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  Expanding Psychoanalytic Practice In Communities

The EPPIC Program invites mental health students and professionals (e.g., psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, case managers), academics, and community practitioners/organizers to explore how psychoanalytic thinking can help address urgent real-world challenges. Focused on community engagement, this program considers psychoanalytic principles beyond traditional therapy settings to promote social justice, alleviate community trauma, foster systemic transformation, and address other complex community issues.

Traditional psychoanalytic education has often neglected community-based applications of psychoanalysis. Yet, community psychoanalysis offers a transformative pathway to extend psychoanalytic principles beyond the consulting room into settings where they are urgently needed. The Expanding Psychoanalytic Practice in Community (EPPIC) program aims to revitalize this approach by providing structured, didactic, and experiential learning opportunities that integrate psychoanalytic thought with community-based interventions.

This program was developed by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) and the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) in collaboration with the APsA Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) Section of the Psychoanalyst in the Community and the Contemporary Freudian Society. The program is intended to satisfy the requirements of those states that require CE/CME credits in the area of cultural competency for license renewal, but the final judgment for such qualification is made by each state’s board.
2025–2026 Academic Year – Pilot Program

The program consists of eight online sessions, each lasting three hours, scheduled monthly on the first Saturday, from 11:00am to 2:00pm EST, September to April, and culminating in a day- long hybrid conference in May.

CONTACTS
Direct inquiries to
Lizbeth Moses: lizbeth.moses3@gmail.com
Konstantinos Taliouridis: ktaliouridis@icloud.com


Course Schedule

This curriculum equips you with a solid foundation in Community Psychoanalysis, helping you support individual and collective mental health within diverse communities.

Class 1: History of Community Psychoanalysis in the U.S. and Abroad

Presenters: Francisco Gonzalez, MD; Harriet Wolfe, MD

In the context of the turbulent state of the world, psychoanalysts have become increasingly involved in leveraging their ability to develop understanding and offer psychoanalytically informed support to front-line mental health workers, extending their efforts beyond the consulting room into the broader world. Multiple models of community engagement are available; they are both inspiring and achievable. The presenters will introduce specific community interventions active in the U.S. and abroad from a conceptual standpoint and encourage discussion of their relevance and applicability to the settings participants know and wish to serve.

Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize the dynamic nature of community disturbance and needs.

2. Create psychoanalytically informed interventions that serve communities in distress.

Recommended Readings:

• Ainslie, R. C. (2013). Intervention strategies for addressing collective trauma: Healing communities ravaged by racial strife. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 18, 140–152.

• Broide, E. E., & Broide, J. (2024). The psychoanalytic work in the city: Psychoanalysis in critical social situations. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 31, 149–161.

• Chow, L., & St John, M. (2021). “A difficulty in the path of psychoanalysis": The Community Psychoanalysis Consortium and the Community Consultants. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 31(4), 439–449.

• Chow, L., Gaspar, S., Kassoff, B., Leavitt, J., & Peltz, R. (2023). Community psychoanalysis and the generative landscape of our times. Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 1–2.

• González, F. J., & Peltz, R. (2021). Community psychoanalysis: Collaborative practice as intervention. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 31(4), 409–427.

• Koh, E., & Twemlow, S. W. (2017). Towards a psychoanalytic concept of community (III): A proposal. Int’l Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 14, 261–272.

• Rudden, M. G., & Twemlow, S. W. (2013). A beginning theory of action for community analysts based on group observation, theories of the unconscious, and evolutionary psychology. Int’l Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 10, 199–209.

Class 2: Living and Dying Unloved

Presenter: Gilbert Kliman, MD

Children in protective and foster care often suffer in silence—lonely, despairing, abused, and at times starved, beaten, or poisoned—sometimes dying without society taking notice. In this session, Dr. Kliman will explore the practice of conducting psychological autopsies to give voice to these children after death. Drawing on his experiences within the civil justice system, he will illustrate how psychoanalytically informed testimony can hold responsible parties accountable and increase systemic vigilance and care for vulnerable children.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the roles a psychoanalyst can take when a foster child dies.

