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DIRECTORS' COLUMN
By Seth Warren, PhD
 I find myself once again reluctantly letting go of summer, and beginning to anticipate the start of another academic year. I would like to welcome back all our members to a new year of learning, growth, opportunity - and challenges.
First I'd like to take the opportunity to announce to our community that our Clinic Director, Sandra Sinicropi, will be stepping down, along with our Clinic Coordinator, Debi Roelke. Sandra has ably and generously directed our institute's Psychotherapy Clinic for seven years, and has served in that capacity during that time on the Board of Directors of IPPNJ and then CPPNJ. In recent years Sandra and Debi have revived the Psychotherapy Center (PC), significantly increasing the volume of our services, and increasing the revenues generated by the PC that contribute to the overall financial well-being of the institute. Debi has had the difficult task of managing that increased volume, coordinating the screening of potential cases and finding suitable therapists. I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to both Sandra and Debi for their invaluable contribution to our center; it is worth pointing out that both of them will continue to remain active in the institute in other roles.
In the same context I would like to welcome Susan Stein to the Board of Directors as our new Clinic Director. Susan will be assisted by Debbie Frank, who will now take over as our Clinic Coordinator. I would like to express my gratitude to both Susan and Debbie for their willingness to take on these new and important responsibilities.
Our Psychotherapy Center will continue to be an important function of CPPNJ, offering training opportunities, low-cost (or free)  supervision for candidates, and providing low- and moderate-cost psychotherapies across a large portion of the state. While you will hear more about this soon enough, I want to remind all our faculty that offering low-cost supervision to candidates is one of the best ways to contribute to the financial well-being of the institute, while offering contact with our candidates, and facilitating their progress through our training programs. I would like to strongly encourage each of our faculty members to do so, particularly if you have not supervised a candidate in recent years.
The smooth transition of leadership of the PC gives me the opportunity to express some thoughts I would like to share about our organization as a whole, particularly in the historical context of psychoanalytic training institutes in general.
Psychoanalytic organizations have historically tended to be fairly hierarchical. Many of the more traditional institutes followed a basic pyramidal structure of candidates, members, teaching analysts, supervising and training analysts. Analysts tended to progress from one level to a higher and narrower one, over time, and depending a good deal on politics and personal connections. Kernberg (2000)1 offered a fairly scathing critique of certain aspects of traditional psychoanalytic training organizations, though at least some of his concerns are not applicable to our own institute. But is seems clear that the traditional hierarchical structure tended to promote insularity and authoritarianism, and tended to be contrary to the aims of intellectual openness, growth, and creativity.
It is one of my goals as Director of CPPNJ to promote a culture of openness, transparency, democratic functioning, and a commitment to diversity in our membership. I believe the organization of psychoanalytic training institutes on the basis of such values is the only way they will survive over the long run. As Kernberg notes, an open culture committed to dialogue, mutuality, and acceptance of difference is the antidote to authoritarianism, provincialism, and abuses of power. However, It is easy enough to express a commitment to such values - implementation of these is another story entirely.
Here's where you all come in. A democratically-organized group requires full participation of its membership. Leadership roles must be rotated on some regular basis, with consideration for the importance of continuity and experience. I am opposed to an organization that is divided, with some members forming an inner circle that wields power and influence while other members, often the majority, remain on the outside. There is a natural tendency for groups to become organized along these lines. Those who are most involved tend to have the most power and responsibility, which makes them the most invested, which makes them inclined to remain in positions of influence. On the other hand, those who are not involved tend to feel excluded, and develop an attitude of passivity and decreased investment in the group. The result? Some overburdened members who tend to become burnt out and resentful of the work they are doing, and other members disenfranchised and resentful that their participation is not valued.
The answer to this tendency is straightforward enough. It requires the active involvement of all our members, with newer and younger members feeling free - and obliged - to take on new responsibilities; the sharing and shifting of the work of the organization amongst a larger number of members; and the regular (and by this I do not mean frequent) rotation of members who are in positions of greater responsibility. Information must flow freely in both directions, up and down. Feedback from membership is essential. This organizational flexibility is vital in a group like ours, in which none of us are paid, and therefore all of us are volunteering our time and energy to enable the institute to function.
