Relational Perspectives Series Workshop with Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra: Culturally Informed Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

We are honored to welcome Dr. Usha Tummala-Narra, Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College and author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy for our annual Relational Perspectives Series.

On Saturday, September 21, 2019, Dr. Tummala-Narra for an all day clinical workshop for Seattle School alumni and current students on “Culturally Informed Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.”

This clinical workshop will highlight psychoanalytic understandings of sociocultural context in psychotherapy, and describes a framework with a systematic inclusion of cultural competence as a core emphasis of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A historical overview of both psychoanalytic neglect and contributions to understandings of sociocultural context, and specific contemporary psychoanalytic approaches to culturally informed practice, such as the recognition of social oppression and the complexity of cultural identifications, will be discussed.

There will be a particular focus on indigenous narrative and the complexity of cultural identity formation within the context of choice and constraint. Dr. Tummala-Narra will discuss how ongoing sociocultural trauma in the current political climate influences the therapeutic frame and process. Case illustrations and discussion will serve to translate culturally informed psychoanalytic theory to practice.

Registration for Saturday’s workshop includes 5 CEUs. 

Note that this workshop is reserved for Seattle School alumni and current students. The general public is warmly invited to learn with us as we hear from Dr. Tummala-Narra on Friday, September 20, 2019, 7:30-9:00pm. You can learn more about the public lecture here.

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Usha Tummala-Narra, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. She is also in Independent Practice in Cambridge, MA. Her scholarship focuses on immigration, trauma, race, and cultural competence and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She has served as the chair of the Multicultural Concerns Committee in American Psychological Association Division 39 (Psychoanalysis), and as a member of the APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration, and the APA Task Force on Revising the Multicultural Guidelines. She is currently a Member-at-Large on the Board of Directors of APA Division 39, and a member of the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is the author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy, published by APA (American Psychological Association) Books in 2016.

The Relational Perspectives Series was founded by Dr. Roy Barsness with the vision of creating an intimate, accessible environment to engage with relational and analytic theorists and clinicians who are contributing innovative, compelling work to the fields of psychology and psychotherapy.