2. Describe countertransference challenges that may arise in giving voice to helpless or deceased victims.

3. State two positive effects of psychoanalytic testimony in cases involving deceased children.

Recommended Reading:

• Kliman, G. (2009). Voices for Psychologically Injured Children: Psychoanalytic Testimony During Civil Litigation Helps Bring Social Change, Settlements, and Jury Awards. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 29, 493–511.

Class 3: Dreaming Democracy Forward: Social Dreaming and Reflective Citizens Toward Deliberative Democracy, Dignity, and Co-existence

Presenters: Kavita Avula, Psy.D. and George Bermudez, Ph.D.

Group therapists worldwide are overwhelmed by community distress and societal fractures due to over 110 armed conflicts globally, driven by interwoven dynamics of power, privilege, identity, domination, and subjugation. This class focuses on the power of the social dreaming matrix and the Reflective Citizens large-group methodology to illuminate the social and socio-political unconscious—and how these formats can foster communal healing, self-organizing democratic deliberation, and reflective citizen action.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the process of the social dreaming matrix and its application to deliberative democracy.

2. Evaluate how participation in a social dreaming matrix and large group influences sense of community and democratic deliberation.

3. Discuss the tenet of the Reflective Citizens method that promotes non-violent and deliberate co-existence.

Recommended Readings:

• Avula, K. (2019). Brown, barriered, bold: One therapist’s story of leadership. In Women, Intersectionality, and Power in Group Psychotherapy Leadership.

• Avula, K. (2023). Recognizing codes of superiority in clinical work ... In The Tripartite Matrix ... Social Unconscious in Persons, Groups and Societies, Vol. 4.

• Bermúdez, G. (2018). The social dreaming matrix as a container ... Int’l Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68, 538–560.

• Bermúdez, G. (2019). Community psychoanalysis: A contribution to an emerging paradigm. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 39, 297–304.

• Bermúdez, G. (2022). Towards a Socio-centric Psychoanalysis ... Division/Review: A Quarterly Psychoanalytic Forum, 28, 31–34.

• Bermúdez, G. (2023). Discussion of Bakó & Zana, “The Reality of Trauma; the Trauma of Reality”. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 33, 327–343.

• Dluhy, M., Watkins-Northern, A., Segalla, R., Paparella, L., Schulte, R., & Avula, K. (2019). The large group experience: Affiliation in a learning community. Int’l Journal of Group Psychotherapy.

Class 4: Psychoanalytically Informed Research to Address the Consequences of Sex Trafficking

Presenter: Paola Contreras, Psy.D.

This presentation will detail a study focusing on sex trafficking, attachment, and trauma-coercive bonding, funded in part by the International Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Contreras will discuss psychoanalytic concepts that informed research design, data collection, significant findings, and practitioner insights for those working with exploitation-affected individuals. The research was conducted at the Human Trafficking Research Hub (HTRH), which uses psychoanalytic frameworks in its studies. Insights may include contributions from team members if available.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify at least one psychoanalytic construct that can be studied in mixed-method research.

1. Describe how psychoanalytic listening aids traditional research and enhances research teams working with trauma-affected populations.

Recommended Readings:

• Contreras, P. M., et al. (in press). The role of adult attachment and complex trauma in sex trafficking ... Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.

• Contreras, P. M., Kallivayalil, D., & Herman, J. L. (2017). Psychotherapy in the aftermath of human trafficking ... Women and Therapy, 40(1–2), 31–54.

Class 5: Leadership, Emotional Readiness, and Social Resonance

Presenters: James Barron, Ph.D. and Paula Kliger, Ph.D.

Building on Bion’s concept of the social field, this session examines how individuals, groups, and culture co-create and continuously shape one another. By exploring emotional currents in this shared field, participants gain insight into dynamics of racism and othering—both within themselves and in systems they inhabit. The session aims to enhance capacity for inclusive, thoughtful, power-sharing leadership in complex environments.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the importance of staying present amid emotional turbulence in the social field to enable flexible, adaptive leadership.

