The Core Seminar Diaries: Wild Rides, Echoing Groups, and Explorations in Humanity

Abstract

ABSTRACT The core seminar is the main site of supervision and reflective learning for candidates participating in the Community Psychoanalytic Track (CPT) of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC). Using examples from the CPT’s collaborative projects in public agencies, the paper describes the functioning of the polyvocal supervision group that investigates roles and authority relationships through unconsciously-driven transference/countertransference dynamics between individuals and groups. Themes include: issues facing the agency’s client population; vicarious traumatization to agency staff; questions of framing and containment; application of community psychoanalytic theories; issues of privacy and discretion; termination challenges; and, the broader sociopolitical and cultural context. This immersive training experience helps integrate the community psychoanalytic paradigm into candidates’ worldview as future analysts.