Impulse is a community newsletter produced by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) and distributed electronically at no cost to subscribers. We envision Impulse as an integrative source for local news, events, and thinking of interest to the psychoanalytically inclined. Our goal is to be your guide as you explore the Bay Area's rich array of analytic resources.
We invite you to become a member of NCSPP, if you are not already. And, we welcome you as a subscriber to Impulse. Join us as we highlight the exceptional diversity of psychoanalytic thought and practice in Northern California.
by Tanisha Stewart, Psy.D.
Typically this time of the year, a President's Letter would excitedly describe the featured guest of our Annual Lecture. Instead, I contemplated writing about renewal: shaking off the drowsiness of winter as we enter spring, the end of the academic year finally being within sight, and how the warmer weather beckons us outdoors. Then I thought about this year's theme of silence and NCSPP's commitment to transparency. Writing a letter solely focused on the hopes of new beginnings while remaining silent about current organizational struggles felt disingenuous.
NCSPP made the decision to forgo the 2022 Annual Lecture. Our organization is operating at reduced capacity due to vacancies in key positions, including Chair of the Programming Committee. NCSPP has frequently been described as a train, the leader at the helm being almost interchangeable because the organization's momentum pushes forward on a predetermined path. Leading an organization in the midst of restructuring inspires me to consider the possibilities of transformation. However, there is a strong instinct to not publicly speak about the disarray caused by change and disruption. As therapists, we invite our clients to show us all of their messy bits while explicitly being trained to hide our own.
by Jasmine Khor, LMFT
BETWEEN THE QUIETNESS DOES THE SILENCE COME ALIVE
I look out my window onto the streets of Chinatown with the same pair of eyes my grandmother would look out onto her TV screen — playing seasons and seasons of old, pirated TV shows of a dated Hong Kong.
I would think to myself, as a little girl who belonged to nowhere near American soil, why did she cast herself off just to find a thin thread, half splintering as the satellite disc fails at certain seconds, sending ripples over the screen, and eventually reviving itself with my Aunt’s big smack on the side of the TV, returning pictures of drama from home that never ended. This was the screen my grandmother dozed off to, a voice that perhaps carried her into a dream of sweetness. Into a place more forgiving than a flat that the government signed off for, as she waited in silence for age to pass.
WEEKLY CONSULTATION GROUP. Launching in May for early-career clinicians (pre- or post-licensure) and focusing on the intersection of the personal, the conceptual, and the clinical in order to deepen our work with patients as well as to further personal and intellectual growth. My orientation is contemporary psychoanalytic and relational, and we will work on making central psychoanalytic concepts useful and grounded in real clinical and personal experience. Some clinically relevant papers will be discussed in response to themes and concepts that emerge organically from our case discussions. Space will be made for group process as needed, with attention to parallel process (clinical material unconsciously taking shape in the group), in order to maintain a safe and generative field for all participants. For more information please contact me at contact@jonathanmossmft.com or (415) 508-8626.
QUIET OFFICE HAYES VALLEY. Located in a well-maintained professional building in a suite with two other therapy offices, waiting room, and kitchenette. The office is very quiet, away from street noise. Full-time, unfurnished, $1113 share of lease, plus utilities. Optional private parking can be arranged. Contact anjaligeorgephd@gmail.com.
Old couches, new books, hot jobs, cool internships, office rentals? List them in Impulse's Classifieds for a modest fee. Please see our submission guidelines for details.
Student Seminars: Introduction to the Lacanian Clinic
Wed, May 4 / 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm / Zoom - Online Only / NA
SFCP / (415) 632-2438 / S. Tan, Psy.D. / Free
Focus On – A Liberatory Psychoanalysis
Fri, May 6 / 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm / Zoom / NA
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / P. Contreras, Psy.D., D. Kallivayalil, Ph.D. / $35 - $85
When You Lose Your Voice: Writing Impasses
Fri, May 13 / 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm / Zoom / NA
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / E. Miller, Ph.D., Jane Burka, Ph.D. / free - $40
Visiting Scholar – Ghislaine Boulanger
Sat, May 14 / 10:00 am - 12:00 pm / Zoom / NA
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / G. Boulanger, Ph.D. / free - $40
The Edifice Complex: Towards a Trans-Mural Psychoanalysis
Sun, May 22 / 10:00 am - 12:30 pm / Zoom / NA
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / F. Gonzalez, M.D., et al. / free - $65