Termination

Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (APP)
2019-20, 4th Block — Mondays, 8:00-9:15pm
Robin Mccoy-Brooks

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May 18, 2020 — Commemorative Ritual and beginning to create your own collective ritual for ending with your APPP cohort

[15 pages]

Slochower, J. (2011) “Out of the Analytic Shadow: On the Dynamics of Commemorative Ritual”, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 21:6, pp676-690 

In our second to the last session, I am asking you to read an article from Psychoanalytic Dialogues by Joyce Slochower titled “Out of the Analytic Shadow: On the Dynamics of Commemorative Ritual”. We will discuss this article and then proceed to talking how you may thoughtfully create your own process of closure that we will follow on May 18th, your last facilitated session. The process of closure in a group (of any kind) is facilitated to review a shared history through singular experience, identify regrets (retroactive insights), tie up loose ends, acknowledge the end of a shared experience and say a genuine goodbye to each other. This is not a therapy group and I am not authorized to be your therapist however closings amongst colleagues can be sincere, meaningful and real even in a professional setting. We will discuss the closure of a group further and design your final session together. Our last group session will be designed for and by you.