2025 - 2026 Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program
Mary-Stone Bowers, LMFT and Madeleine Lansky, MD, Co-Chairs
INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
FIRST YEAR
Psychoanalytically oriented treatment of children and adolescents make demands on the therapist that are different from treatment of adults. From infancy through adolescence, children are always on the threshold of experiencing their minds and bodies in new ways. How do we reach these inner worlds when they often cannot use words to tell us about their experience? Children often communicate through play, but some cannot play. The therapist has the task of bringing together the child’s behaviors, and their own countertransference reactions, to try to arrive at the underlying meanings of the child’s inner world.
The Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program (CAPPTP) is a two-year training program consisting of seminars that address the relational, environmental, and intra-psychic processes for both parent and child, and offers in-depth examples of interventions. The training program uses class discussion, readings, case presentations by instructors and participants, and individual clinical supervision to enrich and enliven clinical work and theoretical understanding.
Student participation in weekly individual consultation with experienced faculty is highly recommended for the CAPPTP training experience. This in-depth consultation focuses on individual growth by fostering each trainee’s unique skills and working through the specific challenges each trainee experiences in his or her clinical work as well as providing a place for clinical consultation and mentorship. CAPPTP consultation is not intended to provide caseload oversight, but is focused solely on furthering each trainee’s education as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Consultants are chosen from some of SFCP’s most experienced faculty at reduced fees which are separate from tuition and are determined on a case-by-case basis according to the consultant and student agreement.
The upcoming year (Fall 2025) of this two-year program addresses infancy and early childhood. The following year, our program addresses school-age children, adolescents, and the integration between child and adult work. Both years will include a case conference seminar where students will have the opportunity to present and discuss a specific clinical case to the group. Attention will be paid to different theoretical orientations and to cultural and sexual diversity.
Benefits of enrollment include subscription to PEP-Web and Community Membership at SFCP. All students are also entitled to attend all child colloquia held at SFCP. The Child Analytic Program of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis provides a free series of presentations demonstrating the scope of child psychoanalysis today. These events offer an opportunity to hear a range of ideas and participate in discussions contributing to enriching clinical work and theoretical training.
Please Note: This is a two-year commitment and students are required to meet the attendance requirements to graduate.
| Dates: | Wednesdays, September 3, 2025 – June 6, 2026 |
| Time: | 07:30pm – 09:00pm |
| Sessions: | 36 Sessions |
| Location: | Online via Zoom |
| Tuition Fee: | $ 2,118 or $ 2,235 if paying by installment *Please note that tuition rates and fees are subject to change and typically increase 3-5% each year. Please read the sections below carefully and feel free to call SFCP Office at office@sfcp.org if you have any questions or concerns about cost. |
| Note: | This program has been approved for a maximum of 25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for an additional fee. The CME/CE credits fee is $10 per credit for SFCP members or $15 per credit for non-SFCP members. The cost of CME/CE credits is separate from the tuition fee and billed individually upon the request for credits at the end of the program. |
Year One Classes
Infancy and Early Childhood
Orientation
Mary-Stone Bowers, LMFT and Madeleine Lansky, MD
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Framing our Thinking - Diversity and Inclusion - Early Childhood Focus
Child psychotherapists practice in a diverse world and need theories that support ethical and effective practice across lines of difference. This course will look at contemporary and canonical psychoanalytic texts as well as other source material with an eye towards developing the cohort’s capacity to think and speak together about the application of psychoanalytical thinking to work with diverse child and parent populations.
Erika Solis, LMFT
Wednesdays, September 10, 17, 2025
Working with Parents
Parent work is an integral part of treating children & adolescents. It is only by restoring the parent-child relationship that we can contribute to long standing therapeutic change in the families we work with. The therapist alliance with the parents is critical in supporting the child’s treatment and healthy development. Our goals for the course on “Working With Parents” are:
- How to build a framework for developing a relationship with the parents prior to beginning treatment.
- By offering many clinical examples we address the challenges of working with parents.
We will explore various dynamics such as:
- The role of rescue fantasies in the therapist’s hostility to parents
- Parent’s denial and competition for the child
- Transference to the parents and clinician’s counter-transference.
We will also have time to discuss some practical tips for working with parents and containing parent anxiety.
Kiyomi Ameriks, MD and Shahla Chehrazi, MD
Wednesdays, October 8, 15, 22, 2025
Foundations of Child Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Because CAPPTP participants come from quite varied clinical and experiential backgrounds there is often wide variation as well as familiarity and understanding of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts. Taking into account the level of familiarity and understanding that exists in this cohort, we will develop a shared and deeper understanding of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts that will emerge in later CAPPTP classes. The class will include readings, instructor presentations, and discussion of case material.
Roderick S Hall, PhD
Wednesdays, October 29; November 5, 12, 19, 26, 2025
Considering the Fundamentals: Challenges of Connection, Ruthlessness, and Loss in Young Children
How does a child engage with the world, both with their caregiver and their sense of self? This seminar will explore the multifaceted world of young children by examining Winnicott and his theories on the use of objects and play. We will use his ideas as a gateway to understand the clinical issues that affect young children through both clinical and theoretical articles.
Mali Mann, MD
Wednesdays, December 3, 10, 17, 2025; January 7, 14, 2026
Infant Development 0-18 months
This course examines the period of life from birth-18 months with an aim of understanding this potent and powerful span of development.
Catherine Phillips, LCSW and Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD
Wednesdays, January 21, 28; February 4, 11, 2026
Understanding Toddlerhood
We will delve into the world of children aged 18 months to 3 years with an eye toward understanding normal development, which will then help us recognize when development begins to go awry. Clinical material and video footage will be used to illustrate some of the fun yet challenging milestones toddlers face as they hurtle toward increased independence.