2. Demonstrate greater emotional readiness, containment, self-reflection, and social resonance in facing leadership challenges.

Recommended Readings:

• Christian-Kliger, P. (2023). A Fresh Beginning to an Old Conversation ... Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 59, 276–295.

• Barron, J. W., Honig, R. G., & Lebovitz, P. S. (2023). A Psychoanalytic Institute’s Response to Existential Threats ... Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71, 83–104.

• Petriglieri, G., & Petriglieri, J. L. (2020). The return of the oppressed ... Academy of Management Annals, 14(1), 411–449.

Class 6: Social Context & Cultural Awareness: Power and Knowledge in Intercultural Community Work

Presenter: Neil Altman, Ph.D.

Psychoanalytic clinical work involves the interaction between transference and countertransference, requiring the analyst to act authentically while also experiencing themselves from the other's perspective. This split self-awareness is critical to all human conversation and is uniquely honed in analytic settings. Intercultural psychoanalytic interaction offers an opportunity to fine-tune this capacity both in and out of the therapy room.

Learning Objectives:

1. Articulate an experienced culturally specific aspect of self-understanding operative in clinical work.

2. Describe ways in which this self-understanding has enhanced self-awareness in patients.

Recommended Readings:

• Hoffman, I. Z. (1991). Discussion: Toward a social-constructivist view of the psychoanalytic situation. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 1(1), 74–105.

• Altman, N. (2000). Black and white thinking: A psychoanalyst reconsiders race. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 10(4), 589–605.

Class 7: Community Psychoanalysis in Emergency Settings

Presenters: Martha Bragin, Ph.D.; Honey Oberoi Vahali, Ph.D.

This session introduces community psychoanalysis in emergency settings, offering practical tools for psychodynamically oriented practitioners. Topics include the psychoanalyst’s role in contexts of profound psychosocial distress, questions of power, speech, and the body, and how mutuality and intersubjectivity serve those at socio-political margins. The presentation progresses toward understanding how psychoanalytic listening and holding difficult experiences facilitate coping in crises.

Learning Objectives:

1. Become acquainted with international standards and methods for accompanying communities in humanitarian crisis.

2. Appreciate precarity and learn to engage when the psychoanalyst’s “expert” role is destabilized.

3. Learn to “stay with” suffering and resist the urge to fix problems.

4. Revisit issues of power and voice in intersubjective domains.

Recommended Readings:

• Bragin, M. (2020). Clinical social work with survivors of disaster and terrorism: A social ecological approach. In J. Brandell (Ed.), Theory and Practice in Clinical Social Work (3rd ed., pp.303–333). Cognella.

• Bragin, M. (2005). The Community Participatory Evaluation Tool ... Intervention: Int’l Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, 3(1), 3–24.

• Bragin, M. (2020). The CPET Users Guide. NCCWE.

Class 8: Working on Collective Atrocities, Past and Present

Presenters: Mira Erlich-Ginor, MA; H. Shmuel Erlich, Ph.D.

This session explores the concept of the “third”—a mental space where members of historically antagonistic societies can meet. Drawing from their work co-leading the Israeli-German project “To Reflect and Trust,” the presenters will show how psychoanalytic work provides a container for acknowledging and processing intergenerational trauma. Participants will engage with clinical and societal implications of working through collective atrocities, with attention to resistance, recognition, and responsibility.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the function of the “third” in facilitating dialogue between members of     historically antagonistic groups.

2. Identify psychoanalytic dynamics involved in the transmission and processing of collective trauma.

3. Apply psychoanalytic concepts to collective healing in the aftermath of societal atrocities. 

Recommended Readings:

• Erlich-Ginor, M., Erlich, H. S., & Beland, H. (2009). Fed with Tears – Poisoned with Milk: The “Nazis” in Us. Psychosozial-Verlag.

• Volkan, V. D. (2001). Transgenerational transmissions and chosen traumas: An aspect of large-group psychology. Group Analysis, 34(1), 79–97.

• Erlich, H. S. (2019). Holding the tension of opposites: Working through the trauma of the Holocaust in dialogue. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 100(5), 875–892.

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