This presentation will highlight how an evidence based psychoanalytic treatment method called Reflective Network Therapy (RNT) helps children and their natural networks (parents/caregivers, teachers and classmates) heal the experiences of intergenerational trauma, grief and loss, and the role that forming a coherent narrative plays in treatment.  Perspectives in working with First Nations peoples will be considered.

Kathryn McCormick, MA, LMFT, CMHS, EMMHS, is a bilingual (Spanish) child analyst and an advanced candidate in adult training at the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She has worked for over two decades in a northwest tribal community as a clinician, including for over 10 years as the Administrative Clinical Supervisor of a tribal Child, Youth and Family (CYF) Mental Wellness Program. For the past four years, she has served as the Administrative Clinical Supervisor of the tribes’ Birth to Five Center, and as the head and lead clinician in the Reflective Network Therapy (RNT) program for children (aged 2 1/2-5) challenged with trauma, developmental delays and/or social, emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. She maintains a private practice in Seattle.

“The Significance of Kathryn McCormick’s Use of Reflective Network Therapy”
Discussant: Gilbert Kliman, MD

Dr. Gil Kliman is Chairman, Harlem Family Institute, Faculty Member of San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, Certified by NY Psan Institute and Am. Psan Assoc. in Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychoanalysis.  Founder of The Center for Preventive Psychiatry, Founder of The Foster Care Study Unit of Columbia U. Dept. of Child Psychiatry, Recipient Janusz Korczak Award for “World’s Best Book Concerning Well Being and Nurture of Children”,  Anna Freud Award, Humanitarian Award of The American Psychoanalytic Association. 2020 Rieger Award of AACAP, Medical Director of Children’s Psychological Health Center of San Francisco.

Learning Objectives

After attending this presentation, participants should be able to:

1. Gain an understanding of the role of “colonization” in the transmission of intergenerational trauma.
2. Gain an awareness of the benefits that an evidenced based psychoanalytic treatment method called Reflective Network Therapy (RNT) can bring children who have experienced intergenerational grief, loss and trauma and/or developmental disturbances.
3. Learn how First Nation preschoolers, their caregivers and tribal community can experience healing from the impact of intergenerational grief, loss and trauma through the process of building epistemic trust and the formation of a coherent narrative.