Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program (CAPPTP)

The psychoanalytically oriented treatment of children and adolescents makes demands on the therapist that are different from the treatment of adults. Childhood and adolescence are developmental moments that place young people on the threshold of new experiences of their minds and bodies, whether ready or not.   Psychoanalytically oriented treatments support the growth and development of a sense of self and an inner life in order to further the adaptive capacities that life requires over time.  

How do we reach the inner worlds of young people who do not yet have the words to tell us about their experience? A skilled child and adolescent psychotherapist incorporates play in a collaborative search for meaning with the child and their family system in order to seek relief from symptoms and create meaningful pathways to healing and growth. 

The Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program (CAPPTP) is a non-degree, two-year continuing education training program.  It offers integrated coursework to clinicians seeking to deepen their skills as child psychoanalytic psychotherapists.  CAPPTP consists of seminars that address the relational, environmental, and intrapsychic processes for both parent and child, and offers in-depth examples of interventions. The training program uses inclusive, respectful class discussion, readings and case presentations by instructors and participants.  Additionally, we support individual clinical consultation to enrich and enliven clinical work and deepen theoretical understanding. 

Enrollment in the CAPPTP requires a two-year commitment for the academic years 2025-2027 (from September through mid-June for each year).  Students in this program are enrolled automatically as Community Members of SFCP, which allows them access to SFCP’s wide range of educational offerings and the opportunity to meet other psychoanalytically-oriented clinicians in the SFCP community.  Benefits of enrollment also include a subscription to PEP-Web and admittance to Child Colloquia held at SFCP.

The CAPPTP program is open to pre-licensed and licensed mental health clinicians throughout the Bay Area, the United States and other countries as well who work in settings in which they can practice weekly outpatient psychotherapy.  We welcome early-career clinicians who wish to pursue an in-depth introduction to child psychoanalytic psychotherapy, as well as more-experienced clinicians seeking to deepen and broaden their exposure to the fundamentals of child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy theory and practice. Classes take place on Wednesday evenings (7:30 -9 p.m.) virtually, via Zoom. Occasional meetings in person are planned as gatherings to connect socially and to engage in additional case conference discussions. Consultation with Child/Adolescent Psychoanalytic therapists is supported and in the application.

SFCP is committed to diversity within its membership and its programs.  Too often, non-dominant groups and perspectives can be marginalized within psychoanalytic thinking and within psychoanalytic organizations, and thus we strive to attend to these gaps – both conceptually and in practice – in order to enrich our individual work, our programs, and the field of psychoanalysis as a whole.