One-Year Introductory Program
in Relational Studies
2025-2026
OFFERED ONLINE
UPCOMING OPEN HOUSES
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
The One-Year Introductory Program in Relational Studies is the first of its kind. We provide a unique opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Relational theory and clinical practice from internationally recognized faculty, the founding, leading, and emerging voices in Relational Psychoanalysis.
In this year-long course we trace the historical precursors and current developments in contemporary Relational theory and practice. We review central theoretical contributions from Freud and Ferenczi, Object Relations, Interpersonal Psychoanalysis, Self Psychology, and Intersubjectivity Theory.
We also focus on important topics in clinical practice. Faculty will present different conceptualizations of the therapeutic relationship and therapeutic action, including intersubjectivity and the analytic third; enactment and impasse; race, gender, and identity; mother-infant interaction and implications for the clinical relationship; self-revelation, dissociation and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Our exploration of these currents of psychoanalytic thought bear on and enrich our understanding of the therapeutic relationship at the heart of our work.
Throughout the year, faculty share clinical vignettes and encourage students to bring in material from their own clinical work to illustrate the topics we are exploring. We aim to create a warm and collegial atmosphere where students feel free to present their ideas, pose questions, and engage in lively, open discussion with the faculty and with each other. The co-directors will periodically lead discussion sessions to facilitate dialogue and integration of the material.
This introductory program is appropriate for newer mental health clinicians as well as those with more experience who are looking to enrich their work through a grounding in Relational theory and practice. We are pleased to offer competitive scholarships for individuals applying to our One-Year Introductory Program. Priority will be given to those applicants who are working with under-resourced populations in the NYC metropolitan area. Please see below for more information about scholarships.
Graduates of the One-Year Program have the opportunity to join the year-long Advanced Clinical Seminar offered by the Mitchell Center.
Classes meet on Zoom, Thursday evenings, from 7-8:45 EST/EDT, from September through May. Enrollment is capped at around 15. Click on the buttons below for further information about the application and scholarship, sample class schedule, and continuing education.
Applications will open on March 1. We will hold two virtual open houses on Saturday, March 1 and Monday, March 10 and Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend an Open House prior to submitting their application. Application materials should include your CV, an official graduate school transcript, and a 1-2 page personal statement that outlines your interest in the program along with any relevant professional experience. Eligible applicants will be contacted for an interview. Applications should be submitted by April 11, 2025, to both Kathy Bacon-Greenberg and Danielle Novack with "Application: One-Year Program" in the subject line. An application fee of $25 is required and can be paid online here beginning March 1.
Tuition for the 2-semester academic year is $2800 and we ask for a half-tuition non-refundable payment of $1400 to hold your spot. A certificate of completion is awarded upon successful participation and CE credit is available for NYS-licensed social workers, psychologists, and psychoanalysts (click below box "CE Credit Information" for details). Enrollment is limited and is for the full year only. Full tuition payments are due before the start of classes in September. Tuition is non-refundable once the year has begun.
The Stephen Mitchell Center is pleased to announce competitive scholarships for individuals applying to our One-Year Introductory Program in Relational Studies, with preference given to those who are working with underserved populations in the NYC metropolitan area. By creating educational opportunities that will attract and support clinicians who work in marginalized communities, we hope to expand the reach of Relational thinking and practice, enabling it to play a broader and more useful role in addressing the human struggles created by problematic social constructs. Through these scholarships, the Mitchell Center strives to establish a more equitable psychoanalytic presence in our world.
As part of your application to the One-Year Program, please include a supplemental 1-2 page statement describing why you are interested in this scholarship and what professional and/or personal experiences play a part in this interest. In addition, in keeping with the objectives described above, please include the goals you hold for the future of Relational psychoanalysis and for your participation in it.
History and Early Contributions to the Relational Perspective
Session 1: Introduction
Kathy Bacon-Greenberg, PhD & Danielle Novack, PhD
Session 2: History and Overview of the Relational Turn
Jody Messler Davies, PhD
Session 3: Freud
Robin Young, PhD
Session 4: Ferenczi
Anthony Bass, PhD
Components in the Creation of the Relational Model
Session 5: Klein and her Influence on the Relational Turn: Inherent Unconscious Relational Imagery
Tom Johnson, LCSW, EdD
Session 6: Fairbairn: Internalization of Relational Patterning
Victoria Demos, PhD
Session 7: Interpersonal Theory
Margaret Black Mitchell, LCSW
Expanding Visions of Development: Implications for Adult Work
Session 8: Winnicott
Joyce Slochower, PhD
Session 9: Mother-Infant Communication and the Origins of Attachment
Beatrice Beebe, PhD
Session 10: The Verbal/Nonverbal Question: Focus on Early Experience and Psychic Disorder
Lisa Director, PhD
Session 11: Integration of Material
Kathy Bacon-Greenberg, PhD & Danielle Novack, PhD
Conceptual Transformations: Evolving Visions of Human Mind and Experience
Session 12: Contemporary Self Psychology and Implications for Relational Thinking
Barry Magid, MD
Session 13: Bion
James Ogilvie, PhD
Session 14: Constructivism and Unconscious Process: Unformulated Experience
Donnel Stern, PhD
The Relational Mind: Multiplicity, Dissociation, and Trauma
Session 15: Multiplicity and Dissociation
Jody Messler Davies, PhD
Session 16: The Many Forms of Trauma
Jody Messler Davies, PhD
Session 17: Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma
Jill Salberg, PhD
Session 18: Cultural Trauma: Race and Identity
Melanie Suchet, PhD & Noha Sadek, MD
Engaging Relational Complexities in Clinical Work
Session 19: Race, Class, and Identity
Warren Spielberg, PhD & Caroline Volel, MD
Session 20: Inhabiting Implications
Rachel McKay, PhD
Session 21: The Analyst's Vulnerability and Decisions Related to Self-Revelation
Sandy Silverman, LCSW
Session 22: Gender - Deconstructed, Complicated and Queered
Virginia Goldner, PhD
Session 23: Integration of Material
Kathy Bacon-Greenberg, PhD & Danielle Novack, PhD
Rethinking Relationships within a "Relational Vision"
Sessions 24 & 25: Intersubjectivity
Jessica Benjamin, PhD
Session 26: Enactment and Impasse
Janine de Peyer, LCSW
Session 27: The Clinical Relationship, Part 1: A Relational Look at Transference and Countertransference
Anthony Bass, PhD
Session 28: The Clinical Relationship, Part 2: Self and Other - Clinical Implications for Sameness and Difference
Shari Appollon, LCSW
Session 29: The Clinical Relationship, Part 3
Anthony Bass, PhD
Session 30: Final Integration of Material and Termination
Kathy Bacon-Greenberg, PhD & Danielle Novack, PhD
-The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0261. Total Available CE Hours for NYS-Licensed Social Workers for 2025-2026 will be 60.
The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0055. Total available CE hours for NYS-Licensed Psychoanalysts for 2025-26 will be 60.
The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0152. Total available CE Hours for NYS-Licensed Psychologists for 2022-23 will be 60.
Full attendance is required for CE credit. Certificates will be sent by email within 2 weeks of conclusion of the program.
A complete list of the Mitchell Center Faculty can be found here: Faculty Information