Our Mission

The International Psychotherapy Institute and its members are committed to:

• Providing a vibrant learning community with a broad range of programs in theory and clinical skills for the professional growth of mental health professionals.
• Creating a welcoming and supportive atmosphere, sensitive to sociocultural contexts, where all individuals experience a sense of belonging.
• Offering accessible training and educational opportunities for professionals at all levels of experience, from emerging therapists to seasoned clinicians.
• Expanding access for students from varied backgrounds and fostering openness regarding race, ethnicity, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and physical abilities.
• Ensuring open access by warmly welcoming new and returning participants and providing extensive affiliate programs in national and international locations.
• Mentoring program graduates to confidently assume leadership roles in clinical, educational, and supervisory settings within their local communities and on the national and international stage.
• Maintaining intellectual openness and curiosity while grounding our thinking, learning, and teaching in a psychoanalytic Object Relations approach.
• Enhancing therapists’ understanding of the use of self through training in the Institute’s Group Affective Learning Model.
• Integrating contemporary scholarship on matters of racialization, sexuality and gender, socioeconomic class, religion, and other contextual dynamics into our curricula.
• Incorporating community service and broad representation throughout the Institute, ensuring relevance and sensitivity in our training.
• Acknowledging the powerful influence of sociopolitical contexts and cultural dynamics on psychological well-being, developing a deeper understanding in our practice.
• Promoting dialogue and understanding across a multiplicity of viewpoints.
• Grounding our educational practice in a thorough understanding of group dynamics and the significant impact of social context on individual and collective experience.
• Cultivating a learning environment sensitive to the impact of marginalization, political unrest, cultural trauma, and power dynamics.

IPI's Teaching Objectives

To teach dynamic psychotherapy from the standpoint of the theoretical and clinical contributions of Fairbairn, Klein, Bion, Winnicott, Bowlby, Fonagy & Target, Sutherland, Bollas, Ogden, Ferro, Scharff & Scharff and other contemporary theorists.

To understand the original theories of object relations: Fairbairn’s view of the personality as a system of self and object in dynamic relation; Klein’s projective/introjective identification and intrapsychic positions; Winnicott’s study of the mother-infant dyad; Bowlby’s attachment theory; Bion’s container/contained.

To understand advances in theory such as the analytic third, extractive introjection, parent-infant development, neuroscience, affect regulation in the growth of self, psychic genera, trauma and regeneration, chaos theory, the geography of transference and countertransference, attachment patterns, Pichon-Riviere’s idea of the link, mentalization, and the growth of self reflection.

To apply object relations theory to technique in individual, family, couple and group therapy and to work with institutions, businesses, and organizations.

To integrate theory with personal and clinical experience in small group settings.

To apply the use the therapist’s self to the clinical situation, through understanding transference and countertransference, listening to the unconscious, responding interpretively from inside your own experience, and providing a holding environment.

To further public understanding and acceptance of the role of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in the mental health of individuals, families and institutions.