals! Read On


The Education Committee Needs Your Help
 
From Patsy Wood
9 & 10 Funston Ave, The Presidio

We are starting to gather ideas of workshop topics that would interest you as we prepare for both our weeklong March workshop and our spring conferences. The March workshop will meet the first week in March and we hope to offer a number of new topics. We are also wide open in terms of conference topics for the spring. Please think about any areas that you might like to learn more about or that you might have an interest in teaching. Feel free to “think outside the box” in terms of what might be helpful. Read On


Weekly Case Conferences Beginning
 
Register!
9 & 10 Funston Ave, The Presidio

Be sure to get your spots for the Weekly Case Conferences beginning in September and October. Descriptions of each Case Conference follows. Registration can be completed by clicking the on Presidio photo here which takes you to our website, then click on Registration. Read On


Saturday Workshops Begin in October
 
Registration
9 & 10 Funston Ave, The Presidio

October workshops are just around the corner so get in your registration by clicking on the Presidio picture and then clicking on Registration on our website. Please Note: Fees are based on pre-registration. They will go up $25 one week before Workshop date. Read On


Cont'd: President's Corner
 
The New Year

We welcomed 6 new interns this New Year: Tim Lewis, Tim Thomas, Alexandria Leedy and Rebecca Trobe all come to us from the Wright Institute. Virginia Todd found us walking through the neighborhood and learned about the SFPRG Training Center on line!

We were accepted as a training site for Smith students so we are trying out something different this year with the addition of two Smith students, Claire Arbour, an MSW student and Beth Kita, an MSW doctoral candidate. We also have Valentina (Vale) Gandini, a graduate student from Italy who will be studying with us this year. Three of our previous interns have remained with us: Teri Robinson, Michelle Skeen and Mia Salaverry. Everyone is ready to take new referrals.

I thought you might like to know more about what their experience is going to be and how the clinic operates. It all really started from a dream that Lynn O’Conner and I had many years ago. After a lot of work, and with the help of Gilbert Newman from the Wright Institute, we have grown over the last five years into a 2 year, half time CAPIC accredited internship. Barbara Sapienza, Molly Sullivan and I are currently the primary staff for the clinic with Marshal Bush overseeing the research component of our work. Each of our interns gets three supervisors, thanks to all of your generous spirits, and they will see about 10 patients per week.

In addition to the three of us, our supervisors this year include: Steve Foreman; Michael Bader; Susan Badger; Sheryl Hausman; Peter Schumacher; Lynn O’Conner; Harriett Grooh; John Curtis; Melanie Clark; Jamie Edmund; Jane Weisbin; David Auld; Patsy Wood; Marshall Bush; Marsha Herman; John Bogardus; Carol Drucker; Jane Dulay; Norman Sohn and Kathy DePaola.

The interns attend case conference/group supervision weekly with rotating teachers. This year Carol Drucker, Tom Rosbrow, Molly Sullivan, Sophia Abramson, Steve Kusch, John Curtis, Alan Rappoport and Marcia Herman will be offering 4-6 weeks of case conferences each.

Administrative issues/ intakes are done weekly on Wednesdays. Clinical issues are discussed in the training conference/group supervision with guest presenters covering a wide variety of topics which shift from year to year. This year they will have:

Marshall Bush on Research

Priya Parmar on Medications

Sandra Howarth on Diversity

Patsy Wood on Diagnostic Formulation

Alan Rappoport on Plan Formulation

Jane Rubin on Intersubjectivity / Control Mastery

Melanie Clark on Countertransference

Peter Schumacher on Guilt, Shame and Blame

Christa Santangelo on Child/Adolescent

Susan Badger on Adolescents

David Torres on Couples

Bill Meehan on Addictions

John Curtis on Plan Formulation

Ginger Rhodes on Vicarious Trauma

Anya Lane on Attachment

Susan Shaddick on Experential Use of Creativity

Michael Bader on Sexual Fantasies

Jessica Broitman and Barbara Sapienza on Termination

Molly Sullivan on Private Practice

All of the interns are involved in the clinic research projects. Zohar, the research coordinator for the clinic, will be describing what we are doing in detail for another article next month. But briefly, every patient who comes into the clinic joins our research project and complete pre-testing. They are then re-tested every three months and at termination to track their progress.

