Child Development Program and
The Preschool Consultation Project (PCP)

Are pleased to offer:

Ongoing Consultation Group in Psychoanalytic Preschool Consultation and Working With Parents

Facilitator: Era A. Loewenstein, Ph.D.

The Preschool Consultation Project of SFCP, Child Development Program (CDP) will continue to offer a monthly consultation group during the 2011-12 academic year. The group, now in its third year, is designed for senior and junior consultants affiliated with the CDP, beginning preschool consultants, psychoanalysts and licensed mental health professionals who have had at least three years of experience working with children and families and would like to develop preschool consultation skills.

We meet on the third Thursday of each month, 7:30-9:00 pm at SFCP (nine meetings, September through June, no meeting in December). This coming year the consultation group will focus on developing consultation skills through case presentations of ongoing preschool consultations, studying the emotional, cognitive and social development of preschool and kindergarten-aged children from contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives. We consider group dynamics in organizations as well. We will also learn how to work with parents, how to develop talks for parents and teachers, and how to lead parents’ groups.

Commitment for a year is required. Fee: $450 for the year. 13.5 hours of CME approved (80% attendance is required of psychologists to receive CME). Cost per CE unit is $10-$12. There will be an additional fee for weekend seminars with guest faculty.

Deadline for application: August 20, 2011.

Space is limited to 14 participants. Priority will be given to 2009-11 study group members and CDP members.

To apply and register please contact Aaron Chow at SFCP: 415-563-5815 or e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . New applicants will receive a short application form.

Facilitator: Era A. Loewenstein, Ph.D., is an adult, adolescent, and child psychoanalyst. She is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. She chairs the Child Development Program and the Pre-school Consultation Project of SFCP. Dr. Loewenstein is on the faculty of the child and adult psychoanalytic training programs at SFCP and the Extension program. She has been teaching and supervising mental health professionals in the Bay Area for over twenty years (St. Mary’s, Access Institute, Mt. Zion, CPMC and NCSPP). Dr. Loewenstein was a consultant at Eureka Learning Center in San Francisco for eleven years. She has been facilitating workshops for early childhood educators and mental health professionals for seven years. The workshops focus on the application of psychoanalytic perspective to the understanding of preschoolers, their families, and the preschool as a group. Dr. Loewenstein has published in psychoanalytic journals and was an associated board member of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. She is interested in integrating the implication of object-relations theory, particularly, Winnicott’s, Bion’s and Meltzer’s contributions to the understanding of the treatment of adults, children and their families. She also is interested in group dynamics and consultation to organizations. She is a frequent presenter and discussant locally, nationally, and internationally on a variety of topics including: trauma, eating disorders, perversion, creativity, the development of the capacity to dream, children’s literature, child analysis, and preschool consultation.

Guest Faculty:

Thomas F. Barrett, Ph.D. a child and adolescent psychoanalyst and psychologist, is the Department Chair of the Clinical Program at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology’s Chicago Campus. Dr. Barrett served as Executive and Clinical Director of the Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development for twenty year, until 2010, and during that time was a member of the Center’s child psychoanalytic training faculty. For nearly thirty years he has maintained a private practice as a psychologist and child/adolescent psychoanalyst. From 1986 to1990 he worked with Erna Furman on the Hanna Perkins toddler research project, which culminated in the publication Toddlers and Their Mothers: A Study in Early Personality Development. Dr. Barrett has published a variety of professional papers and presents regularly at conferences at local, national, and international venues.

Denia Barrett, M.S.W. began her career in the field of infant mental health, working in a joint community mental health and public health primary prevention program in Michigan with links to Selma Fraiberg’s work. She trained in child and adolescent psychoanalysis at the Hanna Perkins Center in Cleveland where she subsequently worked as a clinic associate and faculty member. She served as editor of the Center’s journal Child Analysis: Clinical, Theoretical, and Applied from 1996 to 2010 and is a current member of the editorial board of The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. Her clinical practice has involved working with parents on behalf of children enrolled in the Hanna Perkins School’s toddler group, preschool, and kindergarten, as well as direct psychoanalysis with children and adolescents for twenty-five years. Mrs. Barrett is the current President of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis and a founding member of the Alliance for Psychoanalytic Schools.

Kerry Kelly Novick and Dr. Jack Novick are Training Analysts of the International Psycho-Analytic Association. They are child and adult analysts on the faculties of many training institutes around the country. Trained with Anna Freud in the 1960’s at the Anna Freud Centre in London, they were both formerly on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical School, where Jack was Chief Psychologist of Youth Services in the Department of Psychiatry. They have published extensively in professional journals and published four books, “Fearful Symmetry: The Development and Treatment of Sadomasochism,” “Working With Parents Makes Therapy Work,” “Good Goodbyes” and “Emotional Muscle: Strong Parents, Strong Children.” Together with other colleagues, they founded Allen Creek Preschool, the award-winning non-profit psychoanalytic school for children ages 0 – 6 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Mirta Berman-Oelsner is a highly sought after consultant and discussant in the Bay Area and nationally. Mirta is an adult, child and adolescent psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice since 1969. She is a full member and Training and Supervising Analyst of the International Psychoanalytic Association and a certified child and adolescent psychoanalyst. She is the author of numerous papers, and received the Elena Evelson Award, for Best Paper on Child Analysis for "The Multiple Functions of Sight". Eight years ago, Mirta moved from Buenos Aires to Seattle, where she currently practices. Since then she has been a faculty member at COR Northwest Family Development Center and the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society in Seattle.

