by Sharon Bass, Ph.D.

NCSPP STUDENT PAPER AWARD

The purpose of the NCSPP student paper award is to honor a student author who brings a new voice and fresh ideas to our literature, enriches our understanding, stimulates our thinking, extends theory, or provides a new look at the clinical encounter. This year’s winner, David Cushman, has done all of these things in his paper entitled “Case Management and the Analytic Frame: A New Paradigm.”

In this paper, David courageously challenges the divide between psychoanalytic intervention and case management. Thinking with clients about these real aspects of their existence-which they cannot help but think about--can open up in the clinical encounter possibilities for insight and working through of emotional issues that would otherwise remain hidden or be lost.  In the aftermath of the Occupy Movement’s highlighting of economic disparities and class inequality, this paper feels particularly relevant to anyone involved in providing mental health treatment to the underprivileged.