It feels only appropriate that we begin this update regarding news of the IARPP Candidates Committee with an expression of our gratitude for departing Co-Chairs Fabia E. Banella (Italy) and Erik Fagerberg (Sweden) and member Andrea Rihm (Chile), and a warm welcome to some of our newer members.

Fabia and Erik have provided such thoughtful and hard-working leadership for our committee through these most challenging times over the last couple of years. Fabia is leaving our committee to join the Board of Directors of IARPP. We are also sad to say goodbye to our committee members Erik and Andrea who have been tireless and insightful contributors for the past several years. We will miss you Fabia, Erik and Andrea!

We would also like to formally welcome and thank our newer members Ignacio Blasco (Spain), Konstantinos D. Mouchalos (Greece) and Lilach Shalev (Isreal). It has been a real pleasure getting to know them as we worked together to organize the Candidates Committee at the recent annual conference in LA and last year’s online webinar featuring the timely and challenging work of Sally Swartz (South Africa).

We are proud of the very successful Candidates Panel that was held at the IARPP 2022 conference in LA. The panel, entitled “Thinking, Participating, and Speaking Outside of the Box,” featured two panelists, Sam Guzzardi (USA) and Annita Chatzimichailidi (Greece). William Coburn (USA) acted as the discussant and our board liaison, Sandra Toribio (Spain), moderated the panel, which was met with enthusiasm by the audience. In evocative and thought-provoking papers, Sam and Annita explored clinical encounters that pushed the boundaries of their analytic frames and forced them to think and act outside of the box.

Afarin Kohan at Candidates Reception

We also had a chance to welcome important members of the IARPP community to our Candidates Reception during the conference. This gave us an opportunity to meet candidates from all over the world and to make new connections and contacts. It is encouraging to see faces of new candidates so keen about psychoanalysis and interested to become more active with IARPP.

We are excitedly preparing for the upcoming online IARPP Candidates Committee Webinar that will take place in February 2023, featuring Tony Bass (USA) as our discussant. Unlike past years, the webinar will be two weeks long, rather than three, in the hope that the shorter duration will encourage more wide-ranging engagement. Two of Tony Bass’s papers will be read and discussed among participants from around the world.

This webinar is organized by our committee annually and is designed specifically for candidates and new analysts (i.e., those actively training or within five years of having completed training). In past years these webinars have been hosted by a wide range of scholars from the international relational community, including Galit Atlas, Gianni Nebbiosi and Susi Federici, Jody Davies, Sandra Buechler, Irwin Hoffman, Paul Watchel, Margaret Crastnopol, Sally Swartz and others.

Please keep an eye on your inboxes, as we will provide dates and more specific information regarding the upcoming webinar in the near future. We look forward to “seeing” many of you soon as we engage together with Tony Bass’s rich writing next year.

Best,

Afarin Kohan (Canada) & Lissa Schaupp (USA)
Candidates Committee Co-Chairs

Afarin Kohan, MD, FRCPC
Toronto, Canada
Email Afarin Kohan

Lissa Schaupp, LCSW
New York, NY, USA
Email Lissa Schaupp