Robert Oelsner, M.D. was originally a pediatrician. Later he pursued psychoanalytic training at the Buenos Aires Psychoanalytical Association in Argentina. He is a certified child and adolescent psychoanalyst of the IPA. Dr. Oelsner took seminars with and was supervised by Meltzer in Buenos Aires and in Oxford. He has taught and lectured at several institutes in Argentina, Europe, and the U.S. In 2003 he relocated to Seattle. Currently he is a Training and Supervising Analyst on the faculty of the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society. Robert has run study groups on the work of Bion and Meltzer for the past eleven years in several North American cities including San Francisco. Dr. Oelsner has a private practice in Seattle, where he works with children and adults. His publications include a book with Elizabeth Bianchedi et al., Bion Known/Unknown, Melanie Klein in Buenos Aires, and over one hundred articles on technique, psychosis, autism, and psychosomatics.

Experienced early childhood preschool directors affiliated with the Preschool Consultation Project will be invited to the group as needed to help facilitate a dialogue about the role of the consultant, selected issues in early childhood development (e.g.: preparation for preschool and kindergarten, toilet mastery, eating, aggression, play, discipline, working with parents)

Course Objectives:

1. After following a detailed preschool observation conducted by one of the participants, hearing remarks by Dr. Thomas Barrett, and engaging in a group discussion, participants will be able to describe how to observe and evaluate a preschooler's mastery in areas of bodily self-care and affect regulation by using the Hanna Perkins Developmental Checklists for preschoolers.
2. After hearing two presentations of a "Transition to Preschool" talk for parents prepared by group participants, members of the group will be able to describe at least three types of emotional reactions and conflicts preschoolers and their parents experience during the weeks leading up to and following beginning preschool.
3. After listening to two presentations of a "Transition to Preschool" talk for parents prepared by group participants, members of the study group will be able to describe at least three recommendations they can make to parents when they deliver a talk and lead a discussion which would help parents and their care givers assist families during this transition.
4. Following a presentation of a beginning phase of a preschool consultation by one of the participants and reading chapter 3 "Getting to know the program" from Kadija Johnston and Charles Brinamen's book: Mental Health consultation in Child Care: Transforming Relationships Among Directors, Staff, and Families, participants will be able to list two aspects of the program's philosophy of child care and how it impacts the children and their parents' emotional growth.
5. Following a presentation of an early phase of preschool consultation by one of the participants and a group discussion, participants will be able to describe at least two interventions the consultant used or needs to use in order to become more familiar with the program.
6. Following a presentation of an early phase of preschool consultation by one of the participants and a group discussion, participants will be able to describe at least two interventions the consultant used or needs to use in order to establish rapport and a good working alliance with the preschool director and the staff.
7. After hearing a presentation of an established preschool consultation of two years duration, by one of our more experienced consultants, participants will be able to describe how the consultant was able to "take in" and hold some uncomfortable aspects of a preschool that has a different perspective from her own way of thinking about child care. They will be able to describe the importance of tolerating being the "container" until the director develops enough trust to begin thinking together with the consultant about some more problematic aspects of the school.
8. Following an ongoing consultation, now in its third year, and a group discussion, participants will be able to describe at least two types of challenges consultation in a large preschool in which there are many "directors" present to the consultant. They will be able to list two strategies a consultant can use to meet these types of challenges.

The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association (IMQ/CMA) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME activity.

PHYSICIANS: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis designates this educational activity for a maximum of 9 credits as listed for each individual program, AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This credit may also be applied to the CMA Certification in Continuing Medical Education.

LCSWs/MFTs: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a provider approved by the Board of Behavioral Sciences, Provider Number PCE623, for 9 CE credits on an hour for hour basis.

PSYCHOLOGISTS: Psychologists attending SFCP events approved for CME credits may report AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ toward their CE requirements and are now able to directly submit their verification letters at the end of each renewal cycle using the MCEP credit reporting form that can be found on the internet at: http://www.cpapsych.org/associations/6414/files/mcepaa/files/MCEP_Reporting_Form.pdf

REGISTERED NURSES: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 02677, on an hour for hour basis.

SFCP is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SFCP maintains responsibility for this program and its contents.

Commercial Support: None

Faculty Disclosure: The following moderators and planning committee members have disclosed NO financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with commercial companies who have provided products or services, relating presentation(s) or commercial support for this continuing medical education activity: Era A. Loewenstein, Ph.D., Thomas F. Barrett, Ph.D., Denia Barrett, M.S.W., Kerry Kelly Novic, Dr. Jack Novick, Mirta Berman-Oelsner, Robert Oelsner, M.D. and the Experienced early childhood preschool directors affiliated with the Preschool Consultation Project. All conflicts of interest have been resolved in accordance with the ACCME Updated Standards for Commercial Support.