As members of the Board of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP), we speak on behalf of our organization in saying that we decry the intensely aggressive, unwarranted invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin and his regime.  We are shocked and horrified by the wanton disregard for human life and the welfare of the Ukrainian populace that these hostilities demonstrate.  The suffering that these actions have caused the Ukrainian people is utterly beyond the pale, and we call for a swift end to the military operations and any related oppressive efforts.  It is unfathomable to us how the Russian government can justify the massive devastation and loss it has wrought and continues to wreak.

We join the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, the International Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and a host of other psychoanalytic organizations in noting and protesting the traumatic impact this belligerence is having. We also acknowledge and protest the seriously oppressive and injurious treatment of those within Russia –including many of our fellow mental health practitioners–who abhor this violence and have called for its end.

Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and all others in the region whose psychological, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual well-being have been badly damaged if not destroyed by the Russian government’s actions. We stand with you!

We offer our ardent wishes for a rapid, peaceful end to these hostilities, and a prompt redressing of the extreme damage they’ve caused.

Susanna Federici, President of IARPP – The International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, and the IARPP Board of Directors

On March 7, 2022, IARPP launched the IARPP Ukrainian Psychotherapist Relief Fund – https://iarpp.memberclicks.net/IARPPUkraineSupport – for the purpose of helping psychotherapists in Ukraine with the basic living expenses of food, water, housing and medical care.

The fund is administered by IARPP and in conjunction with a Ukrainian member who ensures that 100 percent of your contributions are given directly to psychotherapists in need. Funds are dispersed to recipients whose patients are unable to pay for treatment as a result of martial law and other financial impediments resulting from the war such as dislocation, refugee status, and related calamities.

In all cases, these are individuals without other significant-enough financial resources needed to pay for basic living expenses.

We thank all donors who have given generously to assist our colleagues in Ukraine.

DONATE HERE

Про Український фонд допомоги психотерапевтам IARPP

7 березня 2022 року IARPP запустив Український фонд допомоги психотерапевтам IARPP – https://iarpp.memberclicks.net/IARPPUkraineSupport – з метою допомоги психотерапевтам в Україні з основними витратами на харчування, воду, житло та медичне обслуговування.

Адмініструватиме фонд IARPP разом із українським членом, який подбає про те, щоб 100 відсотків ваших внесків були передані безпосередньо нужденним психотерапевтам. Кошти будуть розподілені на одержувачів, чиї пацієнти не можуть оплатити лікування через воєнний стан та інші фінансові перешкоди, які виникли внаслідок війни, такі як дислокація, статус біженця та пов’язані з ними лиха.

У всіх випадках це будуть особи без інших значних фінансових ресурсів, необхідних для оплати основних витрат на проживання.

Ми дякуємо всім донорам, які щедро пожертвували на допомогу нашим колегам в Україні.

ПОЖЕРТВУЙТЕ ТУТ

UPDATE May 25, 2022

As of today the IARPP Ukrainian Psychotherapist Relief Fund has raised $114,855 from over 600 donations. So far we have distributed over $90,000 to 77 recipients in Ukraine, their deeply moving responses are below.

We now seek to raise another $100,000 to re-open the application to more psychotherapists in Ukraine impacted by the war. Our colleagues both in Ukraine and those who have fled to Poland and other countries are struggling and need your help. In addition to seeing patients for free, our Ukrainian colleagues are supporting children, parents, grandparents, and many are facing new challenges as the war progresses and more families are displaced.

Thank you for your support.

Feedback from Relief Fund recipients:

Dear Colleagues!
I am a psychotherapist from Ukraine.
Now I am in Poland because of the war.

I want to express my eternal gratitude to you for the help you give us! Your support warms and makes us stronger!

Your help helped me a lot in the first days after the evacuation! This is not just financial assistance, but also a real feeling that I am not alone in the face of the trouble that has come to my land.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

***

Good afternoon! I received your financial help. Very grateful. She was very timely. My family was able to buy insulin, test strips, do tests, buy clothes and food. I am very grateful to you.

Your help has strengthened your faith in victory. That I can handle it. Gave strength and courage. Thank you.

***

Here is the link to apply to the IARPP Ukrainian Psychotherapist Relief Fund:

CLICK HERE

Applications are confidential.

