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Psychoanalysis in the Community
Call for Proposals 2025-2026
We are excited to begin working on next year’s programming for Austin Psychoanalytic. We’d also like to let you know about some organizational changes at AP. Due to unforeseen circumstances, our board president is not able to continue in the role due to personal reasons. Our past-president (Katrina Taylor) and president-elect (Tina Adkins) are collaborating to fill the role of president.
The Austin Psychoanalytic board is proud to announce our upcoming theme for our 2025-2026 program calendar: Psychoanalysis in the Community
We would like to open a call for proposals in relation to our theme, which centers around exploring all the unique ways in which psychoanalytic theories and interventions are being applied in different community environments. We recognize that mental health systems can be positively impacted interdisciplinary approaches to healing, and that there are many community agencies and clinicians that are interweaving psychoanalytic approaches within their work in innovative and exciting ways. The power of such approaches can be seen within the field of social work for instance, which has a rich history integrating psychoanalytic theory and approaches into their work with vulnerable and marginalized populations. For example, in the famous paper “Ghosts in the Nursery” by Selma Fraiberg and her colleagues (1975), a way to work with hard-to-reach parents was introduced, one that included home visits where psychoanalytic social workers created methods of treatment which brought together psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, and social work in powerful and healing ways to help vulnerable mothers and infants. Although this paper was published 50 years ago and interest in psychoanalytic theory has waned in popularity since then, we want to explore all the ways it is still alive and well in our communities, and how it is being woven in with other approaches to positively impact the mental health of individuals, communities and systems.
Proposals for monthly meetings and salons (or study groups) are invited to address the theme of Psychoanalysis in the Community from a variety of approaches. We recognize that understanding psychoanalytic theory and interventions through the lens of community application can be thought of in numerous ways, we encourage you to take liberty to interpret its meaning in a manner that fits whatever presentations or topics that might interest you and our community. For example, perhaps you work in a community mental health center that works with the homeless, and you would like to think about how resistances manifest within this traumatized population. Presentations might include cases involving new/hybrid approaches to healing (such as weaving in attachment or neuroscience) or new ways to understand marginalized or vulnerable populations, or how psychoanalytic theories can help us understand difficult and unhealthy systems. Salons might include reading papers by psychoanalytic social workers or psychoanalysts engaged in thinking about how to use psychoanalytic approaches within child welfare, or with the incarcerated or within racialized systems.
A salon may also function as a continued exploration of a conference topic and/or in-depth analysis of readings recommended by conference presenters. Any of these topics approach the theme from different angles and would be welcomed along with myriad others. Austin Psychoanalytic Educational Committee members are available to help curate programs. Monthly Meeting Programs may consist of lectures, panel discussions, film screenings, or guided group (audience) discussions. It is expected that presentations are informed by psychoanalytic theory and literature. (However, it is preferable if speakers do not read their entire presentation from a paper.) Regardless of format, presentations should allow ample time for the audience to interact and engage with the material. Salons (or study groups) typically consist of 2 or more sessions conducted in the facilitator’s home or office, or online. Facilitators may require the participants to purchase a textbook or other book for the salon, or facilitators may email journal articles to participants.
Proposals are due by January 15, 2025. Your proposal should consist of a short paragraph about the content and format of the proposed salon or monthly meeting as well as a short bio and/or CV outlining your educational background and credentials. If accepted, presenters are required to submit a program syllabus, reference list, and learning objectives. We look forward to hearing from you! |