As a last component of the Training Program the interns are required to attend one of the case conferences offered by the group. These interns have very full plates but are eagerly awaiting your referrals!

Remember that to make a referral you need only call 415-677-7946 and leave a message at ext 1.


Cont'd: Help the Education Committee
 
Topics for March Workshop & Conferences

Also if you have case material that is unique or particularly riveting, or work with clients from diverse backgrounds and circumstances, we would love to hear about it. Just send us a vignette and you could potentially present your work with the client in one of the March workshops or incorporate your presentation in a spring workshop. For those in private practice or those considering building a private practice, presenting at a conference is a great way to get exposure and to network.

Our goal it is to try to attract a broad variety of clinicians and students to attend our workshops and conferences this year and to offer a wide spectrum of topics and case material to teach about Control Mastery theory. Just dash us an email with your thoughts or brief description and we will get back to you.

Some of the topics that we have been considering as conference topics include the application of Control Mastery Theory in work with diverse populations. We could conceivably have a conference on CMT and GLBT issues, with clients of color, with clients of other cultures, with disabled clients and/or economically marginalized clients.

Other topics of interest include how to go about building a private practice as this is a topic often not addressed formally in graduate schools. Another topic that we have thought about is integrating CMT with Narrative therapy as this can be a powerful combination.

Finally, as we did with our Democracy on the Couch conference last March, we might consider a conference that addresses CMT in terms of spirituality or that addresses how we integrate some of the overriding political and social issues so evident in our society today. How do we talk with our clients about these political issues: for example, issues of sexism, racism, militarism, terrorism, political and social polarization etc.? Please let us know any of your thoughts about this.

In short, those of us on the Education Committee would be happy to talk to you further about your ideas and to find ways to support you in creating a conference or workshop. We really appreciate your time and attention to this and welcome any ideas or case material that you might offer.

Sincerely,

Patsy Wood, pwood@jps.net; 415-242-7910;

9 Funston Ave, SF 94129

For the Education Committee


Cont'd: Weekly Case Conferences Beginning
 
Registration

THE JOY OF THERAPY

This class will explore the nature of the therapeutic relationship and especially how the therapist can use his/her enjoyment of that relationship to help the patient. Professional boundaries are essential, but when exaggerated, these concerns can create rigid barriers between the therapist and the patient that interferes with the therapeutic process and stops us from enjoying the therapeutic relationship. Participants will learn to:

1) Analyze how psychotherapy works according to control mastery theory,

2) Hypothesize case formulations and identify patient's plans and pathogenic beliefs from early sessions of the treatment,

3) Use ideas in Sampson's "Treatment By Attitude" to guide the therapist in creating a beneficial therapeutic relationship

PSYCHOTHERAPY FROM A CONTROL MASTERY PERSPECTIVE

  • Michael Lowenstein, M.D.
  • September 22 through December 8, 2006
  • Fridays, 9:30 - 11:00
  • CEUs = 15
  • Orinda, East Bay; Dr. Lowenstein's office
  • $75 Members; $95 Nonmembers; $30 Students

This course is designed to illustrate the principles of Control Mastery theory by applying the theory to participants' own cases. Several cases will be followed and several participants will be invited to present case materials. Cases will be examined thoroughly in order to delineate the aspects of the therapeutic process which appear to be helpful, as well as "difficult to treat: cases. By the end participants will be able to :

1) Apply Control Mastery theory to their work with patients in order to understand a patient's psychological problems,

2) Infer what kinds of interventions will be helpful to the particular patient,

3) Formulate how to track the process and progress of treatment, and

4) Develop and enhance their clinical skills so that the individual therapist can creatively solve clinical problems according to their individual strengths.

THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

  • Steven Foreman, M.D.
  • October 4 through December 13, 2006
  • Wednesdays, 2:30 - 4:00 pm
  • CEUs = 15
  • Presidio Offices
  • $75 Members; $95 Nonmembers; $30 Students

The purpose of this course is to deepen our understanding of the therapeutic process for adults, children and couples as well as the ways the psychotherapist may help the patient to make progress. We will use continuous case presentations to increase participants' understanding of how to apply Control Mastery theory to a range of cases and treatment issues. The course goals are both practical and theoretical. By the end, participants will be able to:

1) Explain the therapeutic process from a Control Mastery perspective and discuss how the psychotherapist actually contributes to the patient's progress,

2) Analyze the sequential unfolding of the therapeutic process over an extended period of treatment, and

3) Detect connections between the therapist's attitudes, actions and interpretations on the patient's progress.