Update March 19, 2022: we are taking a pause in reviewing applications
in the hopes of getting more funding.
Please check back in a few days.

Ось посилання для подання заявки до Українського фонду допомоги психотерапевтам IARPP:

НАТИСНІТЬ ТУТ

Заявки є конфіденційними.

Оновлення 19 березня 2022 року: ми робимо паузу в розгляді заявок в надії отримати більше фінансування. Перевірте, будь ласка, через кілька днів.

About the IARPP Ukrainian Psychotherapist Relief Fund

On March 7, 2022, IARPP launched the IARPP Ukrainian Psychotherapist Relief Fund – https://iarpp.memberclicks.net/IARPPUkraineSupport – for the purpose of helping psychotherapists in Ukraine with the basic living expenses of food, water, housing and medical care.

The fund will be administered by IARPP and in conjunction with a Ukrainian member who will see to it that 100 percent of your contributions will be given directly to psychotherapists in need. Funds will be dispersed to recipients whose patients are unable to pay for treatment as a result of martial law and other financial impediments resulting from the war such as dislocation, refugee status, and related calamities.

In all cases, these will be individuals without other significant-enough financial resources needed to pay for basic living expenses.

We thank all donors who have given generously to assist our colleagues in Ukraine.

Про Український фонд допомоги психотерапевтам IARPP

7 березня 2022 року IARPP запустив Український фонд допомоги психотерапевтам IARPP – https://iarpp.memberclicks.net/IARPPUkraineSupport – з метою допомоги психотерапевтам в Україні з основними витратами на харчування, воду, житло та медичне обслуговування.

Адмініструватиме фонд IARPP разом із українським членом, який подбає про те, щоб 100 відсотків ваших внесків були передані безпосередньо нужденним психотерапевтам. Кошти будуть розподілені на одержувачів, чиї пацієнти не можуть оплатити лікування через воєнний стан та інші фінансові перешкоди, які виникли внаслідок війни, такі як дислокація, статус біженця та пов’язані з ними лиха.

У всіх випадках це будуть особи без інших значних фінансових ресурсів, необхідних для оплати основних витрат на проживання.

Ми дякуємо всім донорам, які щедро пожертвували на допомогу нашим колегам в Україні.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are horrified and saddened by the tragic loss of life and ongoing, unequal treatment of the Black community in the United States and elsewhere.

In the US, we have watched with heavy hearts over the last weeks and months as racialized violence unfolded at a terrifying rate, although we recognize, of course, that this is nothing new. And we are well aware of the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people of color.

We mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and all who have died or otherwise suffered at the hands of white supremacists and others with malintent. We recognize that many of us can only imagine the upset and trauma caused by these injustices, while others in our community are directly impacted by them.

We stand in solidarity with the black community against all forms of racism. We stand with all who have endured systemic violence and blatant injustice in the United States and throughout the world.

With wishes for positive change and greater justice in the weeks and months ahead. And sending our hope for peace, healing and safety to all who are in pain, suffering or in danger.

Steven Kuchuck and the Executive Committee

On behalf of the IARPP Board of Directors

IARPP joins other organizations and mental health professionals in demanding the immediate reunion of the 2300 children who have been separated from their parents at the borders and placed in US detention centers.

IARPP was founded in 2001 to promote relational psychoanalysis as an approach to clinical work in which a core assumption is that psychological development and functioning derives from an individual’s relations with other people. The association is an international professional and intellectual community committed to reducing the damaging effects of privilege and discrimination in our field. Its ethos reflects a love of healing and learning. Currently, IARPP has about 2100 members from 42 different countries around the world.

As mental health professionals we are aware of findings from attachment theory research, research on the mother-infant relationship, neuroscience research, cognitive development research, and studies of the effects of mental, emotional and social development during infancy on later normal and psychopathological development.  There are unique considerations regarding the needs of infants and toddlers during the first years of life. These and other contemporary research findings underscore the impact of early experience on the development of the human brain and mind.  Children are totally dependent on the availability of consistent and responsive care from specific adults for the adequate development of their basic human capacities.

According to the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) which works with infants and parents within different cultures and societies, there is a need to recognize the specific rights of infants beyond those which have already been specified in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, adopted 1990) and the subsequent document from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment Number 7, published in 2005, concerning the implementation of children’s rights in early childhood.

