ISPS-US
2009 Report
Since our founding by David Feinsilver in 1998, ISPS-US President Ann-Louise Silver has led and nurtured our group into the active and vibrant chapter it is today. Recently, ISPS-US transitioned to new board members. Ann-Louise Silver’s 10 years of leadership is a living legacy, as she continues serving as our founding president and chair of the Baltimore/Washington DC Branch. Ann was ably assisted by Karen Stern who continues as our executive director. Julie Wolter served as a very capable and reliable treasurer and Julie Kipp as secretary. For many years, Julie Kipp served as secretary, treasurer and ISPS-US Newsletter co-editor. Currently, our ISPS-US Newsletter is edited by Warren Schwartz and Ayme Turnbull. Marty Cosgro continues as our website editor and Daniel Mackler as our ISPS-US listserv moderator.
The following persons are newly elected board members: Brian Koehler (President), Marty Cosgro (Vice President), Lori Kalman-McCartney (Secretary), and Kay Ellen Lowenthal (Treasurer). Jessica Arenella, previously chair of fundraising, is now chair of our membership committee. Marty Cosgro is now also chair of the fundraising committee. We are actively searching for a new chair of our research committee which was previously headed by William Gottdiener. All new and previous board members can be contacted through our website: ISPS-US.org. The website contains our philosophy and goals, membership information, copies of previous and the current ISPS-US Newsletters, articles, bibliographies, conference listings, and relevant weblinks.
The large New York Branch of ISPS-US hosted our recent and successful Ninth Annual ISPS-US conference at New York University. Our theme was “Recovery from Psychosis: Healing Through Relationship.” We had speakers from the national and international ISPS community. Ronald Bassman was our keynote speaker. His address was “Abandoning Occam’s Razor: The Art of Reconstructing the Self.” Our group honored Courtenay Harding for her many and significant contributions to our field. ISPS President Manuel Gonzalez de Chavez, and his Spanish colleague Ignacio Garcia Cabeza, participated at our meeting and gave very interesting and helpful talks on recovery from psychosis in ancient times and in group psychotherapy. Our next annual conference will be chaired by Ann-Louise Silver in the Washington DC area.
Ann-Louise Silver, MD writes:
“The Washington-Baltimore branch of ISPS-US is reactivating, since we have the grand task of organizing the 10th annual ISPS-US meeting, please save the dates, October 2-4, 2009. While things are not yet nailed down, we believe we will be meeting in the historic Old Courthouse, built in the late 1800s and located just a few blocks from what was Chestnut Lodge. At this point, our working theme is “The Living Legacy of Chestnut Lodge: Interpersonal Approaches to the Psychoses.” We are holding our organizing meetings at the Washington School of Psychiatry, a place whose history is intimately interwoven with that of Chestnut Lodge. Washington has been a world-renowned center for the psychodynamic treatment of psychotic conditions, contributing to ISPS meetings from their beginning in 1956. We hope to pay homage to our pioneers and to demonstrate that the principles they taught are continuing to bear fruit, even in these challenging times, in programs and in therapies throughout the United States.”
ISPS-US continues to have several local branches:
Baltimore/ Washington DC (Ann-Louise Silver)
The Berkshires in Massachusetts (Marilyn Charles)
Chicago (Sheila Curren)
Michigan (Patricia Gibbs)
New England (Ron Abramson)
New York City (Brian Koehler)
Northern California (Matthew Morrissey)
and Southern California (Marty Cosgro).
The New York City Branch has been meeting monthly (except for August) for 12 years. New York University is our institutional sponsor. We welcome the participation of the international community. Please contact me should you wish further information on this group or wish to present at one of our monthly meetings.
Brian Koehler
ISPS-US President
brian_koehler@psychoanalysis.net