There are numerous appropriate roles for candidates and recent graduates to make a contribution of time, energy and creativity to CPPNJ, and to begin taking on more responsibility. Others who have been involved in some ways, teaching, or helping with events or on another committee, might begin to think about taking their turn bearing a greater responsibility, working on one of our major committees, or serving on the Board. We may have some senior members who have stepped back from being more involved, for whatever reasons, who have a good deal to contribute based on their longer experience and knowledge of the history of our training programs. We do not have a paid staff (obviously we pay Cathy, the one exception). We do not have a paid Executive Director. The more people we have participating in any one of many roles, the more likely we are to flourish. The more voices we have, the more conversations, and the more genuinely democratic our functioning, the stronger our organization will be.
If you have read this column up to this point, I hope it is clear that I am talking to you! Democracy is hard work - if we don't participate, it doesn't work.
I look forward to seeing you all at our Fall Brunch! And a peaceful and productive new year to all -
Seth
1 Kernberg, O. F. (2000). A concerned critique of psychoanalytic education. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 81, 97-120.
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CPPNJ Welcome Back Brunch
Date: Sunday, September 29, 2013
Place: Maplewood Community Center
Time: 9:30am-1:30pm
This is a free program!
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October 6, 2013 Supervision Workshop
FACULTY SUPERVISION SERIES
The second in a series of workshops
for CPPNJ faculty.
A Field Theory Approach to Psychoanalytic Supervision
Presented by Martin Silverman, MD
Rutgers Conference Center, New Brunswick
9:00am-12:30pm
3 CEUs will be offered for social workers
Psychoanalytic supervision is a complex undertaking that functions within a multi-faceted, analytic field of operation. The supervisor inevitably becomes instructor, mentor, facilitator of development, a parent of sorts, a colleague, a quasi-analyst, a representative of authority, and a faculty member who must report to and abide by (or even suffer) the will of institute officials. The supervisee is thrust into the multiple roles of student, mentee, psychological child, erstwhile colleague, quasi-analysand, acceptor of and protestor against the authoritarian domination to which he or she is subjected, and reluctant captive of the institute and its rules. What takes place within the field of supervision includes complex interaction among multiple personages, and the supervisory situation itself becomes a living, breathing entity. Psychoanalytic field theory, as elaborted by Madeleine and Willy Baranger, Wilfred Bion, Thomas Ogden, and others, will be utilized as a useful tool for framing and gaining command of the complex and challenging undertaking.  Dr. Silverman has been a training and supervising analyst at CCAPS, since its inception, and then at CPPNJ since the merger. He also has long been a training and supervising analyst and supervising child analyst at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education affiliated with NYU School of Medicine, where he is a former Chair of the Child Analysis Section. He is a former President of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis. Until recently, he was Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. He is Associate Editor and Book Review Editor of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly and is the author of more than fifty psychoanalytic articles and book chapters and of more than sixty psychoanalytic book reviews. He has received numerous honors, including that of "Child Psychiatrist of the Year" for 2005 by the New Jersey Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Click HERE to register for this program |
You're Invited to an Open House for
A Home Within
Please join us for an Open House Luncheon to celebrate our newly formed chapter of A Home Within! A Home Within is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to meeting the emotional needs of foster children, youth and young adults. With over 50 local chapters across the country, we match local therapists with foster children and youth in the community for individual, pro bono, ongoing psychotherapy: "One foster child, one therapist, for as long as it takes." CPPNJ is a co-sponsor of the Northern New Jersey chapter of A Home Within, and we are looking for volunteer clinicians who will take one pro bono child, adolescent or young adult case and participate in consultation or peer groups as members of our chapter. CPPNJ members can further help by spreading the word about our chapter, and alerting potential referral sources that we are taking new patients.
To learn more about our program and meet our volunteers and consultation group leaders, please join us for lunch at our Open House. We will also be introducing a new book by the national A Home Within organization, Treating Trauma: Relationship-Based Psychotherapy with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults. Partners, friends and colleagues are welcome!
Date:Friday, October 11, 2013
Time:12:00noon- 2:30pm
Location:Office of Debi Roelke
50 Maple Avenue - Side Entrance, 2nd Floor
Morristown, New Jersey
973-644-0033
Save the date and RSVP to Debi at droelke@optonline.net, or feel free to drop by!
Warm Regards,
Debi Roelke, Ph.D.
