Category Archives: Public Programming

BOOK LAUNCH: “White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives” by Dr. Neil Altman – Saturday, Dec. 12

Dr. Altman will discuss his new book over Zoom on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, at 11:30 AM EST, in conversation with integrative arts psychotherapist Eugene Ellis, MA, and child & adult psychoanalyst Ann Marie Sacramone, MSEd, LP.
The book launch will inaugurate the Institute’s new Public Programming, under the leadership of HFI senior Faculty member, Jungian psychoanalyst Dr. Fanny Brewster, PhD, MFA, LP.

In “White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives,” Dr. Altman examines the significant role race and the concept of unearned “white privilege” plays in society and in clinical practice, suggesting that there are hidden assumptions in the idea that perpetuate the very same prejudicial notions that are purportedly being dismantled.

This book examines in depth the polarized, black-and-white, socially constructed racial categories that rest on fallacious ideas of physical or psychological differences among peoples. Neil Altman also critically examines related concepts including privilege, guilt, and power. He suggests that the polarization of our political positions also contribute to stereotyping between people with different political leanings, foreclosing mutual respect, dialogue and understanding. Finally, Dr. Altman’s book explores in detail the implications for the theory and practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Drawing on Neil Altman’s rich clinical experience and many years of engaging with racial and societal problems, the book offers a new agenda for understanding and offering analytic practice in contemporary society.

Admission cost: a donation of any amount to the nonprofit Harlem Family Institute

Dr. Neil AltmanPhD, is a member of the faculty at the William Alanson White institute in New York. He is Joint Editor Emeritus of “Psychoanalytic Dialogues: the International Journal of Relational Perspectives,” and a member of the editorial board at “Ricerca Psicoanalitica,” “The Journal of Child Psychotherapy,” “The Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy” and “The International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies.” He is a member of the Harlem Family (Psychoanalytic) Institute’s Advisory Council.

He is author of “The Analyst in the Inner City: Race, Class, and Culture through a Psychoanalytic Lens” (Routledge, 2010) and “Psychoanalysis in Times of Accelerating Cultural Change: Spiritual Globalization” (Routledge, 2015). He has written numerous articles on clinical work with underserved and marginalized people, as well as his new “White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives” (Routledge, 2020).

Eugene EllisMA, Dip. PSA accredited, is an integrative arts psychotherapist practicing in the U.K. He has worked for many years with severely traumatized children and their families in the field of adoption and fostering, as well as in private practice. He has a special interest in body-orientated therapies and is also the founder of the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network.

His coming book “The Race Conversation: An essential guide to creating life-changing dialogue,” explores not just the cognitive and historical development of the race construct but also focuses specifically on the nonverbal communication of race, both as a means of social control and as an essential part of navigating oppressive patterns.

He is the author of many articles, including Silenced: the Black Student ExperienceTowards a Rainbow-Coloured Therapeutic CommunityUpdating Psychotherapy training: equality and diversity issues in psychotherapy training and Why strong black people do go counselling (Voice newspaper).

Ann Marie SacramoneMSEd, LP, is Chair of the Schools committee at the American Psychoanalytic Association, and Co-Chair of the Child, Adolescent and Parent Committee at the International Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. She is also a senior faculty member at the Harlem Family (Psychoanalytic) Institute

The basis of Ms. Sacramone’s approach to fostering change with clients is based on the developmental processes that we understand through neuroscience, video microanalysis and attachment research. We influence and respond to each other when we interact with each other. Over time, those interactions can change how we think, feel, work, play and have relationships.

In her practice, Ms. Sacramone views that influence, response and change as a  therapeutic process. She practices that process in ways that lead to the vital growth of the client.  Part of that vital growth is the development of rich and fulfilling relationships in love and work. Ms. Sacramone treats adults and children.  In addition to her private practice, she has designed innovative models for school and community interventions that help both children and adults.

She has published and presented widely on psychoanalytic perspectives and applications in large social groups.A selected list can be found here.

Dr. Fanny BrewsterPhD, MFA, LP, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Philadelphia. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, is a graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of New York and is a New York State Licensed Psychoanalyst and Certified SchoolPsychologist. She is a senior faculty member at the Harlem Family (Psychoanalytic) Institute, where she is establishing the Institute’s new Public Programs. 

She is the author of several recent books, including The Racial Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race,” 2019; Archetypal Grief: Slavery’s Legacy of Intergenerational Child Loss,” 2018; and African Americans and Jungian Psychology: Leaving the Shadows,” 2017.