Saturday 2 February 2019, 9:30AM – 4:30PM, Rex Centre, Potts Point, Sydney
The Australian Psychological Society Psychoanalytically- Oriented Psychology Interest Group (NSW) has invited the APS Sydney Branch to jointly convene a study day on psychoanalytic psychotherapy with transgender children.
The topic of transgender children generates very strong emotions and anxieties in many of us. We find even professional bodies – that the community might expect to contain their anxieties – can respond with primitive defenses, such as splitting, projection and enactment.
To create a space conducive to collegial thought and reflection, the experiential study day is designed as follows.
The morning session takes place in a large group where we hear from two prominent Australian psychologists in the field of transgender children, Assoc Prof Damien W Riggs & Prof Dianna Kenny, both academics and both psychoanalytic therapists, who will present for 30 minutes each on the topic of “working in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with transgender children”.
This is followed by a large group discussion.
The group then breaks into four small groups of no more than ten participants, each with a group conductor to provide a safe space, to process their thoughts and feelings.
The day concludes with everyone back together in the large group.
The dual task for both large and small groups is (a) to reflect on and discuss our thoughts and other responses to the material presented, while (b) reflecting on how we (as individuals and as a group) find ourselves responding to “other” views.
The study day is open to APS psychologists, psychologists who are not members of APS, and all other individuals interested in the dual task of the study day.
To receive notification when on-line registrations open, please email the event organizer with the subject “APS study day”. Registrations are limited to a maximum of 40.
Henry Luiker, Australian Psychological Society Sydney Branch Committee, email hluiker@parksclinic.com