Intensive Study Group
Introductory Event
This introductory event to NCSPP’s year-long virtual Intensive Study Group (ISG) will feature three instructors — Maria Pilar Bratko, Carolina Bacchi, and Ben Morsa — each describing their own approach to this year’s theme, Longing to Belong. The course will explore how individuals and collectives navigate belonging across nations, generations, institutions, and psyches, focusing on conscious and unconscious processes of belonging and otherness at play in experiences of migration and neurodivergence.
Often, those who are the most acutely aware of the benefits and costs of being a member of a collective are those who exist at the margins of society, and this year’s ISG hopes to reimagine what inclusive spaces might look like within the consultation room, the therapeutic relationship, our professional discourses, and at the societal level. If you’re considering registering for the fall ISG, this is an opportunity to bring your questions and thoughts into conversation with the instructors
NCSPP is aware that historically psychoanalysis has either excluded or pathologized groups outside of the dominant population in terms of age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, and size. As an organization, we are committed to bringing awareness to matters of anti-oppression, inequity, inequality, diversity, and inclusion as they pertain to our educational offerings, our theoretical orientation, our community, and the broader world we all inhabit.
Presenters Response:
Instructors and participants will share responsibility for championing social and economic justice in our engagement with the course material. The course will introduce an analytic collaborative work and process of narrativization of the immigration experience that allows the reclaiming of personal and collective geographies. Additionally, the course will address the increasing hostility towards queer and transgender populations by clarifying the exclusion process (and its impact) on these communities and engaging participants with critical theory.
Carolina Bacchi, Psy.D., is an analyst at PINC and in private practice in Oakland, working with children and adults, as well as offering consultation for early career clinicians. Originally from Brazil, she is interested in issues of immigration and the interface between cultural dislocation, inner creativity, and psychoanalytic technique.
Maria Pilar Bratko, MFT, Ph.D., is a bilingual (Spanish–English) MFT in private practice working with individuals, couples, and adolescents who are bi- and multiracial, bilingual, and immigrants. She holds an M.A. in Feminist Clinical Psychology from New College and a Ph.D. in Clinical Social Work from Smith College, where she is adjunct faculty.
Benjamin Morsa, Psy.D., is the founder of Tide Pools, a group practice and training program for Psy.D. students, which offers psychoanalytic therapy and assessment. His interests include psychoeducational assessment with bilingual children, queer and transgender theory and experience, neuro-affirming approaches to assessment and psychoanalysis, constructions of masculinity, and critical autism studies.
This course is for clinicians with moderate to extensive experience in clinical work with some background in the principles of psychoanalytic approaches or laypersons with a strong academic or cultural interest in applied or clinical psychoanalysis.
No refunds for cancellations. Transfers of registrations are not allowed.
For program related questions contact Tanisha Stewart, Psy.D. at tanisha@ncspp.org.
For questions related to enrollment, locations, CE credit, special needs, course availability and other administrative issues contact Michele McGuinness by email or 415-496-9949.
Intensive Study Group Committee
The Intensive Study Group Committee oversees the year-long ISG. Each fall, the committee puts on an Introductory Event featuring invited guest lecturers who speak to theoretical and clinical themes related to the current subject of the ISG. This event is open to all.
We are currently looking for a chair and committee members. If interested contact Candice Turner, Psy.D. at cturner@ncspp.org.