Based on the aforementioned research findings and the World Association for Infant Mental Health and United Nations recommendations and guidelines, and based on our clinical work with adult patients and with children, adolescents and families in particular, we know the severity of trauma (including severe psychological and medical symptoms) that abrupt separation of children from their caregivers results in. This is why as professionals tasked with preventing and treating human pain and suffering we are deeply worried and outraged by the ongoing consequences of the United States family separation policy.

We want to add our voices to strongly emphasize that Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD) is a well-documented disorder and very likely to have lifelong consequences related to physical and mental health, sociopathy, violence and other similar societal implications. Children who have been separated from their parents suffer a serious offense to their basic human right to grow up and live a healthy life. Each day that a child remains separated from his or her parent reduces the likelihood of recovery from PTSD.  Every day of separation increases the certainty that cost-prohibitive, ongoing psychiatric care and intervention from hospitals, courts, the school system and other governmental agencies will be required for years to come.

We ask those who bear the responsibility for the ongoing imprisonment of these infants and children to act with extreme urgency and to take every action possible to reunite all of the children with their parents.

Steven Kuchuck, DSW, President, IARPP Board of Directors,
Susanna Federici, Ph.D., Co-Chair, IARPP Child-Adolescent-Parent Committee
and the IARPP Board of Directors

Dear IARPP members,

We are writing to you in regard to the petition recently posted in protest of the 2019 IARPP conference that is being held in Israel.

As we do in considering the location of all IARPP conferences, the Board engaged in an open and deliberative process before deciding to hold the conference in Israel. If we chose our conference locations by judging the political decisions of national governments, we might well have a hard time finding an ideal setting that would fit everyone’s preferences and values. Indeed, some international members have protested our decision to host the 2018 IARPP conference in the United States, given the current political situation in the US. We decided that holding the US conference as planned-while making the political turmoil the theme of the meetings-would make for a meaningful experience that would help us all think through the difficult problems that confront us.

In a narrow sense, we are not a political organization. But we do hold, advocate and stand behind a set of values and principles: Namely, the inclusion, protection, and free expression of a diverse set of views, essentially trusting the political values that do, or should, underlie a democracy. This of course includes the concern for universal human rights . Yet, we feel that to allow our organization to single out one country for a boycott would be to practice the politics of exclusion. Boycotts will not help us fulfill our central mission: promoting values that are integral to the creative development of relational psychoanalysis.

Members of IARPP hold a variety of views about many political issues, including the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. One of the Board’s responsibilities is to honor the right of all members to independently voice their views of history, current events and what would best promote peace in the Middle East and around the world. We are all deeply affected by this. It is not the responsibility of IARPP to side with one view of this complicated history– or to base organizational decisions on it. We are a professional membership organization. Our conference location does not imply a judgment on the policies or politics of any particular location; our conference location reflects our respect for the professional contributions of our international chapters, our effort to support their continued professional development in their part of the world, and our attempts to better understand the difficulties faced by the communities we serve.

Finally, hosting the conference in Tel Aviv will permit us to welcome the diverse voices of our Israeli Jewish and Arab colleagues along with multiple international perspectives. We intend to offer opportunities for conference attendees to travel to the Palestinian West Bank. We will be extending invitations to Palestinian colleagues, and we will work to enable their presence with us. Rather than foreclosing those issues and silencing conversation, we aim to create within our relational psychoanalytic conference an open and safe space in which attendees across the political spectrum can engage and exchange views.

We believe that dialogue, more than ever, is needed across divides.

Respectfully,

Steven Kuchuck, IARPP President and Chana Ullman, IARPP Past President

On behalf of the IARPP Board of Directors

The Officers and Board of Directors of the IARPP note with
profound sorrow the death of Emmanuel Ghent, M.D.

Mannie was among the founders of the IARPP and served on its
Board in the office of Treasurer.  He was among the most significant
contributors to contemporary relational psychoanalysis.  Mannie
devoted countless hours to helping us launch the IARPP.

He was a gifted, innovative clinician, theoretician, and teacher,
central to the IARPP’s activities since its inception.  We will miss
his grace, gentility, inspiration, vitality, and , most especially, his
ability to find joy in the darkest hour.

New York Times Obituary

New Music Box Obituary