As part of TI’s ongoing efforts to ensure that our training programs are contributing to positive social change and are supportive of movements throughout the city and the nation that are addressing institutional racism, we are developing the following new initiatives:
The Training Institute for Mental Health is recognized and respected as a one of the premier learning centers in New York City, offering opportunities for professionals to enhance their understanding and deepen their skill in individual psychoanalysis, couples therapy, group therapy, and the supervision of the psychoanalytic process.
Focusing on TI's Individual Training Program, there are three tracks of study:
The death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis in May 2020 has sparked intense conversations about systemic racism in the United States. As protests continue throughout the country and groups continue to push for political, economic, and social changes, many have begun to examine how the status quo contributes to racism and what can be done to better understand, address and repair its impacts.
Mental health professionals and organizations occupy a distinct space in this conversation, having an unparalleled opportunity to understand and help individuals affected by systemic racism. The Training Institute for Mental Health (TI), as with many in the psychological community, are seeking ways to use this position in the best possible way so as to be an ally in this fight. As TI's newly named Executive Director, Fred Aiese, states: "Racism is born of intergenerational transmission of trauma on the micro and macro levels. Acts of overt and covert racism are passed down and encoded from generation to generation. It is incumbent upon us as mental health providers to know this history and be constantly aware of and willing to change our knowledge gaps and biases. Lack of awareness begets enactment."
Clinical work occupies a unique place in our current society. Therapists must both learn how the human mind works in an academic sense and understand how that abstract knowledge translates into the lives of real people dealing with the everyday struggles of life. Most importantly though, therapists must do both of these and still be able to build trusting, comfortable relationships with their clients. In order to build the diverse skill set required by clinicians, programs training new therapists typically require them to engage in a certain amount of clinical experiences to complement their academic preparation. A second-year clinical internship is almost always the first of these required experiences, and as such the Training Institute for Mental Health has placed the utmost importance on constructing its internship program.