My Theoretical Roots

While I love to read most psychoanalytic theorists, I am primarily trained in and believe in practices that fall under the umbrellas of Modern Psychoanalysis, Objects Relations, Attachment Theory and Interpersonal Psychoanalysis.

Put most simply, I believe that the attachment relationships formed in Psychoanalytic treatments are at the core of the sustainable work done and that the path to resolving resistances to knowing the unconscious is through the relationship.

My Training Philosophy

I believe in a future where Psychoanalytic training is totally reimagined.

In this future, we learn together in small supportive study groups. In this future, we all have a voice and no voice is fundamentally right or wrong or uneducated. I imagine individual students, instead of enrolling in an institute, collecting their training hours from those mentors they feel they have the most to learn from— hopping around from one mind to another without the influence of “group think” or the pressure of a predetermined matriculation training schedule. Where learners follow their excitement and personal values, not a curriculum guide.

I believe in a future of psychoanalytic training without the seductive pull of the search for legitimacy from the exalted other. Learning that resists competition and constant striving for position. I imagine a future where we make referrals because we have come to know a person’s work, not because they have this or that credential.

In this future, I imagine that people attend analysis as part of their training because they have truly become convinced that it will help them to be better clinicians and have better lives, not because they need to in order to obtain a certificate. Not because they feel they will be deemed unwell if their decisions about their own analysis don’t align with the beliefs of the administration. Where student and analyst make the decision together about the way their treatment should go and that the student’s analyst options feel expansive. In this future, students are free to find whatever brilliant mind—worldwide—they wish to learn from and that the supervisor-supervisee dyad gets to decide how that supervision should go.

I believe in a future where students can pace themselves in their learning with no pressure from those on high to do more and more and more for the institute and for their training. Where students are encouraged by their mentors to trust themselves. In that, students will learn to pace themselves— pace their own lives and training so as not to abandon those very things that make our lives worth living.

I believe in a future of Psychoanalytic training where we insist that students spend as much time connecting and playing in their personal lives as they do studying and working. Where mentors encourage a balanced life where psychoanalysis need not be the dogma that dictates and consumes. Instead, Psychoanalysis is a place of play and curiosity. A place of depth, yes, but playful depth. One that considers the student as a whole person— not one who is defined by psychoanalysis, but one who is informed by psychoanalysis.

In this project, I hope to be the change I wish to see in the world. I hope to decentralize Psychoanalytic learning and I hope that I am one of many who create these spaces. I hope to create community spaces where our training process feels more intuitive and attuned to our unique needs. Where new learners and seasoned learners alike can learn from each other and with each other in safety.

I believe that the traditional institute will soon die. But Psychoanalytic thought will never die. I wonder what will happen if we get rid of the authority and the gatekeeping. What kind of clinician, human and citizen can we discover when a clinician is given the right holding environment without the authority? I have a hunch that those humans will be better at most things because they have been given room to trust themselves and become the kind of clinician, human and citizen that best suits themselves and their clients.

My Personal Training

I received my undergraduate degree from Prescott College as this program was aligned with my human values and my values of learning Experientially. I was working full time in community mental health facilities when I began my Master’s education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I completed this degree while working full time in Community Mental Health.

While there are many traditional routes to Psychoanalytic training, I have preferred a self-directed approach to my learning. In this self-directed process I have obtained 160 training hours (or 10 courses) through The Institute For Modern Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia (Formerly Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis). I am currently attending a 100 hour (12 course) Psychoanalytic training offering through P-Hole (Psychoanalytic Hub for Online Liberatory Education). In addition, I have over 500 hours of training analysis with a Modern Analyst and have officially completed two supervision requirements by two different Modern Analysts under the supervision of a Psychoanalytic Institute. In addition, I have successfully presented two cases at formal Institutions.

Instead of continuing Institutional learning I maintain a weekly individual training agreement with Dr. Stephen Day Ellis, former Executive Director of the Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis and student of Hyman Spotnitz. I have been working with Dr. Ellis (who was not only an ED but also a professor with over 5 decades of experience) for over 9 years. I have chosen this path because, having met a great deal of certified Psychoanalysts, I can truly state that Dr. Ellis is one of the few clinicians I would be proud to emulate. I believe we all should find our mentors in this way.