The PCC's Continuing Education Committee

is pleased to present

Transgender Youth and "The Missing":

Exploring the Use of Photographs in "Working Through" the Natal Body

featuring

Alessandra Lemma

MPhil, Doctor in Clinical Psychology, Diploma in Counseling Psychology

Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society

Visiting Professor, Psychoanalysis Unit, University College London

Saturday, May 18, 2024

9:00 am to 10:30 am (Pacific Daylight Time)

5:00 pm to 6:30 pm (British Summer Time)



CEUs: 1.5

Location

Virtual via Zoom (The Zoom Link will be emailed to participants one-week before the event).

Program Description

It is becoming increasingly common that therapists are working with individuals who identify as transgender. Alessandra Lemma, a specialist in working psychoanalytically with gender and the body, will share a recent paper on these topics. Her paper focuses on how for some young people who identify as transgender, the anticipation and/or the actual process of transitioning represents a movement away from something in themselves that feels wrong, painful, or traumatic and that has not yet been consciously recognized as such. This becomes a ‘missing’ part of the self’s experience, locked into the body. She suggests that the process of identification and restitution of ‘the missing’ part requires working through the natal body in its metaphorical and literal senses.

Building on Money-Kyrle’s three ‘facts of life’, she proposes a fourth, namely the inescapable fact of our embodied nature and hence the importance of working through what the natal body unconsciously represents. She describes the use of photographs as a means of facilitating the working through, in its psychoanalytic sense, of the natal body’s unconscious narrative. She suggests that deploying this visual mode may be especially helpful in engaging young people on the autistic spectrum who nowadays comprise a significant minority of transgender young people.

Program Schedule

Target Audience

MD's, Psychologists, LCSW's, MFT's, Registered Nurses, candidates and members of psychoanalytic institutes, and student clinicians who are interested in psychoanalytic training programs.

Course Objectives

At the end of this activity, participants should be better able to:

1. Describe the concept of the "missing part" of the self's experience for some transgender individuals.
2. Name Money-Kyrle's three "facts of life" and Professor Lemma's fourth addition to these facts of life.
3. Explain how a therapist might use photographs to work with an individual anticipating a gender transition.

Program Faculty

Professor Alessandra Lemma is a Chartered Clinical and Counselling Psychologist, Psychoanalyst and a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society. She is now a Consultant at the Anna Freud Centre and works in private practice. Until 2016 she worked at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust where she was at various points Head of Psychology, the Director of the Psychological Therapies Development Unit and Professor of Psychological Therapies (jointly with Essex University). She also worked as a Consultant Adult Psychotherapist at the Portman Clinic where she specialized in working with transgender individuals.

She is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society and Visiting Professor, Psychoanalysis Unit, University College London. Her training and experience in a range of therapeutic modalities underpins her approach to assessing suitability for psychological interventions. Besides her training in long-term psychoanalytic interventions, she is also an experienced trainer, supervisor and therapist in a range of brief evidence- based psychological interventions such as Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT and Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT). Along with Professors Peter Fonagy and Mary Target, she led on the development of a new protocol for a brief psychodynamic intervention for mood disorders, Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) which is now offered in the NHS in the UK and in several other countries (http://www.d-i-t.org). She was a recipient of the 2022 Sigourney Award in recognition of her inventive theoretical and clinical contributions to understanding body modification practices, the impacts of technology on psychic functioning and transgender identities as well as for her efforts to disseminate psychoanalytic thinking and applications worldwide. 

Continuing Education Credit

The Psychoanalytic Center of California 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 this activity.



This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the California Medical Association (CMA)  through the Psychoanalytic Center of California. The Psychoanalytic Center of California  is accredited by the California Medical Association (CMA)   to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

As per the California Board of Psychology, psychologists may apply AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ earned by attendance at this CME accredited live activity toward their continuing education requirement for licensing. 

The Psychoanalytic Center of California is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) to sponsor continuing education for LMFT's and LCSW's (CAMFT Approved Provider # 135374). The Psychoanalytic Center of California maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. This course meets the qualifications for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. These learners must attend the entire course to claim credit; no partial credit is offered according to CAMFT requirements.

*Important note: Participants who plan to use the credits in another state should check with their licensing jurisdiction to see if the credits from an ACCME or CAMFT provider will be accepted.

Claiming Credit: Participants will receive a certificate of attendance at the event, which can be used toward licensing requirements. Credit is offered for actual instruction time and does not include breaks.

Refunds/Cancellations: Refunds, less a $10 administrative fee, will be made if cancellation notification is phoned or postmarked three (3) business days in advance of this program. There will be no refunds on requests received after the refund deadline. Full refunds are made in the event that PCC must cancel this program.

Returned Checks: A $25.00 service charge will be assessed for checks returned by the bank.

Grievances: While PCC goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues that come to the attention of the PCC staff which will require intervention and/or action on the part of the staff. Visit  www.p-c-c.org/ethics for PCC's procedural guidelines for handling such grievances.

Special Needs: Facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities. If you have a special need and plan to attend the conference, please contact the PCC Office by phone at (310) 478-4347 or via email at 0ffice@p-c-c.org. Special needs requests will be fulfilled if received one week prior to the event, which will ensure we have ample opportunity to meet your needs.

Commercial Support Disclaimer: The planners and presenters for this event have not received commercial support for this event nor are there any relevant financial relationships between the sponsors, presenters, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.

Financial Support Disclaimer: The planners and presenters for this event have no financial relationships to disclose.

Continuing Education Membership: Any person who attends a PCC Continuing Education conference shall become a Continuing Education Member for one year. The registration fee for the conference covers the cost of membership. A Continuing Education Member will be provided with a PCC newsletter as available, and the option to participate in periodic forums to discuss continuing education offerings. Continuing Education Members will also be eligible to attend Continuing Education planning meetings. 

Confidentiality:  By registering for this educational event, attendees agree to strictly maintain confidentiality of any clinical material shared and will not distribute or convey such confidential material outside of the conference. 

Program Planners

Diversity Committee: Diane Garcia PhD, Leigh Tobias PhD, and Shari Saperstein, PsyD.

Continuing Education Committee: Philip Lance, PhD (co-chair), Leigh Tobias PhD (co-chair), Jennifer Kunst, PhD (member and CME coordinator); Chris Minnick, MD (member and CME chair); Persila Conversano, PsyD and Stacey Nicklas, PsyD (members); Jason Snyder, LMFT and Yelena Kashtuyeva, LMFT (candidate representative members).

Registration for Virtual Attendance

General Admission: $70

Current Candidate/PPP Admission: $35

PCC candidates-in-seminars admission: Free