Extension Division Program: Year 1
Audrey Dunn, LCSW and Danny Yu, LCSW, Co-Chairs
Foundations of Psychodynamic Clinical Work in Community Mental Health Settings
This 18-week course is designed for early career and experienced clinicians practicing in diverse community mental health and social work settings who wish to strengthen their theoretical foundation. We welcome those who are interested in understanding how psychodynamic thinking can be applied in relevant ways to enhance effective and gratifying work. We also welcome those who are willing to question established notions of psychodynamic thinking so that we become more relevant to the communities we serve.
As clinicians in public and community settings, we often feel devalued and challenged by complicated circumstances in our clients’ lives and limited resources to help them. Many of our agencies cannot offer the space to think together, to support and understand our work experiences.
We offer this course as a space to think together about the clients and systems with which we work, and how a psychodynamic approach can be utilized in any public or community mental health setting. We will reconsider our ideas about our clients, what helps, and our expectations for helping. Finally, we will look at the places and culture in which we work and how the psychological milieu affects our sense of value and purpose as clinicians and providers of mental health services.
The Enrico Jones Fund for Equality and Excellence is offering a tuition credit for this program. It is available to licensed therapists and people working toward licensure who self-identify as a Person of Color for CCSW participants, at $300 per applicant. Visit the Enrico Jones Fund for Equality and Excellence webpage for details.
| Dates: | Thursdays, January 4, 2024 – May 2, 2024 |
| Time: | 07:00pm – 08:30pm |
| Sessions: | 18 sessions |
| Location: | Online via ZOOM |
| Program Fee: | $ 360 General $ 335 SFCP Members |
| Maximum Class Size: | 12 to 14 participants |
Clinical Sensibility
In this first seminar, we set the tone by sharing together the similarities and differences in experience as social workers. We will define and explore how a psychodynamic way of thinking can be applied, relevant, and helpful to any social work role – as clinician, case manager, supervisor, etc. We will critically examine what we mean by applied psychodynamic thinking. We intend to stimulate the social worker’s thinking and interest about one’s work and the setting in which one provides services.
   Laura Farha, LCSW, Mdiv
   Thursdays, January 4, 11, 18, 2024
What Helps?
This seminar will introduce and illustrate different modes of working with clients, each of which can be of help at the right moment. We will discuss the powerful urge to act on behalf of one’s client, and the pitfalls of attending primarily to behaviorally oriented interventions without keeping the whole person in mind. We will explore the importance of listening and the subtle aspects of the social worker-client relationship that foster psychological growth.
     Julia St. George, LCSW
   Thursdays, January 25; February 1, 8, 15, 22, 2024
Who Is This Client? Diagnosis and Case Formulation
This seminar will focus on developing a multidimensional understanding of the unique aspects of each client. Formulation integrates the complex interplay of developmental history, trauma, conflict and the emergence of a unique personality. We will explore how a mind develops both as an adaptation to, and the expression of troubles in, a particular life lived. Discussion will attend to ways case formulation guides the services provided and helps shape goals of the work.
Timothy Sasaki, LCSW, MPH
Thursdays, February 29; March 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
The clients are the least of my problems:
Navigating the anxieties and defenses of public systems in community mental health work
Finally, we will engage in a detailed assessment of the agency settings in which we work and explore how the setting powerfully affects the work we do within it. Utilizing a structured outline and guided discussion, we will look at the agency culture and our relationship to it. We will consider how our own expectations and frustrations interact with the demands of the agency. By looking closely at our own agencies, we will develop alternative ways to relate to this under-examined yet highly complex relationship in our working lives.
     Beth Kita, LCSW, PhD
   Thursdays, April 4, 11, 18, 25; May 2, 2024
Wrap Up Meeting
A final meeting will be devoted for a final group gathering and potluck to further rehash the course, and to discuss Year Two and options for further involvement.
Readers Fee
Charges for reading material required for the seminars are not included in tuition. They are based upon copyright laws and change based on the content of the readers. The charges will be billed to you separately. Please submit your registration two weeks in advance in order to receive reading materials before the course starting date.
Refund Policy
- There will be a full refund if one requests to drop the program on or before December 3, 2023.
- There will be a 10% cancellation fee if one requests to drop the program on or after December 4, 2023.
- There will be no refund of classes in progress, and SFCP will provide a pro-rated refund of tuition for classes not yet begun.