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Washington Center for Psychoanalysis

Participants interested in undertaking an independent writing project will have the option of working with a consultant. The topic selected may be theoretical, clinical, or applied, and may be on research already in progress. Some students may choose to write memoir, fiction, or poetry. Participants can select from an international roster of consultants. Program advisors will help the participants to select appropriate consultants. In addition, we will make available bibliographies of the consultants' writings to assist in consultant selection. Work with the consultant may include discussions of how to define the research area, finding resources for background study, the elaboration of the concept, and review of successive drafts of the paper. Collaboration may be conducted by mail, phone, fax, e-mail, or, where possible, in person. The participant will pay for the consultant's time.

The New Directions Journal

Since February 2003, New Directions has been publishing a journal of participant and faculty writing. The first five volumes were done under the editorship of Program graduates Kent Jarratt (2002 and 2003) and Michael Bieber (2006 and 2007), and Program faculty member, Kathie Hepler (2008). The sixth issue of the Journal (2009) was prepared under the editorship of Kathie Hepler and program alumna Jessica Arenella.

The journals should help provide a sense of the program. The Journal is available in pdf form below:

If you have problems downloading these files, you may request a hard copy by emailing ConfManagement@aol.com.

Alumni Writing Groups

In 2003 we inaugurated a new form of writing group participation for alumni attending the conference weekends. Special writing groups were constituted which met four times on each of the three weekends – during the three times allocated to the regular small discussion groups on Friday and Saturday, and during the writing group time on Sunday morning. The purpose of the groups was to help each of the participants to complete a writing project, whether a book, a chapter of a book, a paper, or some other piece of work. The groups had both a clinician and a writing teacher as faculty. One of the groups is generating three books. We are continuing this program. Other alumni attended the program this past year using the usual format of participation in three discussion groups focused on short writing assignments and membership in a long-term project writing group on Sunday mornings.

A Partial List of Work Published by Our Students and Alumni