Discussion Group #59: Educators and Analysts Working Together:
A Collaborative Approach to Optimize School Climate and Learning in an Independent School
Date: Thursday January 17, 2008
Time: 2:00 – 4:30 P.M.
Chair & Presenter: Stephen Kerzner, M.D.
Co-Chair & Discussant: Dan Frank, Ph.D., Principal, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago, IL and Publisher of the journal, Schools
Discussant: Christine Kieffer, Ph.D.
Presenter: William C. Bussey, Educator, Counsellor and Provost, Noble & Greenough School, Dedham, MA
This group is geared to psychoanalysts and other mental health professionals with an interest in education, as well as APsaA Educator Associates and other K-12 educators.
In the current meeting, a model of psychoanalytic consultation to a “student life team” in an independent school with students from grades 7 to 12 will be presented. The application of psychoanalytic understanding to school life and its beneficial impact on academic, social and emotional education will be described. The presenter(s) will illustrate how psychoanalytic and developmental perspectives can help faculty and administrators to support troubled students, bear intense anxiety and frustration and manage countertransference responses to students and parents in crisis. Strategies will be outlined to lessen student and faculty stress, improve school climate and enhance learning .
Our discussants, Dr. Dan Frank, an independent school principal, and Dr. Christine Kieffer, a child analyst interested in group and organizational dynamics, will comment on this model and other alternative models. Informal discussion and collaboration among participants will be encouraged.
Please note that Discussion Group #74: Contemporary Models of Psychoanalytic Group Dynamics Interventions will be devoted to examining organizational issues that affect group life in schools. It has been scheduled to follow Discussion Group #59. It is desirable but not necessary to attend both sessions.