Newsfeed > NCP Welcomes Noted Experts in Gender and Sexuality
Working with patients who self-identify as tran* or who experience a great deal of fluidity in their sexuality and gender identifications can be a perplexing odyssey. We attempt to be as aware as possible of our preconceptions and blind spots. Nonetheless, many of us find ourselves challenged to stay in an open and curious space and instead favor the binary and anxiety reducing categorization.
The Committee on Diversities and Sociocultural issues is excited to have Avgi Saketopoulou, PsyD, and Francisco González, MD, come visit NCP for a weekend this month (October 18 and 20) to grapple with this important clinical issue.
Join us Saturday, October 20 from 9:30 AM-4:00 PM [click for full description & registration], for presentations and an open dialogue panel.
Saketopoulou’s presentation will take us into aspects of social trauma. In our current world, this is a frequent topic of our analytic work. Sentiments from Black Lives Matter to Me Too to issues with one’s own family frequently arise in sessions. Saketopoulou behooves us to listen with a sensitive ear and stretch ourselves to question and explore in service of joining with our patients’ journeys. This openness will help us be in a position to help them discover the meanings of their own experiences, long a psychoanalytic tenet.
González will help us see how deeply grappling about how one fits in one’s own surroundings and community can be discovered and come to be known by both patient and analyst. It can shed light on how one who lives in such a state of constant flow can identify with others and fit into existent communities.
For those particularly interested in the application of these ideas to the clinical setting, Saketopoulou will present her work with a young tran* who had failed previous therapy on Thursday, October 18 from 8-10 PM [click for full description & registration]. The parents had told her of the transition and the challenges it created for their child in school. Saketopoulou’s delicate way of knowing and not knowing allowed her to stay connected with her patient.
NCP will host a wine and cheese reception following the event on Saturday, offering you a chance to meet and speak with Saketopoulou and González. We hope you will join us for an engaging experience!
*the asterisk makes special note in an effort to include all transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming identities