WHAT DO OUR HOMES MEAN TO US? Looking at Experiences of the Los Angeles Fires

Co-sponsored by The Sanville Institute and the AAPCSW.
[ 3 Contact Hours ]

Date: Saturday, May 2nd, 2026
Time: 10am PT to 1:15pm PT
Fee: $50
Location: Online via ZOOM

Online Registration

Program

The panel will present the varied experiences of members of our clinical consultation group as we processed the impact of the devastating Los Angeles fires. We will share the meanings of “home” that emerged through our discussions, amplified by the first-hand narrative of one of our members whose house burned to the ground. The rest of us experienced secondary and shared trauma, as we, our friends, colleagues, and clients, including young children, had to evacuate or bear witness to terrifying stories and visual images.

Learning Objectives

Identify a variety of meanings of the concept of home and how these associations shaped the nature of the grief for the victims of the fire and those who experienced secondary trauma
Describe the clinical challenges of helping children cope with the loss of their home, neighborhood, school, and friends
Identify how our case consultation group provided a sense of “home” as clinicians in crisis supported each other and sorted out transference/countertransference and boundary dilemmas with patients navigating parallel experiences

Presenters

Samoan Barish, PhD, DSW, MSW. Past-President, Advisory Board, AAPCSW (American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work). Founding Fellow and Former Dean, The Sanville Inst. Board, Int'l Forum for Psychoanalytic Education. AAPCSW Lifetime Achievement Award (2015). Author, paper on therapies with women in transition, money matters, facing mortality and enriching clinical practice. Private Practice, Santa Monica, CA.

Lynn Rosenfield, PhD, LCSW. Faculty, the Sanville Institute. LA Area Co-Chair AAPCSW.Certificate program, Inst of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, LA. Adjunct faculty, Smith College School for SW Supervision Certificate program. Faculty, Supervision Study Program, The Psychotherapy Institute (Berkeley). Author, articles on cultural countertransference and web-based supervisor training. Private Practice, Los Angeles, CA

Renee Schwartz, PhD, LCSW. Member, AAPCSW and CA Society for Clinical SW, Post-Masters Fellowship at Reiss-Davis Child Study Center, LA. Psychoanalytic Training Program, Inst for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, LA. Long-term study groups in Self-Psychology and Neuroscience led by Joseph Palombo, LCSW. Pre-school consultant, Private Practice, Santa Monica, CA.

Sally Hackman, PhD, MFT. Member, AAPCSW and CAMFT. PhD in child psychotherapy, The Graduate Center for Child Dev't and Psychotherapy (an analytically-based program). Certificate in adult psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Inst of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, LA, Past director, The Parent Connection. Retired assistant clinical professor, UCLA medical school. Private Practice, Santa Monica, CA.