First North American Conference on Infant, Child and Adolescent Jungian Analysis

The conference is the first to be offered in North America with a focus on the application of Jungian psychoanalysis to observational and clinical work with infants, children, and adolescents. Jungians such as Michael Fordham in London, Erich Neumann in Tel Aviv, and Dora Kalff in Zurich developed divergent ways of working with children and adolescents in Jungian analysis and have constructed a solid foundation of theory and clinical practice from which we work. This conference will draw upon these original founders of the field and we shall be building upon their important theoretical and clinical work. The conference will bring together Jungian infant, child and adolescent analysts and others with an interest in this perspective, and will offer divergent Jungian approaches to observational and clinical practice.  In recent years infants, children and adolescents have been impacted by global crises such as the pandemic, war, terrorism, and the climate crises. We see the impact of these crises upon our analytical practices, and the impact upon infants/parents, children and adolescents has been profound and has impacted interpersonal relationships, the relationship to the group and the family, and has contributed to an increased sense of loneliness and despair. Some of the topics that will be covered will include infant observation and its importance for the training of Jungian infant, child and adolescent analysts, infant/parent analysis, as well as presentations on child and adolescent analysis with analysands who bring to treatment a wide spectrum of psychological and developmental issues.  

One half day will be devoted to infancy as it provides a foundation upon which the later developmental phases unfold.  Topics related to infancy will include infant observation and it’s importance for an understanding of infantile mental states that emerge in analysis, and the development of an analytical attitude when working with infants and infantile states of mind and body in child and adolescent analysands.  

A half day will be focused on child analytic treatment and will include a wide range of issues but not limited to the analytical treatment of autistic spectrum disorders, attachment disorders in childhood, issues related to separation and loss, and individuation processes in childhood. 

The second day will include a half day of presentations on Jungian adolescent analysis, with a focus on individuation processes in adolescence; the use of creative imagination and spirituality in adolescence; dream analysis, the use of sandplay and other creative and expressive techniques; the development of gender, sexuality and identity; the impact of prolonged screen time upon adolescents; the analytical framework with adolescents, as well as the adolescent and the group. Other aspects of adolescent analysis will also be considered.

A half day will also include presentations on the use of sandplay with children and adolescents, as well as the use of other expressive techniques such as art, authentic movement and active imagination.  

The conference will focus primarily upon clinical presentations and there will be time allotted for dialogue, reflection and discussion of the clinical and observational material. We hope to have a lively and creative interchange and look forward to our mutual dialogues on these important issues. 

Organizing committee:

Brian Feldman Co-chair CGJISF  

Elizabeth Schofield-Bickford Co-Chair CGJILA

Margo Leahy CGJISF

Audrey Punnett CGJISF

JoAnn Culbert-Koehn CGJILA

Gloria Avrech CGJILA

Robin Wynslow CGJILA