Gregory Villalba, LCSW
Wednesdays, February 18, 25; March 4, 11, 2026
Psychotherapy with 4-6 year olds: The Magic and the Romance
Looking at normal development in 4-6 year olds we will see how physical, cognitive and psychological developments contribute to the maturation of the mind and personality, making possible stage specific psychological achievements such as the capacity for internal conflict, oedipal fantasy, identity consolidation, moral development and more. We will look at play in and out of the consulting room –using clinical examples to illustrate how to use play to understand a child’s internal world, as a primary mode of diagnostic evaluation and informing technique, diagnosis and treatment planning. Clinical material from both faculty and students will be utilized.
Phyllis Cath, MD
Wednesdays, March 18, 25; April 1, 8, 15, 22, 2026
Case Conference
Participants will have the opportunity to present detailed typed process notes of sessions from their own active child cases to their fellow classmates and to two experienced clinicians who will facilitate the discussions. Following each session closely we will trace the emotional tone of the patient-therapist interactions and the transference-countertransference. We will try to identify the child’s level of psychic functioning as well as his or her anxieties and defenses. We will discuss how to establish an appropriate frame and how to formulate interpretations or interventions, which have the potential to facilitate the child’s psychic integration and growth. Working with the child’s parents to support the treatment will be considered as well.
Benjamin Fife, PsyD
Wednesdays, April 29; May 6, 13, 20; June 3, 10, 2026
Tuition and Fees
You will need to pay annual tuition fees each year you are enrolled in the program. Please note that tuition rates and feess are subject to change and typically increase 3% each year.
Annual tuition fees cover the following resources and services:
- Seminars and Case Conference for the full academic year
- Access to Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing (PEP) and EZ Proxy online databases of books and articles
- Community Membership at SFCP – Community Membership is an entry into a diverse and vibrant community of clinicians, scholars, and educators united by their common interest in psychoanalytic practice and thought. Access to a broad range of educational and professional development activities is available to Community Members of SFCP, including free attendance at Scientific Meetings and reduced fees for other programs.
- Access to the SFCP Library – extensive collection of psychoanalytic books and journals.
Annual tuition fees do NOT cover the following resources and services:
- Supervision fees – Please note that supervision fees are additional to tuition and are arranged individually between supervisor and supervisee. A list of CAPPTP supervisors will be provided, all of whom are committed to providing a reduced fee for students when needed.
- Occasional assigned readings which are not on PEP Web or EZ-Proxy – these will be available online for a small additional fee (see Readers Fee section below).
- CE/CME credit fees – if you wish to receive CE/CME credits, these are available according to the SFCP CE/CME credit policy (see CME/CE Credits Fee section below).
Refund Policy (for both Leaves of Absence and Withdrawals from Training)
The initial deposit you paid is not refundable; however, your initial deposit can be credited toward your future tuition if you elect to resume CAPPTP classes at a later time.
Once the first day of a new class begins, no refunds for that class will be given if you need to take a leave of absence or withdraw from training for any reason. If you have paid the tuition in full for the academic year, you will receive a refund for any classes not yet started at the time of withdrawal/leave of absence.
Readers Fee
Charges for reading material required for the seminars are not included in tuition. Your readers will be prepared by CopyCentral, and the readers cost are based upon copyright laws and change based on the content of the readers. The SFCP Office will inform you when your readers are available to be purchased from CopyCentral’s website. Please note that CopyCentral may take 2 weeks to print and mail the readers to you, so we recommend you to purchase them as soon as they become available.
CME/CE Credits Fee
The CME/CE credits fee is $10 per credit for SFCP members or $15 per credit for non-SFCP members. SFCP has established a cap cost of $200 for credits requested per program. The cost of CME/CE credits is separate from the tuition fee and billed individually upon the request for credits at the end of the seminar.
CE Attendance Policy
Please see individual course listings for the number of CE credits awarded, if applicable. Courses offering CE credit meet the requirements for CE credit for Psychologists, LCSWs, LPCCs, LEPs, and MFTs.
APA requires psychologists and other mental health professionals participating in all programs, including in long-term programs (lecture series) to demonstrate 100% attendance in order to be eligible to obtain CE credit. All participants must sign in at the beginning of each class or program and sign out at the end of the class or program. If participants miss a class in a seminar that is part of a long term program, they may be eligible to do “make-up” work for the missed class. Participants can meet with the class via Zoom or another “face to face” platform, if they are unable to attend in person. Alternatively, they can arrange to meet with the instructor, in person, to make-up the instructional time or can engage with the instructor via the “face to face” technologies, i.e. Face-time, Duo, Zoom, or others. This work must be completed within two weeks of the end of a seminar. Credit for the seminar will be awarded once the instructor notifies the SFCP office the time has been made up and the participant completes a course evaluation. No variable credit will be awarded for partial attendance.
Accreditation Statement for CME/CE Sponsorship and Disclosure Statement
Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this activity, the learners will be able to:
- describe early influences on development and apply those to needs that emerge in the treatment situation.
- demontstrate their understandings of: characteristic play, children who can’t play, play characteristic of trauma and the levels of intervention required for working through and on play capacities with young children.
- integrate concepts of didactic course reading with their own case material and the case material brought by others.
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
PSYCHOLOGISTS: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Psychologists attending SFCP events approved for CE credits may report AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ toward their CE requirements. Psychologists self-certify the number of hours they have completed on their renewal form (whether online or paper).
LCSWs/MFTs: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a continuing education provider that has been approved by the American Psychological Association, a California Board of Behavioral Sciences recognized approval agency
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists will be awarded AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ on an hour for hour basis; see the program description for the maximum of credits awarded for each program.
Commercial Support: None