Clinical Director, North New Jersey Chapter of A Home Within
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November 24, 2013 Fall Conference
Surviving the Gridlocked Moments with Couples: A Tavistock Approach to Couples Therapy
Presented by Christopher Clulow, PhD
Lenfell Hall, The Mansion, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ
8:30am-4:00pm
6 CEUs will be offered for social workers
 Christopher Clulow is a Senior Fellow of the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, London, where he practices as a visiting lecturer and researcher. His recent work for TCCR includes leading the project to develop couple therapy competences for treating depression within the government's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies framework, and consulting to/evaluating the development of services within a mental health organization that included treating depression through relationship counseling. He has published extensively on marriage, partnerships, parenthood and couple psychotherapy, most recently from an attachment perspective. His most recent edited publication, Sex, Attachment and Couple Psychotherapy: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, was published by Karnac Books in 2009, and he is currently co-writing a book on Couple Therapy for Depression to be published by Oxford University Press in 2014. He is a founding member of the British Society of Couple Psychotherapists and Counselors, an international editorial consultant for Sexual and Relationship Therapy, and a member of the editorial board for Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. He is a Fellow of the Centre for Social Policy, Dartington, and a registrant of the British Psychoanalytic Council. He maintains a private clinical and training practice from his home in St Albans, UK, and is President of North and Central Hertfordshire Relate. Click HERE to register for this program |
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Save These Dates 2013-2014
September 27, 2013 - Child and Adolescent Interest Group Meeting - Sara Sullivan, FDU Florham Park, Madison, NJ - 12:15pm-1:45pm October 11, 2013 - A Home Within Open House - Office of Debi Roelke, 50 Maple Avenue, Morristown, NJ - 12:00noon-2:30pm November 17, 2013 - CPPNJ Bergen Area Potluck Brunch - Home of Cheryl Nifoussi - Rsvp 201-967-8866 and volunteer to bring a salad, an appetizer or a main dish - 12:00noon-2:00pm January 2014 - Holiday Party - TBA February 2, 2014 - Harlene Goldschmidt, PhD - Faculty Forum - Qi Gong Therapy as an Enhancement to Psychodynamic Therapy: Considering the Benefits of an Alternative Mind/Body Therapy - Hartman Lounge, FDU Florham Park, Madison, NJ - 9:00am-1:00pm
March 8, 2014 - Richard Chefez, MD presents Dissociative Processes and the Toxicity of the Shame Spectrum of Emotion - Lenfell Hall, FDU Florham Park, Madison, NJ. 8:30am-4:00pm
May 3, 2014 - IDfest: An Evening of Comedy & Dessert - Lenfell Hall, FDU Florham Park, Madison, NJ - 7:00pm
June 7, 2014 - CPPNJ Graduation & End of Year Celebration - Rutgers Club, New Brunswick, NJ.
6:00pm-10:00pm
All public programs are co-sponsored with the New Jersey Society for Clinical Social Workers
The New Jersey Society for Clinical Social Workers (NJSCSW) provides leadership and support to clinical social workers in all practice settings. NJSCSW has given voice to clinical social workers dealing with the health care industry. The organization provides outstanding education programs and opportunities for collegial contact. www.njscsw.org
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Debi Roelke, PhD
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New CPPNJ Child and Adolescent Interest Group is Launched
The first organizational meeting of the new CPPNJ Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Interest Group was held on June 8th. The seven members in attendance at the meeting included both faculty and candidates, and we began by getting to know each other as clinicians who work with children and adolescents. A number of possible programs and activities were discussed, and the group decided to meet on a monthly basis starting in September to discuss readings, clinical issues and future programs. Plans to sponsor a faculty forum, workshop or discussion panel at one of the state conferences were among the other suggestions.
The next meeting of the Child and Adolescent Interest Group will be held on Friday, September 27, 2013 at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Debi Roelke at droelke@optonline.net or 973-644-0033. In addition, those who are unable to attend but would like to join the Interest Group listserv and be part of the community of child and/or adolescent clinicians within CPPNJ are welcome to contact Debi as well.
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Psychotherapy Center Changes Leadership
By Sandra Sinicropi, LCSW
I am happy to announce new leadership at the CPPNJ Psychotherapy Center. Debbie Frank is assuming the position of Clinical Coordinator, the position Debi Roelke has held for the past three Susan Stein will be the new Director, as I will be stepping down after seven years of working with the PC. We would like to thank those of you who have helped us make the PC a success these last few years. The number of therapists available to see cases has grown, as has the number of faculty willing to provide supervision. We have received numerous calls from patients letting us how grateful they were to have found a good therapist.
 | | Susan Stein, LCSW |
Our outreach efforts now include annual mailings to area universities, colleges and clinics. We have also established a presence on the web with a Psychology Today profile which has resulted in a doubling of the number of calls we receive
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Debbie Frank, LCSW
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each month.
