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A Disaster of Uncertainty: Living and Working in the Time of Coronavirus

Three Part Series - Virtual Presentations via Zoom

All are welcome: psychotherapists, counselors, students, candidates, analysts…

Registration

To register and receive any reading material in advance, please RSVP:
Barbara Matos, barbara.matos@aapcsw.org

Download: Program

Part One

May 23, 2020 | Zoom Call
3:00 to 4:30 PM EDT
Working with Disruption, Uncertainty, and Fear: On Being a Clinician During the Covid Pandemic
Instructor: George Hagman, LCSW

We are playing multiple roles in diverse settings during the Covid Pandemic - private psychotherapy practice, substance abuse treatment, residential and community supports, forensic services, inpatient units, family services, etc. etc. The pandemic has disrupted our work in all of these practice areas. Uncertainty about the future for our clients, ourselves, and our work shadows our days. The possibility of illness breeds fear, isolation, and a disturbing sense of threat from neighbors, family, and clients. Of course we did not choose to enter this profession because it is easy. This workshop will offer an affirmative, historically based social work perspective on the current challenges which we face. A time of crisis is also a time of opportunity and creativity, when social workers and clinicians are at their best.

George Hagman, LCSW is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City and Stamford, Conn. A graduate of the Institute of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, he is on the faculty of the Training and Research Institute for Self Psychology, and the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is the author of many journal articles, editor of six books including New Models of Bereavement Theory and Treatment: New Mourning (2016), and the general editor of the Art, Creativity and Psychoanalysis book series.

Part Two

June 6, 2020 | Zoom Call
3:00 to 4:30 PM EDT
Shared Trauma, Shared Resilience and Covid-19: When the Professional is Personal
Instructor: Carol Tosone, PhD, LCSW

As therapists, the impact of the coronavirus crisis goes well beyond our experiences of compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, or vicarious traumatization. Our exposure is dual, both primarily as citizens living in a global traumatological environment and secondarily as mental health professionals exposed to the trauma narratives of our patients. This comprehensive experience is better captured under the rubric of shared trauma. Drawing on her research with Manhattan clinicians post 9/11, New Orleans clinicians post Hurricane Katrina, and, most recently, the intergenerational legacy of The Troubles for clinicians living and working in Northern Ireland, Dr. Tosone discusses the ramifications of the global pandemic on clinical practice, including issues related to zoom fatigue, countertransference self-disclosure (both purposeful and unwitting), fears of contracting or coping with COVID-19, traumatic grief, otherness, socioeconomic disparities in accessing healthcare and resources, among other repercussions. Dr. Tosone will also address shared resilience, or the resilient building aspects of clinician-patient interactions. She welcomes discussion of your experiences with patients during this extraordinary time.

Dr. Carol Tosone is Professor of Social Work and Director of the DSW Program in Clinical Social Work at New York University Silver School of Social Work. She is the recipient of the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award and a Distinguished Scholar in the National Academies of Practice. Dr. Tosone received her certification in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, where she was the recipient of the Postgraduate Memorial Award. She is editor-in-chief of the Clinical Social Work Journal, co-editor of four books, author of numerous professional articles and book chapters, and executive producer of community service and educational media. Dr. Tosone is in private practice in New York City. She was recently interviewed for a podcast on shared trauma and the coronavirus pandemic which was downloaded more than 15,000 in its first week posted. It is available at http://socialworkpodcast.blogspot.com/2020/05/covid19.html

Part Three

June 27, 2020 | Zoom Call
3:00 to 4:30 PM EDT
Negotiating Our Own Grief, Trauma, and Compassion Fatigue, While Helping Our Patients Do the Same
Instructor: Joan Berzoff, EdD

This seminar will consider specific forms of grief: disenfranchised grief, ambiguous loss, and complicated grief as they relate to our own losses and those of our patients during this pandemic. Using clinical examples, including those drawn from doctoral student/practitioners who met to process their own trauma and grief, we will think about the relational dynamics of trauma, when both clinician and patient are experiencing similar traumatic experiences in real time. We will also consider forms of self-care: creating support groups, nurturing curiosity, engaging in social activism, writing, exercise and meditation, and the roles of hope and resilience for the practitioner.

Dr. Joan Berzoff is Professor Emerita from the Smith College School for Social Work. She is the author of many articles and four books and has received the Professional Clinical Writing award from AAPSCW, the Outstanding Scholar Award from National Academies of Practice, a Social Work Leadership Award from the Project on Death in America, and was nominated for the Gravida Award. She has taught and lectured extensively and is currently in private practice in Northampton, Mass. and teaches and consults at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago.