The National Group Psychotherapy Institute (NGPI) of the New Washington School of Psychiatry (NWSP)
has now opened registration for individuals interested in single-weekend participation for its award-winning, 2-year Intensive Training Program, Group Therapy in the 21st Century: Dynamics, Identities, Hope and Healing
Devaluation, Dehumanization, and the Erosion of Empathetic Connection in Hatred and Prejudice: Groups as Healers
Co-Chair: Steven Van Wagoner, PhD, CGP & Mary Chappell, PsyD, CGP
Date: March 21-22, 2025
Time: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM on Friday, January 24th and 8:30 AM - 5:15 PM on Saturday, January 25th, 2025
Location: Friends Meeting House of Washington, 2111 Decatur Pl NW, Washington, DC 20008, In-Person Only
11.50 CEs
Program Description:
People of different minority identities come to our groups with myriad experiences of being hated, marginalized, devalued, and/or at times dehumanized by an oppressive and institutionalized white supremacy culture. How to overcome the influence of racism and white supremacy in our groups can be enormously challenging. This conference will examine how the erosion and failure of empathy embedded in white supremacy sustains and reinforces racism, hate and fear of the other, and deleteriously affects us all, but disproportionately those with minority identities. We will examine how group therapy can be an instrument of healing when empathy is established and/or restored between members of the group.
General Learning Objectives
1. Participants will identify the challenges facing group psychotherapists in overcoming the effects of racism and white supremacy culture in groups.
2. Participants will be able to describe how impaired empathy sustains racism and hate.
Specific Learning Objectives
1. Participants will be able to identify steps in the loss of the capacity for shame
2. Participants will be able to name two factors which indicate resistance to welcoming the other, on a personal or social level
3. Participants will be able to identify social or personal factors which suggest a loss of the capacity for shame.
4. Participants will be able to describe the impact of listening and letting go of pushing an agenda on groups having contentious dialogue.
5. Participants will be able to describe the basic learning goals of the large group experience run in the Reflective Citizens tradition.
6. Participants will be able to describe how social dreaming evokes the social unconscious and analyze its impact on communal dignity.
7. Participants will be able to list five current challenges that are emerging in psychotherapy groups related to polarization.
8. Participants will be able to apply elements of the Reflective Citizens methodology to interpersonal conflicts in psychotherapy groups.
9. Participants will analyze how unconscious codes of superiority undermine dignity of self and other.
10. Participants will be able to define empathy and discuss how to use it with minority identities.
11. Participants will be able to describe how objectification of the other obstructs empathic understanding.
12. Participants will learn to temporarily immerse themselves in the experience of the other as a way of restoring empathy.
Click here for Continuing Education information.
Lunch and Learn Schedule 2025
Men’s Issues in Therapy
Friday, Apr. 4th, 2025
Presenters: Alex Berthe, and Joel Kanter, MSW, LCSW-C
Time: 12:00 p.m.— 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Location: Silver Spring Library, Location: Silver Spring Library, 900 Wayne Avenue (3rd Floor). Public parking across Wayne Avenue
Cost: No cost for NWSP members; $25 for non-members.
No CEs Offered
In recent years, there has been increasing evidence of how some men are struggling: declining educational attainment, rising rates of male suicide and substance abuse, high levels of loneliness and social isolation, and workplace challenges related to changing job markets. In this program, the presenters will discuss the special concerns of male clients of different generations and will discuss how to engage them in a psychotherapeutic process.
Presenter Bio:
Alex Berthe, MSW, LCSW-C is in private practice in Bethesda. He has completed the Child and Adolescent Training Program and National Group Psychotherapy Institute Programs at the Washington School of Psychiatry. With a background as a Division One soccer player as an undergraduate, he has a deep interest in sports psychology and helping young athletes. He has worked youth and families at a non-profit organization serving various underserved communities as well as at independent schools for boys. Most recently, Alex has developed a special interest in men's issues related to fatherhood, friendship, marriage, identity, and fulfillment.
Joel Kanter, MSW, LCSW-C is in private practice in Silver Spring. He completed the Advanced Psychotherapy Training Program at the Washington School of Psychiatry. He is a founding board member of the New Washington School of Psychiatry. He serves on the faculty of the Institute for Clinical Social Work and the China American Psychoanalytic as well as on the Editorial Boards of the Clinical Social Work and Psychoanalytic Social Work Journals. He has authored over 50 articles and book chapters in a diverse array of social work, psychiatry and psychoanalytic journals. His book Face to Face with Children: The Life and Work of Clare Winnicott was published by Routledge in 2004.
Registration closes on April 2nd, 2025.
Let’s gather to celebrate Jon Frederickson’s new book,
Clinical Thinking in Psychotherapy
Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025
Time: 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Location: St. John's Episcopal Church, 6701 Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase
Come celebrate the publication of Jon's most recent book (and his 40 years of service to the Washington School and the New Washington School of Psychiatry) which describes clinical thinking, how to do it, and how to teach it. Take this opportunity to socialize with friends, learn about clinical thinking, peruse (and buy a copy) of Jon's book. Also, Anne Kamau will interview Jon about his book so we can learn more about his approach to clinical thinking and how we can teach it in supervision and class.
No cost for NWSP members; $15 for non-members
Clinical Program on Psychotherapy Practice (CPPP)
OPEN HOUSE
Date: Sunday, April 6, 2025 Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM ET Location: On Zoom
To register, please email Randall O’Toole, CPPP Chair at: randallotoole@gmail.com
During the Open House, we will feature a case presentation by a CPPP alumnus, followed by commentary from CPPP faculty. Additionally, we will discuss:
✔ The structure and curriculum of our program ✔ Our psychodynamic approach to training and supervision
✔ The admissions process and application steps
Inside the Lacanian Clinic
Welcome to Inside the Lacanian Clinic, an ongoing Seminar Series established by the Lacanian Forum of Washington D.C. in cooperation with the New Washington School of Psychiatry.
The Seminar Series (four Seminars per academic year via Zoom) is founded on the firm conviction that Lacan has crucial things to say about both psychoanalysis and our contemporary world and that what he says can be understood.
Thus the Series chooses as presenters practicing Lacanian analysts, all of whom have been trained from within the Lacanian field and are known for the depth of their knowledge, clinical experience, and demonstrated teaching skills.
Each seminar will start with a theoretical presentation, for example, how to intervene in psychosis, followed by two hours during which theory will be specifically linked to clinical practice, including one hour of discussion in a small groups format.
3 CE Credits per Seminar pending.
Fee:
Questions or more information contact: devrasimiu@aol.com.
Seminar Schedule 2025
(Via Zoom)
Saturday, Jan. 18th, 2025: 11:00 a.m.— 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Luis Izcovich, M.D. (Paris)
Non-standard Psychoanalysis
Registration closes Friday, Jan.17th at noon ET.
Saturday, Mar. 15th, 2025: 11:00 a.m.— 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Macario Giraldo, Ph.D. (Washington)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Or Between the Real and Reality
Registration closes Friday, Mar.14th at noon ET.
Saturday, May 17th, 2025: 11:00 a.m.— 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Sonia Alberti, Ph.D.(Rio de Janeiro)
The Clinic of Psychosis, with Estamira
Registration closes Friday, May 16th at noon ET.
Saturday, May 31st, 2025: 11:00 a.m.— 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Norma Schwartz, M.S.W. (Washington)
The Echo of Modernity
Registration closes Friday, May 30th at noon ET.
Please click here for more details about each seminar.