The growth of the Psychotherapy Center is also due to the work of our screeners Sharon McCombie, Anne Rybowski, Wendy Wright, Madine DeSantis. It takes considerable time to match prospective patients with therapists or to refer out callers who cannot be served by the PC.
I would like to offer a special note of appreciation to Debi Roelke, who has been incredibly ambitious in her efforts to encourage members and candidates to get involved with the Psychotherapy Center. She has brought considerable organizational skills to this task. On a personal note, I want to add that it's been a true pleasure collaborating with Debi.
As we leave the Psychotherapy Center in the capable hands of Susan Stein and Debbie Frank, I want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity to have served the CPPNJ community over the past several years. Debi and I will continue to work with and support the PC in its continued growth, and wish Susan and Debbie the best in their new roles.
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Qi Gong Therapy as an Enhancement to Psychodynamic Therapy:
Considering the Benefits of an Alternative Mind/Body Therapy
By Harlene Goldschmidt, PhD For psychotherapists who have a level of comfort with mind/body methods, somatic therapies, energy therapies, and meditative techniques have become increasingly popular. While some psychotherapists employ these methods for more difficult cases, other therapists are interested in teaching these alternative skills to patients who may be receptive to their benefits. With mind/body methods, patients learn and practices skills that reduce stress, increase emotional awareness, and improve emotional regulation. Psychodynamic therapists who work with methods like Mindfulness, Sensorimotor and Emotional Focused Therapy are interested in creating meaningful ways of integrating psychodynamic principles with somatic/energy therapies. The integration of psychodynamic therapy with mind/body methods may enhances patients' personal growth, as well as alleviating psychological suffering. Qi Gong is another emerging mind/body energy based practice that offers useful possibilities for expanding the effectiveness of psychodynamic treatment for some patients. Qi Gong developed as a self-regulating, health care practice around 4,000 years ago in China. There are written references to Qi Gong in ancient Chinese texts as early as 210 BCE. Qi (pronounced chee) is considered to be an essential vital life force that energizes the body. Gong refers to disciplined work done with integrity and perseverance. "Heart/mind" meditative exercises are learned and practiced to develop internal awareness. Specific meditations are selected for individuals addressing particular health issues. Creating unique somatic/energy methods for each person is encouraged in Qi Gong practices. The healing principles of clinical Qi Gong form the foundation of acupuncture. These two healing methods, acupuncture & Qi Gong, use acupoints and energy meridians within the body to alleviate problems both physical and emotional. The methods differ in that acupuncture uses needles for healing effects, whereas Qi Gong uses meditation or self touch to activate acupoints. While Qi Gong is relatively new to many psychotherapists, Qi Gong practices are being used regularly in well regarded complementary and integrative medical departments in hospitals and other clinical settings for various patient populations. In Qi Gong a person is assessed, treated, and reassessed in order to improve energy flow throughout the body. Excess energy is removed and depleted areas are given energy, all without any physical contact with the patient. The Qi Gong practitioner is trained to sense energy with the palms of his or her hands, and to make energy corrections by redirecting and balancing the clients' flow of energy. There are methods and acupoints to regulate emotions including anger, fear, stress and sadness. Qi Gong methods may be included in therapy sessions, as well as taught to patients as part of a self-care practice. Like psychoanalytic therapy, each person is viewed as an individual, and the treatment dyad informs a uniquely personalized approach. Some of my patients who suffer from anxiety, depression and bi-polar disorders have experienced some degree of relief from debilitating emotions through the practice of Qi Gong, while working through long standing, self-defeating, psychological patterns. Several patients in my practice have greatly reduced their reliance on psychopharmaceutical medications in a relatively short period of time. The selected Qi Gong methods for each patient are based on particular emotional problems, their energy assessment plus the person's ability to work with energy awareness and energy based meditations. Empathic attunement with the patient on an energetic level guides the use of Qi Gong. In Chinese culture balancing energies of yin and yang is a central organizing principle. This holds true for Qi Gong practice where the more expansive yang energies are put in balance with the inwardly focused, receptive yin energies. Creating meditations for patients involves considerable sensitivity to patients emotional experiences plus an awareness of energy imbalances. Basic meditations focus on acupoints that naturally gather, store, refine, balance and circulate energy or Qi throughout the body. More