CASE STUDY GROUP

  • Alan Rappoport, Ph.D.. & Norman Sohn, Ph.D.., LCSW
  • October 4 through December 14, 2006
  • Wednesdays, 9:00 - 10:00 am
  • CEUs = 10
  • Presidio Offices
  • $60 Members; $80 Nonmembers; $20 Students

In this course we study cases as a way of educating ourselves about the therapeutic process. We will follow cases verbatim and form and test hypotheses regarding the nature of the interactions between therapist and client. We will attempt to understand how the interactional process may be furthering and/or hindering the client's progress and will also evaluate how well Control Mastery principles help us understand the client and the therapy. In this semester's course we will continue our study of tape-recordings of a psychotherapy conducted by telephone. By the end of the class participants will be able to:

1) Evaluate what kinds of interactions may be helpful and unhelpful in psychotherapy,

2) Use Control Mastery theory to understand the nature of passed tests and pro-plan interpretations and how the patient may respond to them,

3) Develop and test hypotheses about the therapeutic process.

HOW PSYCHOTHERAPY WORKS

  • Marshall Bush, Ph.D.. & Peter Schumacher, MFT
  • October 16 through December 18, 2006
  • Mondays, 10:30 - 12:00 noon
  • CEUs = 15
  • Presidio Offices
  • $75 Members; $95 Nonmembers; $30 Students

This class will use presentations by the participants and directed readings to understand both Control Mastery theory and its application to the participants' clinical cases. By the end participants will be able to:

1) Analyze how the therapeutic process works, according to Control Mastery theory and how to carefully make hypotheses about the patient's problems from the first several sessions,

2) Develop their own style of interacting with their patients in a way that is maximally beneficial,

3) Interpret the meaning and origin of the patient's symptoms and character disorders.


Cont'd: Saturday Workshops
 
Registration
9 & 10 Funston Ave, The Presidio

SATURDAY WORKSHOPS

Workshop descriptions are in the last newsletter and on the web. Click on the Presidio picture above which takes you to our website and then click on Classes/Registration and scroll through for information.

The Experience of Clinical Supervision: An Advanced Supervision Course

Alan Rapport, Ph.D.

Saturday, October 7, 2006 9am(6 CE credits)

SFPRG, Presidio, #10 Funston

$80 members; $100 nonmembers; $40 students

Participants will: gain an exposure to a variety of supervisory styles, sharpen their supervision techniques, and deepen their understanding of the experience of supervision for the supervisee.

Law, Ethics & Personal Values: What's a Therapist To Do?

Jules Burstein, PhD.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

9am-3pm for MFTs; 9-1for Ph.D.s (6 CE credits)

The last two hours will be informal discussions of ethical dilemnas and issues raised by seminar participants. There will be a 1/2 hour lunch.

At SFPRG, Presidio

$65 members, $85 nonmembers, $20 students

Participants will become familiar with: the legal mandates regulation professional practice; the ethical rules informing professional practice.

Corrective Relational Experiences in Psychotherapy

George Silberschatz, Ph.D.; Cynthia J. Shilkret, Ph.D

Saturday, October 28, 2006

8:30 am to 2:45 pm

Mount Holyoke College

South Hadley, Massachusetts

SFPRG or WMAAPP members $75

Nonmembers $80; students (with ID) $10

The Psychology of Medication

Steven Foreman, M.D.; Michael Lowenstein, M.D. & Patricia Wood, Ph.D.

Saturday, November 4, 2006 9am-4:30pm (6 CE credits)

SF Jewish Community Center, California at Presidio

$70 members, $85 nonmembers, $15 students


Please consider writing/submitting an article for your newsletter. It reaches over 200 members and can be a great stimulus for your practice and for you.

9 & 10 Funston Ave, The Presidio
Kathie Dunn MFT, Editor
San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, Clinic and Training Center
Phone: 415-561-6771
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