Upcoming 2023 Workshops:
Summer Reading Seminar: Anna Freud- A Biography
By Elisabeth Young-Bruehl
Presenter: Wally Fletcher, D Min, NCPsyA
On Zoom!
8 Saturdays- June 3rd- July 29th, 2023
9:00-10:30am EST
CE’s: 12
Cost: $100
Description:
For Sigmund Freud’s 80th birthday his daughter Anna Freud presented him with the gift of her seminal psychoanalytic classic, The Ego and the Mechanism of Defense. This book was not only a tribute and extension to her father’s work it was a work of originality and clinical genius—a work of her own. This and other works spanned and advanced psychoanalytic ego-psychology and object relations theory in their early stages. Though better known for the former, Anna Freud was also a friend and ally of Donald Winnicott and like him, insisted that the best ways to understanding the human psyche is by listening to children, including the child within. As a lay-analyst and school teacher she also paved the way for inclusion of diverse professions, disciplines and applications in psychoanalysis. 
Peter Fonagy, Professor of Psychoanalysis at University College London had this to say about Elisabeth Young-Bruehl’s biography of Anna Freud, “ [Her] description of one of the most complex but brilliant lights in psychoanalytic history has stood as a beacon to students of psychoanalytic history. It is the best most carefully crafted biography of any psychoanalyst and it illuminates the entire tradition with a clarity that only the exploration of the life of the daughter of the founder of the movement could possibly provide.”
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl was a faculty member at the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research and practiced psychoanalysis in Manhattan. She is also known for her writings on Hanna Arendt including her biography, Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World.
Objectives:
- To increase participants knowledge of how Anna Freud’s biography and historical context influenced the development of her psychoanalytic approach to psychotherapy, education, and the up-bringing of children.
- To increase participants knowledge of the history of ego defense analysis and early childhood studies and their implactions for modern psychoanalysis.
- To increase awareness of how all psychotherapist’s perspectives and theoretical/technical preferences are shaped by biographical and historical/cultural contexts.
- To provide an environment for dialogue in which participants are encouraged to draw connections between the history of psychoanalysis and its relevance for thei rown clinical and life experiences.
- To increase awareness of the important role of lay analysts in the evolution of psychoanalysis and particularly the implications for inclusion, diversity and racial equity.
About the Instructor:
Wally Fletcher, D Min, NCPsyA 
has extensive training and experience as a therapist, consultant, educator and non-profit executive. He is a Certified Psychoanalyst and Clinical Supervisor in the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis and a certified Clinical Fellow and member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. He teaches courses in Organizational & Strategic Leadership and in Pastoral Counseling at Neumann University and courses in the history and evolution of psychoanalysis at the Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis. He serves on the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health’s Faith and Spiritual Affairs Advisory Board. He is also on the mental health faculty of CREDO, an intensive wellness program for clergy administered by the Pension Boards of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches US. He is also the President of PSP’s Board of Directors.