elaborate meditations may be learned as mastery of the basic meditation develops. Clinical qigong and psychoanalytic psychotherapy both share an awareness that there are nonverbal energetic exchanges between individuals that are profoundly influential. The nature of these exchanges differs in that psychoanalysts' awareness is more in the direction of affect and cognition as with projective and introjective identification. Qi Gong gravitates towards somatic sensations and essential energy experiences to influence health and healing As humans beings we have multiple of ways of communicating and engaging together with a good portion of these interactions being unconscious. As therapists perhaps it's worth considering that within our human nature, and our ability to be empathic healers, we are able to communicate and have influences on many levels regarding our mind/body experiences. Shih, T. K. (1994) Qigong Therapy: The Chinese art of healing with energy. Station Hill Press, NY. Shih, T.K.(2010 ) Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy, Volume II. Second Military Medical University Press, Shanghai. More information on clinical Qi Gong training Introductory training in clinical Qi Gong is a 30 hour course that includes learning meditation methods and awareness of Qi. There are moving and walking meditations as well as sitting quiet mediations. Basic acupoint are taught that are integral to the meditative methods. Self care and giving Qi Gong care is also taught. The next course is 50 hours that teaches more acupoints and principles of Qi Gong. Following these two courses, after passing a comprehensive written test, there is an advanced 40 hour intensive training plus a one day teachers training course. These courses are taught by Professor T. K. Shih, Director of Chinese Healing Arts Center (CHAC ), an international expert on Classical Chinese Medical Qigong for over 50 years, and author of several books(Qigong Therapy, 1994 & Chinese Medical Qigong Therapy, Volume II, 2010). Advanced training involves more extensive meditation methods that increase awareness of energy points and energy flow within the body. Many clinical conditions are addressed within the advanced Qi Gong training. In July of this year the New Jersey State Nurses Association(NJSNA) approved an application submitted by myself and three other certified Qigong therapists. "Clinical Qigong For Mind/Body Health" is a 30 hour CEU course for nurses scheduled to be taught in October at Morristown Memorial Hospital. Special thank you to CPPNJ's Lillian Shaw and Marlene Emery for helping complete the extensive application process. While nurses will receive CEUs, other clinical professionals may take the training as well. The 30 hour course was designed by Professor Shih, Director the Chinese Healing Arts Institute, as a way to continue and preserve this previously oral tradition. Professor Shih's courses reflect his extraordinary depth and wisdom in the art of Qi Gong, as well as his innovations as a teacher. The introductory course allows clinicians to discover and explore energy or Qi that circulates within their body. Methods of self-care, as well as ways to devise methods of care for others, are taught within the course. |
Member Presentations and Publications
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Monica Carsky, PhD
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Carsky, M. (in press) Supportive psychoanalytic therapy for personality disorders. Psychotherapy .
Carsky, M. and Yeomans, F. Overwhelming Patients and Overwhelmed Therapists. Psychodynamic Psychiatry*, 40 (1): 75-90, 2012. This paper is open access: http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/pdps.2012.40.1.75 and is one of the most frequently viewed papers on the journal website.
*Formerly The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, ISSN 1546-0371, Volumes 1-39.Starting with Volume 40, Psychodynamic Psychiatry is the re-envisioned journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry. The journal focuses on psychodynamically informed approaches to assessment, diagnosis, and psychotherapy, as well as covering psychoanalysis as a distinct form of treatment
Please note: If you have an announcement of either a paper you've recently published or a presentation you've given, let us know. Send Cathy Van Voorhees an email at cppnj@aol.com and we will be happy to get the word out.
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Book Reviews
What are you currently reading? We would like to include book recommendations and reviews. Send Cathy Van Voorhees an email at cppnj@aol.com - tell her what you are reading and we will spread the word.
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Our E-Newsletter Editorial Staff
Mary Lantz, LCSW, Editor-in-Chief
Rose Oosting, PhD, Consulting Editor
Martha Liebmann, PhD
Marion Houghton, EdS, LMFT
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Unsolicited articles are welcome. Something you'd like to write? Send it to us at cppnj@aol.com. We're happy to hear from you.
Thank you for joining us. Look for our next newsletter in October 2013 when we will introduce you to our new faculty members.
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No need to print this email - for future reference, all issues are archived. |
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