Community
Outreach
One of the distinguishing tenets of LAISPS is that psychoanalytic perspectives can be of great value in understanding and ameliorating contemporary social problems. Community outreach programs such as the LAISPS Referral Service, the LAISPS Student Society Program, The LAISPS Affiliate Society, Professionals Affiliated with LAISPS (PALS) and the Ernest S. Lawrence Trauma Center strive to extend psychoanalytic learning beyond the consulting room in into the community at large.
The LAISPS Referral Service
The Referral Service of The Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies is available to persons seeking the therapeutic benefits of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, but who are unable to afford these services at a full fee.
Psychoanalysis is a specialized and intensive form of therapy that may be the treatment of choice for persons seeking to modify painful or unsatisfying patterns of behavior and emotional experience. Inasmuch as these maladaptive patterns are often longstanding and resistant to change, analysis typically involves 4 or 5 sessions per week, continuing over a period of time.
The Referral Service also offers psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The treatment requires fewer sessions per week but often is of a similar duration as psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy are not appropriate for everyone, and not all applicants will be referred for treatment. There is a $30 fee for the evaluative consultation.
Psychoanalysis arranged through the Referral Service is conducted by licensed mental health professionals engaged in psychoanalytic training at the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS) under the supervision of senior faculty.
For further information, applicants and referring colleagues are encouraged to call the LAISPS office at 310-440-0333 or email us at referral@laisps.org
The LAISPS Student Society
The LAISPS Student Society fosters personal and professional growth and discovery.
This program was created for graduate psychology students and interns who possess a special interest in psychoanalysis or psychodynamic psychotherapy. The Student Society offers many opportunities to connect, explore, and be mentored by clinicians, all of whom have specialized training and many years of experience in the field of psychoanalysis.
The Student Society provides an introduction to all that LAISPS has to offer. Each year of paid membership affords members five meetings with a mentor as well as invitations to attend several friendly, informal gatherings in which psychoanalytic thinking and writing are a central focus.
LAISPS recognizes the value of having a home base after graduation that reflects students’ enthusiasm, curiosity, and desire for intellectual dialogue. The Student Society is designed to help students and interns develop their unique voice as clinicians and contribute to the modern field of psychoanalytic theory and practice.
We welcome your interest and participation in this new and exciting program.
The LAISPS Affiliate Society
Becoming an Affiliate Society member offers you an opportunity to learn from members of LAISPS and like-minded colleagues, share clinical issues, and engage in professional networking.
LAISPS AFFILIATE SOCIETY ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES:
-
FIVE meetings with presentations on psychoanalytically pertinent topics
-
FOUR group consultation meetings
-
THREE individual complimentary consultation sessions with LAISPS members
-
LAISPS library privileges
-
Networking opportunities
-
Unique affiliation with the LAISPS community
Professional Affiliated with LAISPS (PALS)
Professionals Affiliated with LAISPS is a community outreach program that offers psychotherapists and other interested professionals an opportunity to learn more about psychoanalysis in an informal setting. Typically, members of PALS groups meet monthly with one or two LAISPS analysts who facilitate discussions of theoretical and clinical topics from a psychoanalytic perspective. Members of PALS enjoy intellectual stimulation, experience collegial support, and through their formal affiliation with LAISPS, participate in special events and activities.
The Ernest S. Lawrence Trauma Center
In 1999, the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS) launched the Trauma Center under the guidance of Dr. Ernest S. Lawrence in response to overwhelming mental health challenges within the Los Angeles community. In so doing, LAISPS reached beyond its borders into the city’s ethnically, socially, and economically diverse communities.
The mission of The Ernest S. Lawrence Trauma Center is to provide community service and outreach through psychoanalytically informed treatment of emotional and physical traumas. These programs are based on the principle that psychoanalytic perspectives can be of great benefit when applied outside their traditional frame in confronting cycles of trauma, child abuse and neglect, and transgenerational violence within the community. In turn, it is believed that psychoanalysis itself can be enhanced by active engagement with these issues.
The Center is comprised of Parents and Infants Developing Together and also features pertinent workshops for the community.
Parents and Infants Developing Together provides psychological services for families in which multi-generational child abuse may be occurring. A group of volunteer clinicians comprised of members of LAISPS and a LAISPS Affiliates group travels weekly to the Echo Park section of Los Angeles and counsels mothers, fathers, and other family members who are attempting to raise their children without violence. These clients are referred through the Center for Non-Violent Parenting, a non-profit organization in that community. Other Trauma Center therapists provide these services at the Venice Family Clinic in West Los Angeles.
The Trauma Center has offered workshops addressing clinical issues that are likely to arise when working with at-risk populations. Dr. Neil Altman, psychoanalyst and author of “Analyst in the Inner City” has spoken on “Psychotherapy with Inner-City Populations: A Psychodynamic-Systems Perspective” and “Psychotherapy with Foster Children/Youth and their Families: A Psychodynamic-Systems Perspective.” These workshops were offered in collaboration with A Home Within, an organization that provides pro bono therapy for foster children, and the Venice Family Clinic.